Global Postal Operators - Benchmarking of performance, strategy and diversification

Global postal operators are experiencing major changes in their traditional businesses, in particular:

• Decreases in mail volumes and revenues from ongoing e-substitution leading to more processes and transactions formerly carried out by mail switching to electronic formats.
• Increases in parcels volumes from the growth of online retail

At the same time many operators are facing considerable pressure to reduce the costs of operations, such as by reducing mail delivery service levels or rationalising post office networks by closing lightly-used outlets in rural areas and relocating those in large, expensive urban sites. However, their freedom to reduce costs is typically limited by regulation, which requires them to maintain a certain universal service level.

In response to these challenges and opportunities, many postal operators are looking to diversify their activities away from dependence on falling mail volumes. However:

• They are all starting from different places regarding their own domestic market conditions, constraints and opportunities
• They are each following their own strategies with varying degrees of success and fortune in execution.

Postal operators are largely still organised along national lines. However, given the need for expansion away from declining letter mail business, an increased level of international consolidation, along the lines of PostNord combining the Swedish and Danish post offices, is a possibility.

The report benchmarks the postal operators of the 10 largest global economies:
1. United States Postal Service (USPS)
2. China Post
3. Japan Post
4. Deutsche Post (Germany)
5. Royal Mail Group (UK)
6. La Poste (France)
7. India Post
8. Poste Italiane (Italy)
9. Brazil Post
10. Canada Post

The report contains:

• Analysis of relevant market trends
• The benchmarks, which cover 33 different metrics grouped into the categories of Scale, Performance, Growth, International Diversification and Business Diversification, each accompanied by commentary and interpretation
• Overall rankings, based on the benchmark scores.
• Case studies of seven of the leading operators, reviewing their context, performance and strategy in detail

The global postal operators covered by case studies are:
1. USPS
2. Japan Post
3. Deutsche Post
4. Royal Mail Group
5. La Poste
6. Poste Italiane
7. Canada Post