Executing on our strategy

Our strategic objective is to deliver distinctive customer and consumer experiences to become the leading e-commerce and postal service provider in, to and from the Benelux. In 2024, we are introducing nine strategic priorities (see visual on the next page) to help support us in achieving this objective.

Parcels

In the e-commerce market, PostNL aims to help its customers grow by offering logistics and other services, providing a distinctive experience for customers and consumers. With a state-of-the-art network that offers customers high-quality service across the Benelux, we are ideally positioned to drive and capture further e-commerce growth. The aim is to capture further e-commerce growth by balancing volume, value and capacity.

Cross-border initiatives

We will further develop cross-border initiatives to attract volumes by retaining and acquiring e-commerce clients from Asia and Europe. In Europe, for example, we will develop additional propositions, such as expanding fulfilment options for our cross-border clients.

Business customers

We are working to accelerate the success of our e-tailers and will use a targeted approach for the SME segment by scaling new digital services and insights to fuel customers’ growth ambitions.

Targeting consumers' needs

The consumer is increasingly front and centre in e-commerce, and they increasingly expect digital alternatives to traditional services, and want greater control over their shipments. In 2024, we will continue to redesign our range of delivery options, such as same-day and Sunday delivery, and aim to expand out-of-home delivery options. For example, we will add parcel lockers across the Netherlands and expect additional third-party operators to begin using our lockers, joining GLS Netherlands, who from March will become the first party to take advantage of this.

Cost control

At the same time, we will implement strict cost control and network rationalisation. For example, by achieving the full €25 million cost savings benefits from the reduction of 200-300 FTEs in overhead, mainly at Parcels, and other measures to reduce indirect costs and improve efficiency, as announced in 2023. And by simplifying and rationalising products and services by redesigning delivery options, and improving network efficiencies.

Mail in the Netherlands

At Mail in the Netherlands, our focus will be on realising our cost-saving plans and tariff increases. This will be alongside the new programmes we have started to fill as many mail deliverer vacancies as possible.

Changes required for sustainable mail business

Over the last decade we have faced mail volume decline of around 8-10% annually, fuelled by the ongoing rise of digital communication. We are also facing growth in organic costs in both labour and other operations-related expenditures, and we see far fewer customers require and expect the 24-hour delivery window that was once the industry standard. If we want to keep mail reliable, accessible and affordable for everyone in the Netherlands, we need to look at changes to the current service framework, and both the universal service obligation (USO) and the entire mail business need to evolve with this. Without these changes the USO, as of today, and over time the entire mail organisation will be structurally loss-making, which is unsustainable.

As a result, we will start to discuss with the government on changing the postal regulation to enable us to adapt our network. This is required to safeguard a financially viable postal service in the Netherlands, which provides job security to thousands of people, now and going forward. This will also contribute to the profitability of the mail business enabling us to invest in the future of Dutch postal services.

Digital transformation

We will continue with our digital transformation, delivering a distinctive customer experience, driving efficiency, and scaling our platforms and digital business models. We will strengthen our competitive position by building on our platform, integrating customers, consumers and solutions through simple and smart digital journeys that aim to improve customer satisfaction.

CSRD readiness

In 2022, we began preparing for the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which for PostNL takes effect from financial year 2024. In 2024, we will focus on implementation, including closing identified gaps with our current ESG reporting, embedding CSRD into relevant processes, and reporting accordingly in our next Annual Report.