Parcel and Postal Technology International
  • News
    • A-E
      • Automation
      • Business Diversification
      • Construction / Development
      • Cross-border
      • Delivery
      • E-commerce
      • Expo
    • F-O
      • Freight
      • IT & Systems
      • Last Mile
      • Lockers / PUDO
      • Logistics
      • Mail
      • Operations
    • P-R
      • Packets
      • Parcels
      • Peak
      • Retail
      • Returns
    • S-Z
      • Sorting Systems
      • Staff / Personnel
      • Sustainability
      • Technology
      • Vehicles / Fleet
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    • March 2025
    • September 2023
    • June 2023
    • March 2023
    • December 2022
    • SHOWCASE 2019
    • Archive Issues
    • Subscribe Free!
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Analysis
  • Awards
    • 2025 Awards
    • Previous Winners
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Parcel + Post Expo
LinkedIn YouTube Twitter
  • Sign-up for Breaking News Emails
  • Meet the Editors
  • Contact Us
  • Media Pack
Subscribe
LinkedIn Facebook
Parcel and Postal Technology International
  • News
      • Automation
      • Business Diversification
      • Construction / Development
      • Cross-border
      • Delivery
      • E-commerce
      • Expo
      • Freight
      • IT & Systems
      • Last Mile
      • Lockers / PUDO
      • Logistics
      • Mail
      • Operations
      • Packets
      • Parcels
      • Peak
      • Retail
      • Returns
      • Sorting Systems
      • Staff / Personnel
      • Sustainability
      • Technology
      • Vehicles / Fleet
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    1. December 2024
    2. September 2024
    3. June 2024
    4. March 2024
    5. SHOWCASE 2019
    6. Subscribe Free!
    Featured
    April 2, 2025

    In this Issue – March 2025

    Online Magazines By Web Team
    Recent

    In this Issue – March 2025

    April 2, 2025

    In this Issue – December 2024

    December 5, 2024

    In this Issue – September 2024

    September 19, 2024
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Analysis
  • Awards
    • 2025 Awards
    • 2024 Award Winners
    • 2023 Award Winners
    • 2022 Award Winners
    • 2021 Award Winners
    • 2020 Award Winners
    • 2019 Award Winners
    • Previous Winners
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Parcel + Post Expo
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
Parcel and Postal Technology International
Opinion

Postal development and innovation: the next five years

Adrian King, founder and partner, Strategia GroupBy Adrian King, founder and partner, Strategia GroupMay 13, 20214 Mins Read
Share LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

The postal sector has been going through waves of change since the onset of the digital economy in the early 1990s and the response to these challenges can be characterized in three phases:

  • 1990s-2005: Productivity and diversification
    • A focus on automation and consolidation of operations in the context of significant re-regulation. Start of diversification into data document and digital services.
  • 2005-2015: Digital to core
    • Continuing automation with increased emphasis on building digital interfaces both with customers and with delivery workers. The connected receiver and delivery worker are critical to future innovation.
  • 2015 onward: Digital as a mindset
    • Digital is no longer an additional process but is fundamental to all aspects of postal product offer and delivery.

The Covid impact

As in many other industries, the pandemic has acted as an accelerator and has advanced certain trends by upward of five years. Below are my expectations for the medium-term development of the postal sector.

Mail and documents

Mail decline has accelerated, and although there will be some recovery, this is a structural shift. Transactional mail will continue to fall, while direct mail may be more robust as it is seen as a way to break through ‘consumer digital clutter’. However, intensive innovation in mail processing will be required:

  • Universal Service Obligation to move to variants of reduced day delivery in the absence of government subsidy
  • Digital notification of physical mail to reduce loss of service
  • Adoption of machine learning to enhance production planning
  • Growth in alignment of labor resources to workflows but on terms that do not turn the industry into another part of the ‘gig economy’, where business risk is transferred to labor
  • Networks to become parcel led, resulting in changes in networks and sorting technologies
  • Increased focus on delivery innovation to include focus on route consolidation, increased use of vehicles, dynamic routing, expansion of consolidated drop points, increased integration of e-commerce and mail into a single delivery flow
  • Continuing innovation in upstream document/data management

E-commerce

The growth rates of the last 12 months are unlikely to be sustained but there has been a structural shift to e-commerce. Although there may be some environmental pushback against e-commerce, the direction will be growth. Innovation will need to center around information management, receiver preferences, intelligent routing and inflight routing. The markets will be competitive and posts will need to define a price-quality position in the high-volume parcel market segment.

