NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 18 – The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) is looking towards innovative solutions to grow its business as income for the State corporation faces stiff competition.
This follows the emergence of social media networks that have led to declining revenue from mail delivery.
Post Master General Hussein Ali said on Tuesday the corporation is not going to fight social media but instead focus on growing other business segments such as courier services to diversify its income pool.
“As a business we cannot fight what people are opting for or try to be like them. Instead, we have to develop innovative solutions if we are to overcome the situation,” Mr Ali said.
The Postmaster General agreed competition from technological development was a challenge to the State Corporation.
Mail delivery, which remains a major income generator for the corporation, has been on a two percent annual decline.
The emergence of instant messaging, PDFs and e-mails, has eaten into the space previously enjoyed by letters making it seem outdated.
Mr Ali said modern technology had created demographic dynamics as more people, especially in business, look towards quick responses.
He is however optimistic that the need for postal services will not die out saying they plan to develop faster and go into areas where social networking could not.
He said there had been an upsurge in the use of courier services for both long and short distance trips.
“In future we will be focusing more on boosting our EMS (Express Mail Service), parcels and financial services businesses as our main streams of revenue as well as meeting changing consumer needs,” the Postmaster General said.
In the last financial year, 2009/2010, the corporation recorded a turnover of Sh3.6 billion, but Mr Ali said should they successfully implement new strategies the figure could rise further.
“We are not satisfied with the current level of business but we are optimistic we can improve on the last performance,” he said.
PCK is also in advance stages of testing the .(dot)post service in mail delivery system that allows it to use postal addresses on behalf of service providers and utility companies to deliver bills online.
