Postal Services Market Trends

E-commerce represents a tremendous opportunity for postal services as consumers become increasingly comfortable ordering items online from emerging e-commerce platforms, and traditional brick-and-mortar outlets are also transitioning to digital environments. As the volume of online sales increases, e-commerce providers are seeking cost-effective channels for the delivery and collection of purchased items. Postal services, with their long-established national networks and experience in last-mile delivery, are emerging as effective partners in this regard. In Kenya, for example, a partnership between online marketplace Jumia and the Postal Corporation of Kenya enables online shoppers to collect items they purchase on Jumia from their nearest post office.

However, many global postal services organizations are not equipped to take advantage of this growth in e-commerce. While B2C eCommerce is growing at a global rate of 17%, parcel volumes among postal services organizations have been growing at less than 5%. Part of the issue is the low adoption of digital technologies as core business and innovation drivers among low-performing postal services organizations. Where digital adoption is high, innovations inevitably emerge. The launch of mPost by Kenya's postal services, for example, has turned every mobile phone into a formal postal address, enabling people to access letters and parcels from anywhere in the country.