Probable innovations include:

  • Increase in robotics and automation in parcel processing
  • Continued innovation in receiver apps and integration with operational systems
  • Development of services to support innovation in emerging areas of e-commerce, e.g. dark warehousing-same day, new subscription services and local-to-local e-commerce.
  • Many posts will continue to move upstream into fulfillment services
  • E-commerce regulation will become increasingly important. The shift from mail to parcel will heighten issues of cross-subsidization

Arguably, to facilitate economic participation there should be increasing concern about universal access to broadband services and e-commerce delivery rather than mail.

Postal retail

The divergence in postal retail models will continue. There are three business models:

  • Logistics, where postal retail simply becomes service-point-based franchised agencies
  • Mixed provision of a range of services as an intermediary through a franchised network
  • Banking-led, which drives the retail presence and other services are secondary

Innovations will focus on customer management and integration of digital and physical customer experience. Potential innovations will include:

  • Systems to capture customer preferences and transactions to develop tailored offers
  • Postal apps that create account relations to postal services and are an access point to other services linked to digital identity and verification
  • Integration of online experience and physical experience to create a seamless customer journey
  • Integration of multiple data sources to feed business intelligence tools to improve operations

Conclusion

In the next five years, posts will continue to face significant changes to revenue streams. This will require innovation in operational processes and product offers, and customer management innovation will need to focus on restructuring operational networks to match the new traffic profile and to increase the data element of the product.

The posts’ competitiveness and relevance in the next two decades will rest on achieving these changes and aligning and implementing them within their social and regulatory context.

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticlePoste Italiane pushes ahead with integration of Nexive subsidiaries
Next Article Douglas Tulino appointed USPS deputy Postmaster General

Related Posts

Opinion

OPINION: The impact of open smart locker networks on the future of parcel logistics

April 23, 20254 Mins Read
Opinion

OPINION: The challenges of expanding out-of-home delivery in the UK

April 2, 20255 Mins Read
Opinion

OPINION: Carrier preferences for OOH delivery in Poland – what lessons can be learned?

March 17, 20255 Mins Read

Receive breaking stories and features in your inbox each week, for free


Enter your email address:


Latest News

Whistl to provide e-commerce fulfillment services to Tesco F&F Online

May 13, 2025

NZ Post’s Auckland Processing Centre becomes fully operational

May 13, 2025

XPO Logistics boosts cross-border capacity with state-of-the-art container trailers

May 13, 2025
Getting in Touch
  • Contact Us / Advertiser
  • Meet the Editors
  • Download Media Pack
  • Breaking News Emails
Our Social Channels
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Supplier Spotlights
  • SOLYSTIC S.A.S.
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Notice & Takedown Policy
  • Site FAQs
© 2025 UKi Media & Events a division of UKIP Media & Events Ltd

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie records the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie records the user consent for the cookies in the "Analytics" category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe GDPR Cookie Consent plugin sets the cookie to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie records the user consent for the cookies in the "Necessary" category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie stores user consent for cookies in the category "Others".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie stores the user consent for cookies in the category "Performance".
elementorneverThe website's WordPress theme uses this cookie. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time.
JSESSIONIDsessionNew Relic uses this cookie to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

CookieDurationDescription
__cf_bm30 minutesCloudflare set the cookie to support Cloudflare Bot Management.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

CookieDurationDescription
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
uidsessionThis is a Google UserID cookie that tracks users across various website segments.
vuid1 year 1 month 4 daysVimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos on the website.
_ga1 year 1 month 4 daysGoogle Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
_ga_*1 year 1 month 4 daysGoogle Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

CookieDurationDescription
OAGEOsessionOpenX sets this cookie to avoid the repeated display of the same ad.
OAID1 yearCookie set to record whether the user has opted out of the collection of information by the AdsWizz Service Cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysYouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYoutube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt.innertube::nextIdneverYouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requestsneverYouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

CookieDurationDescription
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA5 months 27 daysDescription is currently not available.

SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by