India Posts and the eTail Boom

If the "MAKE IN INDIA" slogan of Modi needs to be applied, we need to ensure we have some strong Indian companies that start to compete with the likes of those big organizations that capture mind and market share. One such opportunity is for India Posts, a Govt operated postal system in India

India is on the verge of a etail boom - the Flipkarts, Amazon, eBay and Snapdeal have grabbed a high mindshare and market share [expected to be  a $13 bn market as per Reuters and Online retail sales are expected to surge to $76 billion by 2021, according to consultants Forrester] in the Indian Market this festive season. There is not a single day that I do not see a truck come into my apartment with goods ordered from any of these providers. Add to them, providers like Jabong, Yep-me, 100best-buy, and the etail market has instantly hit the physical stores and have moved the customers to shop from the comfort of their home or office. More importantly they have been a catalyst for the Logistics industry. Flipkart started its own logistics arm, eKart. Amazon is building its own logistics division Amazon Logistics. This is in addition to the tie ups with GATI, Blue Dart and FedEx. Amazon has tied up with India Posts to reach the far flung places in the country. eCommerce providers do not want to miss those opportunities. However the challenge in logistics infrastructure provides a great opportunity for India Posts.

Now India Posts was set up in 1774 and India has the largest Postal Network in the world with over 155,015 Post Offices (as on 31.03.2009) of which 1, 39,144 (89.76%) are in the rural areas. On an average, a Post Office serves an area of 21.21 Sq. Km and a population of 7175 people.

What is needed though is for the Post Office to re-invent itself. The Post Office now has a status tracker on its website, a section for Philately enthusiasts, a mini banking system. What else can they do?  Who are their competitors - DHL, FedEx, Flipkart Logistics, Western Union, Flipkart itself, Magic Bricks… When there is a Delivery network of 155,000 post offices, they have much more options.. Don’t they?

Now in my thoughts what can the Post Office do?

1.     Collect Data [In my schooling days, the Post Man knew every house]

2.     Offer insights on logistic movements; regions with infrastructure challenges, real estate prices

3.     Having 1 and 2 will allow them to be part of the promotions environment of big and small providers that are seeking to understand customer behavior to sell their products

4.     Invest in R&D to try get the delivery model with drones to replace some of the older postmen in some places

5.     If Retailer can set up logistics arms that is so much more difficult, why cant India Posts get into retail