Royal Mail needs an online community strategy

Royal Mail has a chance to become a heavyweight brand online, having so far had very little commercial exposure to the Web (its websites are weak, and the idea that Royal Mail benefits from Internet shopping mailouts is merely an accident). Given its suitability for online services such as community, local search and classifieds, Royal Mail is one of the most underperforming UK companies online.

Royal Mail has access to, and contracts with, every business in the UK. It has a prime target audience for the development of an online business community, where small and large businesses can network, exchange information, and be exposed to the Royal Mail portfolio of products. Royal Mail can also provide marketing packages for small businesses, for example reselling AdWords in the way that telcos and yellow pages companies do, improving customers' landing page strategies, and acting as an online advertising buying platform. Royal Mail's perceived trustworthiness and their long-established relationships with small business could seem them well positioned to offer services more often associated with yellow pages companies, such as homepage hosting and product listings. And it would be a waste for Royal Mail of all companies not to capitalize on the growth of local and map-based search.

The consumer arm of Royal Mail is also ripe for development. The Post Office is a strong brand in the UK and also ideally placed to create online communities with a local focus. Instead of creating a restricted web presence for its financial offerings – which in any case are from other providers – a full-fledged financial and utility comparison website would be a bigger draw. The Post Office should also develop local communities for consumers, with inexpensively sourced local directories and maps, forums and classifieds listings. The Post Office has a much higher chance of success than websites in perpetual limbo, like myvillage, or even more successful websites like upmystreet.com, whose claim to being the main source of online local information is not supported by the history and trust with which the Post Office is blessed.

Comments

[www.royalmailchat.co.uk]

Very good article,maybe you could copy and paste it to RM HQ.

But alas i'm afraid they are too busy to take any notice of it or anything else at the moment,cutting our jobs,making us work harder for nothing,and are trying to negotiate a deal with our Union so we don't get a pay rise this year.

This is the Business that welcomed competition with open arms and told all who would listen to 'Bring it on' only to say a couple of years later 'We didn't realise it would be this bad and the competition this good'!!!!

Post Offices are closing quicker than you can lick a stamp,because RM have taken vital services away from them.
And we have had no new products for many a year.

For all intents and purposes you have written a lot of sense,but i'm afraid it doesn't fit in with RM's policies.

Regards.

POSTMAN.

[James MacAonghus]

That's a shame, the Web could add some new energy to Royal Mail. On the other hand, for a company with multi-billion dollar turnover, the £100M that they could make online might not be such a big draw.

[Jared Bothwell]

Good thinking. I'm not sure what corporates are doing in the UK but a lot of New Zealand corporates have begun to see the value in developing commnunites and online survey panels to communicate with their customers.