RM pushes for more parcel business customers with TV adverts

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Royal Mail pushes for more parcel business customers with TV campaign

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Royal Mail is mounting a big push to attract online retailers to its parcel services, with the first major TV advertising campaign aimed at parcel business customers in almost five years.

The company said its campaign will seek to promote itself as a partner for online retailers by emphasizing the trust it enjoys among consumers.

The campaign will launch tonight with a 40-second spot shown during England’s friendly football match against Denmark on the TV channel ITV1. The ad will feature research suggesting that people are more likely to shop at an online retailer again if they use Royal Mail for delivery.

The ad, which will run throughout the month of March, will target all scales of e-commerce merchants, from large businesses down to SMEs including eBay powersellers.

The Royal Mail campaign aims to persuade e-commerce merchants that the British public trusts its delivery services

Royal Mail said parcels are an increasingly important part of its business, now accounting for 51% of Group revenue.

With letter volumes declining, the newly-privatised company is aiming to carve a bigger slice of the e-commerce parcels pie, with the sector expected to grow from 9.6% of the UK’s total retail sales (2012) to 12.3% in 2017.

Royal Mail will back up its TV campaign with direct mail, along with national press, digital and outdoor advertising.

Mike Newnham, Royal Mail’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “This is Royal Mail’s first TV ad specifically targeting business customers for five years. Through the TV ad, we are promoting Royal Mail’s leading role as the parcel delivery partner for online retailers and emphasising the trust shoppers place in us to deliver the items they have ordered.”

In the six months up to the end of September 2013, Royal Mail’s parcel revenue grew 9% year-on-year thanks to pricing changes, but volumes were largely unchanged compared to the same period in 2012 as customers reacted to the threat of strike action, which ultimately did not happen last year, and as customers also reacted to good summer weather and changes in Royal Mail’s pricing.

The company has been pushing for market share in a UK e-commerce market marked by a high level of competition among delivery firms, launching new and improved services including last April’s new tracked returns service.

Source: Post&Parcel/Royal Mail