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China's Expected E-Business Boom Lures Mailmen to Fray
The State Postal Bureau (SPB) is taking important steps that will improve the value of e-commerce in China.
The bureau recently met with many of the world's most-renowned enterprises concerning the country's development of e-commerce.
The bureau's broad-based delivery network, if properly used, could greatly assist e-commerce, according to industry insiders.
"Taking an active role in the development of e-commerce will be a win-win deal for our bureau and the enterprises," said Liu Liqing, postmaster general of the bureau.
Liu's remarks came at a recent fair organized by the bureau in Beijing, which was held to strengthen its co-operation with enterprises both from home and abroad.
Representatives from more than 40 government sectors and enterprises participated the event, such as Dell, IBM, Haier, MecoxLane, HP, ChinaMotion and Sina.com.
Two hundred thirty-six large-scale distribution centres have been established in the country's large and medium-sized cities that serve more than 2,300 cities through an extensive delivery network.
"We can substantially contribute to easing delivery problems encountered in e-commerce," Li said.
He said e-commerce operators can improve their delivery efficiency and reduce costs by relying on the postal bureau.
According to the SPB, there are 66,649 post offices nationwide. About 50,284 of them are located in rural areas.
The bureau serves its customers with mail sorting machines, parcel sorting machines, ATMs (automated teller machines).
The delivery system has established links with more than 200 foreign countries and regions.
"Accelerating the development of our delivery system and strengthening our ties with enterprises will help us become more profitable and efficient," Liu stressed.
Last year, the sector reported sales valued at 19.84 billion yuan (US$2.39 billion), representing a growth of 19.4 per cent compared with 1998.
According to bureau plans, it is expected to achieve sales of 42 billion yuan (US$5.06 billion) by the end of this year, an annualized increase of 13.6 per cent.
Losses this year are expected to be about 3.5 billion yuan (US$421 million).
"We should take advantage of our delivery system and get involved in e-commerce to enhance our competitiveness as a result of the globalization of the world economy," Liu said.
Early in March, the bureau set up an e-commerce website at http://www.183.com.cn, one of the country's demonstration projects involving e-commerce, to provide on-line postal services concerning newspaper subscriptions, stamp collecting, remittance services and information services.
In the same vein, the bureau launched a "185" telephone service centre to serve customers who are unable to access the Internet.
As far as on-line payments are concerned, Liu said the postal sector has greatly improved its services in the past few years by improving its remittance services and by launching its postal savings card system.
Depositors who have postal savings accounts and postal savings cards can make uniform withdrawals from their accounts at any on-line counter or ATM in China, he said.
Nevertheless, analysts said it will not be easy for China's postal sector to dominate the delivery market since many other delivery companies also provide excellent customer services.
Some analysts believe the most valuable thing about China's postal sector is its deep penetration into the country's hinterlands and remote areas.
The bureau should focus on its regional delivery systems to retain their hold on this market, they said.
(China Daily)
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