Vision for EMS in Europe explored in final symposium of 2019

Throughout 2019, senior EMS managers have been sharing their vision for the EMS service in six regional symposiums held around the world. As an international service, EMS shares many common features but each region has very differing market and customer needs.

The final EMS symposium for 2019 took place in Azerbaijan on 4 and 5 December and focussed on the vision for EMS for the European region. In an aggressively competitive market, EMS European Posts already connect shippers and recipients across the world. The 27 participants from 17 operators at the symposium discussed ways that Posts should further collaborate to strengthen the EMS brand regionally and promote a unified EMS network.

In 2018, there were already 11 million online shoppers in the European region and this number is expected to grow. EMS operators from Azerbaijan, France, Russia and the Netherlands showed how they are already successfully offering services to support e-commerce users in the European region. Participants explored ways to position EMS as the preferred service among shippers, meeting the needs of approximately 24.5 million Small and Medium Businesses active in Europe. They discussed ways to further promote the clear advantages of using the postal network for international cross-border e-commerce: EMS offers customers immediate market reach and direct shipping to destination countries, with a fully managed customs clearance.

Senior managers agreed on ideas on how to work more collectively together to grow EMS exports within the region and globally. By the close of the symposium, they identified their top three strategies to achieve the EMS Vision 2021-2024 for the Europe region:

• Review the international product portfolio to ensure differentiation and renew marketing and sales focus on EMS;
• Meet all EMS Cooperative KPI targets and validate standards;
• Implement EMS transport standard operating procedures.

Thanks to Azerbaijan Post for hosting the event.