Postal and Parcel Industry Consulting and Trends

Transportation and Logistics

Large online retailers threaten the postal and parcel market the same way email decimated postal volume. We help postal and parcel industry clients harness digital operations and embrace digital go-to-market strategies to build efficiency, business offerings, and customer loyalty.

In the face of new challenges and challengers, postal, parcel, and logistics services must rethink their assumptions and revisit their operating models. Now that e-tailers have begun to move into delivery themselves, the lines between clients, competitors, and collaborators are blurring. Organizations need help bringing the right strategies into focus.

How We Deliver for the Postal and Parcel Industry

Our postal and parcel consultants help companies steer a profitable path through the challenges of today—and tomorrow. Our experts bring deep insights on customer and economic dynamics and the full breadth of our functional capabilities.

Digitization in Postal and Parcel

The expectations of postal and parcel customers have been shaped by their experiences with digital services and companies. Shippers and recipients demand minimal waits, maximum customization, near-immediate response times, and fully transparent processes.

We help postal and parcel services unlock the power of advanced analytics and connectivity with customers to exceed these expectations.

Building Trust Among Postal and Parcel Customers

Our research shows that when a broad selection of postal and parcel services is available, customers are more likely to choose the brands they are familiar with. Some even report deep connections with their longtime postal and parcel carriers and organizations.

Our postal and parcel consulting experts help services foster loyalty and trust at the point of delivery—and then retain and build on that trust through digitally savvy strategies and alliances.

One high-profile example illustrates how postal players can build on both trust and digitization to create new business offerings. Working in conjunction with BCG, Australia Post developed Digital iD. The smartphone app, launched initially with selected Australia Post products, enables consumers to verify their identity online in safe and reliable ways.

Last-Mile Strategy in Postal and Parcel

To maximize efficiency and minimize emissions, postal and parcel services will need to reimagine the strategy and execution associated with the last mile of delivery. They will be working hard either to own the customer relationship at the point of delivery or to be partnered with the ones that do.

We help organizations not only to peer into the future but also to shape it. Our scenario modeling explores the economics and implications of both high-tech solutions, such as robots and self-driving vehicles servicing the last mile, as well as lower-tech solutions, such as parcel lockers at retail sites. In our analysis, we also consider less obvious options, such as using a marketplace of logistics vendors or even crowdsourcing to provide delivery to the last mile.

Sustainability in Postal and Parcel

Customer expectations extend to climate-friendly policies and services. Our postal, parcel, and post office strategy consulting advises on green strategies, practices, and partnerships.

We help our clients reinvent their operations to include new innovations. Among the areas we explore are new packaging and processes; the use of sustainable fuels and vehicles; and optimally efficient and tech-enabled routing, pricing, and scheduling.

Featured Postal and Parcel Insights

An Onslaught of New Rivals in Parcel and Express

Hit Hard by COVID-19, Transportation & Logistics Companies Must Adapt to Keep Supplies Moving

Why Parcel Companies Need to Make Every Delivery Special

Can Delivery Companies Keep Up with the E-Commerce Boom?

Explore Our Latest Thinking On Transportation and Logistics

Our Featured Tools and Solutions

Center for Digital in Transportation

We partner with postal, parcel, and logistics services to deploy digital levers, including digital platforms, predictive analytics, advanced monitoring, and automation of operations.

Center for Mobility Innovation

Through this center, we help clients address such shared challenges as congestion, pollution, and the development of new technologies. We help clients connect with the right stakeholders at each stage of the value chain to take new ideas from the drawing board to the street.

BCG Digital Ventures

This corporate investment and incubation specialty business of BCG aids companies in inventing, launching, scaling, and investing in startups. With our help, clients learn how to remain relevant in the age of new technology by acting like venture capitalists. We look for innovations and invest in companies looking to reinvent such offerings as post office and parcel shipping strategy.

Our Client Work in the Postal and Parcel Industry

Helping a National Parcel Leader Become a Global Leader. A national parcel service was concerned that its existing initiatives weren’t enough to hit its growth targets. Our parcel consulting team identified the market that promised the largest growth potential and focused the client on becoming a global leader within it. With our help, the company successfully implemented a more ambitious growth strategy.

Developing a Digital Strategy for a Large Courier Company. We worked with an Asian delivery services company to address its weak position in the e-commerce parcel market. We helped the company formulate a digital strategy for mail, parcel, and financial services, and then execute on that strategy, achieving profitability within a year.