Posti strategy aims at renewal

Posti Group has specified its strategic goals and focus areas for 2015 – 2017. Posti aims to be the number one choice for its customers as the provider of postal and logistics services in 2018. The most important financial target for Posti is to maintain good profitability.

The change taking place in the postal sector will become more rapid in the next few years when letter and publication distribution volumes fall as a result of electronic communications. Digitalization will change Posti’s current business models and create new services and growth opportunities.

At the same time, competition will become more fierce in postal and logistics services, and the role of e-commerce will become more prominent. The best customer experience, multi-channel service, the capability to reform and competent personnel are the most important success factors.

These trends lie in the background of Posti Group’s strategy to renew the company into a customer-oriented, first-class, profitable postal and logistics service company.

Posti’s strategic focus areas 2015 - 2017

The Board of Directors of Posti Group has specified the company’s strategic goals for 2015 - 2017. They are targeted at renewing Posti and improving profitability in new services.

1. We will defend the distribution business of publications and direct marketing by extending the product lifecycle so that it is as long as possible. We will shape our capacity with the aim of maintaining good cost competitiveness and service capability when letter and publication volumes are decreasing.
2. We are Finland’s leading logistics service provider in parcel, warehouse and transport businesses and a major logistics operator in Russia. We create solutions that enable the on-line shopping of goods.
3. We improve the customer experience through multi-channel digital services and develop Posti’s services to meet customers’ needs.
4. Posti has access to an efficient, process controlled, digitalized nationwide production network that is managed in a high quality manner and on which we will base our growth.
5. OpusCapita is an important part of our Group and will be turned into a strong provider of financial management software, processes and automation services in Northern Europe.
6. We look for synergy benefits from new growing markets. Home services, meal deliveries and food logistics make use of Posti’s nationwide distribution network. We develop new data and analytics services to meet customers’ needs.
7. We develop the competence of our personnel in new services and the capability to address the opportunities of digitalizing business systematically. Our aim is to be the best workplace in the industry.

Posti is the largest logistics company in Finland

Heikki Malinen, President and CEO of Posti Group, says that in the new strategy the Group’s postal and logistics operations will focus on Finland, Russia and the Baltic countries.

- We are Finland’s largest postal and logistics company with the broadest service range and network. With its strategy, OpusCapita, in turn, aims to be a strong provider of financial management software and processes in Northern Europe, Malinen says about the company’s mindset.

Posti renews in order to secure its profitability

Faced by increasingly fierce competition and declining postal volumes, it is critically important for Posti to secure its competitiveness and profitability. The current result is not at the desired level.

Posti’s goal is to turn logistics and the domestic freight business clearly profitable. There is a need to hurry the renewal in postal services, due to the dramatic decline in postal volumes. Efficiency and productivity are also improved by utilizing new technology and increasing automation.

- For profitability, we must be able to be one step ahead of the transformation of the postal industry. Through renewal, we ensure sufficient profit performance, says Malinen.

Posti Group Corporation’s financial targets

• Operating profit percentage exceeds 5%
• Return on invested capital is at least 10%
• Gearing does not exceed 35%
• More than 10% of the Group’s net sales comes from new business areas in 2018.

Posti focuses on digital services and business solutions

Digitalization offers opportunities for improving the Group’s services and developing new business operations.

- Multi-channel digital services improve customer experience. Posti’s marketing services make use of Posti’s data and analytics expertise in creating new additional services. OpusCapita will adopt new process robotics, continue transformation towards cloud services and develop new solutions in order to improve the management of customers’ working capital, says Senior Vice President, Strategy & Development Sanna Ahonen.

New growth areas: home services and food logistics

Although letter and publication delivery volumes will decrease by some 10%, the market for home services is growing. The need for home services, i.e. meal and home help services, is constantly growing as the population is ageing.

- Posti holds a key position in developing home services, because people trust in Posti and we visit the door of every Finn five times a week, Ahonen says.

The cornerstones of the new strategy include looking for synergy benefits from business and production. In addition to home services, a new growth area and synergy opportunity is offered by food logistics.

- During this strategy period, Posti will expand its operations to temperature-controlled transports, including foodstuffs. Food logistics is a logical growth target, which complements Posti’s logistics service portfolio and in part supports the growth targets of our company, says Ahonen.

Quality and speed count in e-commerce

The strategy in parcel services is to act as an enabler of online shopping for Finnish companies and consumers in a situation where online shopping is internationalizing at a quick pace.

- We want to be the number one choice of consumers and a strong partner for online retailers. Quality and speed of delivery are important for consumers. In addition, new information system solutions bring efficiency to the delivery chain, speed up capital circulation among online retailers and support the growth of online shopping, says Ahonen.

Further information:

Sanna Ahonen, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Development
Posti MediaDesk tel. +358 (0)20 452 3366 (Monday to Friday 9 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.)

Posti Group is your first choice in postal, logistics and e-commerce services. We manage the flow of commerce and everyday life in 11 countries. Our net sales in 2014 amounted to EUR 1,859 million. We employ approximately 23,000 professionals who serve our customers in Finland under the name Posti and in other countries under the name Itella. All of our services in Finland are carbon neutral. www.posti.com.