Citizens Advice begins research into UK postal market

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Citizens Advice, a UK charity that offers free advice on financial, legal and consumer issues, is undertaking flagship research into the value of, and need for, delivering postal services to consumers in the UK.

The research will explore how the impact of new technology coupled with the growth of e-commerce is changing the postal landscape for consumers. The project was initially launched at a workshop in late September 2015, and brought together stakeholders from across the industry as well as advocacy groups representing direct marketers, small business and rural networks.

Key questions discussed at the workshop included, ‘What is shaping demand for postal services?’ and, ‘How is the social and economic role of the post changing for consumers?’

Expert presentations highlighted factors in the UK’s changing postal sector such as the role of the post office, the parcel delivery experiences of Scottish and Northern Ireland consumers, the impact of technology and the monitoring of postal services regulation at EU level.

Robert Hammond, director of postal policy and regulation at Citizens Advice, said, “This workshop provided an excellent opportunity to bring together a forum of expert voices from across the UK’s postal industry to highlight the broad range of issues affecting the UK postal market so that we can focus our research consumer needs for postal services.

“This is an ambitious project and we are keen to understand how the postal industry sees the market changing, and how this is affecting consumers’ choices for sending and receiving letters and the established and growing e-commerce parcel market.”