Postal partnerships to fuel SME e-Commerce growth

• 2016 IPC conference themed ‘Postal Innovation for SMEs: Partnership for Growth’ hosts  chief executive officers of posts from America, Asia Pacific and Europe
• European Commission Vice-President for Digital Single Market (DSM) insists on need to remove barriers to online e-Commerce, for the benefit of SMEs and posts
• Partnerships with leading global platforms key to facilitate global e-Commerce

Brussels, Belgium, 23 May 2016 – For the 2016 International Post Corporation Annual Conference, CEOs and senior executives from leading postal operators from America, Asia Pacific and Europe gathered last Friday in the Hotel de la Poste in Brussels, in the Tour and Taxis complex, once the largest central hub for the transit of merchandise through the capital. 

This year, the conference focused on how postal innovation can benefit small businesses and help them further embrace cross-border e-Commerce. 

Herbert-Michael Zapf, IPC President and CEO commented on the theme of this year’s conference: "In today’s increasingly globalised and digitalised markets, small businesses go through major transformations. Global e-Commerce represents a key opportunity for SMEs to grow and hence contribute to overall economic growth. SMEs and posts can benefit from each other by creating a true partnership for growth".

Many obstacles still remain for SMEs to embrace e-Commerce, especially cross-border, from creating the website, establishing secure online payment solutions, launching marketing campaigns and finding the right shipping solutions. Postal innovative efforts have focused on developing services targeting SMEs which are key to postal growth.  

Global e-Commerce is a fragmented industry with multiple players involved in providing web shops, payment, fulfilment and delivery solutions. The conference heard examples of how postal operators can successfully work in partnership with leading global platforms to facilitate global e-Commerce. Such partnerships can provide the front end systems and fulfilment and despatch operations to enable SMEs to access global commerce through postal delivery services.

The IPC Annual Conference highlighted the benefits to postal operators of aligning their digital strategies with partners who can help to grow e-Commerce through the seamless integration of retailers’ warehouse management systems with postal delivery solutions.

Speaking at the IPC Annual Conference 2016, Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market said: “Innovation is as important as ever in the postal sector and postal operators’ efforts are valued highly. On the Commission's side we want now to make sure that Europe's economy and consumers get the most out of the Digital Single Market. For the DSM to work properly, barriers to cross-border online activity have to be removed. That will lead to more e-Commerce. Getting smooth, affordable and reliable delivery of goods bought online is a key part of that. It would in turn benefit postal operators”.

Through INTERCONNECT, participating posts in America, Asia-Pacific and Europe are in a position to offer a consistent delivery service on each service level throughout an integrated network of more than 30 posts worldwide and more in the future; not only to national e-retailers and SMEs wishing to sell online, but also to global platforms facilitating SMEs online sales activities. 

Herbert-Michael Zapf concluded: "Through intense collaboration and cooperation with global platforms and partners, posts can play an important role and remove many remaining obstacles for SMEs to sell online cross-border and generate further growth". 

For more information on the 2016 IPC Annual Conference, click here.

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The IPC 2016 Annual Conference ‘Postal Innovation for SMEs: Partnership for Growth’ featured keynote speeches from  Amine Khechfé, General Manager and Co-Founder, Endicia, leader in electronic postage software solutions, key partner of posts and SMEs; Carl Hartmann, CEO and Co-Founder, of Temando, a multi-carrier platform for e-Commerce; Mark Lenhard, Senior Vice-President for Strategy & Growth of Magento Commerce, which offers omnichannel solutions to online merchants, and; Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice - President for the Digital Single Market. For the panel discussion, keynote speakers were joined on stage by Francesco Caio, CEO and General Manager, Poste Italiane, and Philippe Wahl, Chairman and CEO, Le Groupe La Poste.

The following posts were represented:

The IPC Annual Conference gathered about seventy senior delegates, including CEOs, from the following posts from the IPC membership and beyond, including:  An Post (Ireland); bpost (Belgium); Correo Argentino (Argentina); Correos (Spain); CTT Correios (Portugal); Cyprus Post (Cyprus); Deutsche Post DHL (Germany); Hellenic Post ELTA (Greece); Iceland Post (Iceland); Japan Post Co.Ltd (Japan); Latvijas Pasts (Latvia); Le Groupe La Poste (France); Magyar Posta (Hungary); Malta Post (Malta); New Zealand Post (New Zealand); Österreichische Post AG (Austria); POST Luxembourg (Luxembourg); Poste Italiane SpA (Italy); Posten Norge (Norway); Posti (Finland); PostNL (The Netherlands); PostNord (Denmark and Sweden); Slovenska Posta (Slovakia); Swiss Post (Switzerland); USPS (United States) and representatives from the European Commission and PostEurop.

About International Post Corporation

International Post Corporation (IPC) is the leading service provider of the global postal industry that provides leadership by driving service quality, interoperability and business-critical intelligence to support posts in defending existing business and expanding into new growth areas. It is a cooperative association of 24 member postal operators in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. IPC’s solutions and services are used by over 180 posts worldwide. Since 1989 IPC has set standards for upgrading quality and service performance and developed technological solutions that help members enhance service for international letters, packets and parcels. IPC engages in industry research, creates business-critical intelligence, provides a range of platforms and programmes for member post CEOs and senior management to exchange best practices and discuss strategy. IPC also manages the system for incentive-based payments between postal operators.