In the Australia Post Annual report for the 2013 year (yes, I’m months late reading this), the organisation reports a 4.5% decline in retail foot traffic. They attribute this to consumers migrating to digital (online) channels for products and or service they would have access in an Australia Post retail outlet.
This year we experienced a decline of 4.5 per cent in retail foot traffic due to the challenging retail environment and the continuing shift of consumers to digital channels.
While the annual report offers no specific data, I expect a chunk of the decline in traffic is due to a decline in over the counter bill payment. There is no upside in over the counter bill payment in my view.
In our regional LPO. Footfall is up. Turnover is up. GP is down. We believe that while people can do a lot of stuff on line they still prefer a warm welcoming face to face experience if they can get it- which is what we provide. By they way, the same experience doesn’t happen in many corporate POs. If Auspost want to improve their business they need to look at people & culture, as well as continually and inexorably analysing numbers. Good personal service will win in the end.