SA Post Office 'the ideal e-commerce partner' – Barnes

The financially troubled South

African Post Office (Sapo) is

putting together a business

strategy to become a hub

for e-commerce growth in

southern Africa, according to

its CEO, Mark Barnes.

This follows a “highly

successful” meeting last

month with the Swiss-based

Universal Postal Union (UPU)

– a United Nations (UN)

specialised agency which makes

recommendations to stimulate

growth in mail, parcel and

financial services volumes.

Barnes said in a statement

that the agency was helping

the state-owned entity with its

business case.

Director-general of UPU,

Bishar Hussein, said on his visit

that South Africa was chosen as

a starting point as a potential

e-commerce hub in the

southern African region due to

its good telecommunications

structure and its sea and air

entry points.

Barnes made the case that

the Sapo’s large database and

its widespread infrastructure

made it the “ideal e-commerce

partner”. He added that

the post office was looking

to possibly tie up with an

international e-commerce

player in a public-private

partnership that would be

similar to online global retail

giant Amazon’s partnerships

with UPS and FedEx.

“Nothing has been finalised

and of course the strategy

would have to be approved

by the Department of

Telecommunications and Postal

Services. There is however every

indication that the Sapo board

would have an open mind to an

e-commerce strategy,” he said.

According to Barnes, the

Sapo has already expanded

its space at OR Tambo

International Airport by 70%

and is engaging with South

Africa’s logistics operators,

including ports, as part of its

strategy.

Since the start of the

decade, post office agencies

in traditional markets such as

Canada, Europe and the United

States as well as emerging

markets in India and China

have created products and

services specifically tailored

to the needs of e-commerce.

In Europe, some government

post offices have been partially

privatised to encourage them

to become more efficient and

competitive.

John Spelich, the VP

International e-commerce

business development for

Chinese

e-commerce

giant Alibaba

Group,

highlighted in a

recent blog post

that post offices

had a “great

opportunity” to

gain significant

share of the

e-commerce

market due

to their

distribution

centres — if

they can meet

the demands of the e-commerce

customer.

“But, to capitalise on their

advantages, post offices will

need to adapt and cooperate

as never before,” he said,

pointing out that breaking

bottlenecks and knocking

down other “formidable”

logistical barriers to global

e-commerce would require

investment in IT and physical

infrastructure; improved

partnerships and coordination

between post offices, shippers

and other stakeholders

worldwide; as well as

standardised

customs,

payment

and delivery

processes.

There is

certainly

a growing

e-commerce

market locally.

According to a

recent Paypal

and Ipsos

cross-border

commerce

report, South

African online

spend is forecast to grow

to over R53bn by 2018. In

2016, 43% of adults in South

Africa shopped cross-border.

The US is the most popular

cross-border online shopping

destination for South African

online shoppers.

INSERT AND CAPTION

There is every

indication that the

Sapo board would

have an open mind

to an e-commerce

strategy.

– MARK BARNES