Pitney Bowes, a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of e-commerce, shipping, mailing, finance, and data, has been synonymous with bringing in innovations in the shipping and mailing industry.
The company believes in delivering innovations that help clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of commerce – from helping them use data to market to the best customers, to effi ciently enabling the sending of parcels and packages, to securing payments through statements and invoices. Since time immemorial, shipping has been the backbone of world’s trade and with the changing era, the demand for freight shipping has only seen an exponential rise. The mailing and shipping industry is witnessing the synergy of the physical and digital space. While physical mailing is declining, Pitney Bowes sees a huge growth opportunity around the synergy of both physical and digital channels.
In an interaction with IMAGES Retail, Venkat Rao, Country Director, Pitney Bowes India expounds on the steps his company is taking to stay relevant in India where e-commerce is growing exponentially.
How is Pitney Bowes’ strategy changing with the growth of e-commerce in India? Have you designed any innovative tech solutions keeping the Indian market in mind?
Pitney Bowes is traditionally a mailing company, but we have been experiencing a decline in the mailing market. Over the past few years, our 99-year-old company has undergone a dramatic transformation.
Tapping into the growing e-commerce segment, we are shifting our portfolio towards shipping and e-commerce technology. Pitney Bowes has come up with a new solution that offers an easy and convenient way to ship the packages. Using the SendStation™ Shipping Application from Pitney Bowes, embedded on digital printers – sending packages has never been faster, or more cost effective and easier.
SendStationTM consists of an integrated solution with the following:
> Weighing scale to measure dead weight
> SendStationTM App for multi-carrier shipping service powered by Shyplite
> Digital printers for hosting the SendStationTM App and label printing. It also allows customers to send their packages with different carriers; and they can easily handle all their shipping needs with one stop and has the following benefits/ functionality:
> Touchscreen interface
> Intuitive look and feel
> Self-service shipping station
> Auto-weight capture USB connected
> E-commerce friendly
> Print shipping labels on demand
> Multi-carrier options
> Accurate costs and payment
> Reduce operating costs
> Added recipient address book by default
Which are the major logistics and solution-providing companies that you have partnered with in India?
We have recently announced our partnership with Shyplite, a logistics technology company that provides a multi-carrier integrated SaaS platform for small businesses that simplifies office shipping. This partnership will provide cost savings for small and medium-sized businesses in India by optimising parcel delivery. Customers will be able to select the most efficient shipping option at a competitive price, creating an improved customer experience with each parcel delivery. Additionally, this solution offers plug-ins for shopping platforms, parcel consignment, parcel tracking, billing and customer support from one convenient dashboard.
We have also partnered with Bizerba India, a leading solution provider globally for high-speed dynamic weighing and weigh-price-labeling technologies, to integrate with our solutions and help resolve customer’s issues related to inefficient parcel measurement, conflicts in parcel rates, decreased service levels and ultimately revenue loss.
What are the major growth drivers for your company in the supply chain and logistics segment?
The last couple of years have seen a tremendous growth in the e-commerce/ e-retail segment in India. According to Pitney Bowes’ Annual Parcel Shipping Index, worldwide parcel volumes rose by 17 percent to 74.4 billion parcels last year and are expected to surpass the 100 billion mark in 2020. India’s e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 150 billion parcels by 2022 with parcel volumes anticipated to grow at 26 percent until 2021. The country’s growth far exceeds the global CAGR, making it an attractive market for shipping solutions. Exponential growth in parcel volumes, e-commerce sales and the need for efficient technology (both software and hardware) has given us an opportunity to work on the shipping solutions.
How has the Indian logistics, supply chain and warehousing market evolved with Pitney Bowes in the country?
India is in a unique position, with the middle-class expected to grow to 540 million by 2022 from 380 million in 2017.
The Internet users base was about 475 million in July 2018 (about 40 percent of the total population), however, the penetration of e-commerce is low in India as compared to US, China and other countries, although it is growing at a faster pace. The number of Internet users is expected to nearly double to 850 million in 2022, and we will see fast growth in the online re-sellers community. The exponential growth of Amazon, Flipkart acquisition by Walmart, Paytm entry and now Reliance too entering the e-retail business will further expand the market for online resellers, logistics companies and the retail sector. The growth of e-commerce has led to the rise of several niche players who largely specialize their products mostly in fashion, groceries, consumer durables and so on.
Nowadays, consumers expect the best products to be delivered quickly at their doorstep. Sellers now have multiple platforms through which they can provide goods and services to their customers as Omnichannel selling is fast becoming the norm. As this trend is steadily gaining momentum, the top brick-and-mortar retailers, have also ventured into online retail. While this growth has been immensely beneficial to both consumers and sellers, it has also exponentially increased the pressure on sellers to be able to provide best service when sending out parcels to their end users.
What are the key opportunities that you think Pitney Bowes can offer solutions to in the retail sector?
Our strategy is to focus on segments like e-commerce marketplaces, small online retailers, traditional brick-and-mortar retail players, corporates, couriers, regional logistic players and India Post.
We are leveraging on the partnership with Shyplite to provide cost saving solutions for small and medium-sized businesses in India by optimizing parcel delivery. Customers will be able to select the most efficient shipping option at the best price creating an improved customer experience with each parcel delivery. By removing the complexity of everyday shipping, small businesses and e-commerce retailers will be able to focus on delighting customers and growing their business. Additionally, this solution offers plug-ins for shopping platforms, parcel consignment, parcel tracking, billing and customer support from one convenient dashboard.
