PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Steve Jobs and his team at Apple introduced iTunes in April 2003. In

less than six years, by January 2009, users had downloaded over six billion songs using this channel. How was this possible and why did it become so popular? Because nowadays the site offers more than 13 billion songs and it is possible to download one song for 99 cents with only one click.

What does this model have in common with postal technology? Why is InPost similar? How can other companies benefit from such a strategy?

InPost, the largest alternative postal operator in Poland, introduced easyPack parcel terminals in 2009. We have deployed more than 400 pick-up machines in Poland, where a user could receive a parcel at any time, because the machine is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. After succeeding in Poland we decided to expand to other markets, offering our technology, business, IT, sales and marketing expertise. Having this in mind we participated in Post-Expo 2010 as an exhibitor and during the following months we secured 12 contracts with postal operators and express couriers.

Then we hit a wall. There were several reasons for this, prominent among which was the common requirement for a long, formal tender process because of the size of the investment and the desire of many posts to conduct a trial of the system with a few machines. However we knew that such as strategy would not succeed as there is little point in putting five or 10 machines in a big country. That is why we introduced over 100 machines in Poland in the first three months of

operation back in 2009 – and that is what we encourage others to do.

With this knowledge we rethought our strategy and with the help of the investment fund PineBridge Investments, Integer.pl (the mother company of InPost) will invest over E108 million in the first stage to develop the easyPack system across Europe and CIS countries. Our plans include a roll out of up to 16,000 parcel machines in Europe in 4.5 years with an investment of E300 million.

As in the model used by iTunes, postal operators and express couriers will be using our service in a ‘pay per parcel’ model, which means they will pay a predefined small fee for using a box to offer a last mile service to their e-commerce partners and individual customers. No upfront investment is needed.

START BIG, NOT SMALLThe instantaneous success of iTunes that followed its launch shows that the best way of implementing a new technology is to get it out in a major launch so that people can start using it

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FIND OUT MOREInPostTel: +48 506 009 735Email: mbosacki@inpost.plWeb: www.easyPack24.com

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What are the potential benefits to post operators and express couriers? First, there are no investment barriers for a local operator. Second, our partner avoids risk and costs related to the machines and boxes because the terminals are owned by easyPack. Third, the operators can reduce last mile costs by 50-70 percent and minimise failed deliveries to only 0.036 percent compared with 12-20 percent in a standard home delivery model. One machine contains 76 boxes, so there is little risk that all the boxes will be busy at the same time. Finally, an operator can benefit from full national coverage in a relatively short time. That will be followed by a transfer of know-how and experience from other markets and InPost also provides market and client integration support.

EXHIBITOR

InPost now operates more than 400 easyPack parcel

terminals in Poland