An Post targets €200m-plus of parcel revenues
AN POST is seeking to increase its share of the parcel market over the next four years, with ambitions to grow the division’s revenues to well over €200m.
The postal service has 25pc of the fast-growing market at the moment and aims to get to 35pc by 2021. Parcels currently account for revenues of €120m for An Post and last year Accenture carried out a review of strategic growth options for this division.
Last week, An Post launched a new campaign dubbed ‘World Wide Open’, which marks the relaunch of the parcels products and services for Irish and international e-commerce businesses. The company has completed 120 industrial-relations negotiations with workers to allow for this enhanced parcel service.
It includes Saturday deliveries and evening deliveries in urban areas. Items can also now be left in a ‘safe place’, such as a porch or shed, as agreed with a customer. Same-day delivery will also be available in the country’s top seven cities and towns.
The improved service will allow An Post to tender for business with online retailers which expect a wider range of services than it had previously been able to offer. It is understood that a number of new clients have already approached An Post in recent weeks.
An Post has also implemented a number of technological improvements.
The company has upgraded the quality and speed of real-time delivery data available to customers and is adding the US to its AddressPal service, which allows customers to shop on US websites that don’t deliver to Ireland. The UK version service already has over 120,000 registered users.
ReturnPal, a new pick-up service for return deliveries, will launch in the coming weeks.
According to Euromonitor, Irish people spend €553 each on online shopping, while in the UK that amount is €1,011.
An Post believes that Irish patterns will follow those in the UK, further increasing demand for delivery services here.
As previously revealed in this newspaper, An Post recently completed strategy work with consultants McKinsey and plans to split the post-office business and the mails and parcels business into two separate divisions.