每日跟讀#578: Post Offices Reinvent Themselves

When a German lingerie brand wanted to sell bras online in Malaysia, it turned to Singapore’s nearly 200-year-old national postal service.

一家德國女性內衣品牌想在馬來西亞網路上賣胸罩，找上新加坡歷史近200年的國家郵政公司。

Singapore Post built a website, developed a marketing strategy and now delivers packages for the company, Triumph International. The customer service team even answers questions about sizing. In South Korea, SingPost is helping to sell Levi’s jeans. In Singapore, it is stocking Toshiba laptops. In Malaysia, it is delivering Adidas sneakers.

新加坡郵政公司設了一個網站，發展出一套行銷策略，現在為黛安芬國際公司快遞包裹。客服團隊甚至回答有關尺寸的問題。在南韓，新加坡郵政公司正在幫忙銷售Levi’s牛仔褲。在新加坡，它正在儲備東芝筆記型電腦的存貨。在馬來西亞，它正在快遞Adidas跑鞋。

With traditional mail services in decline, post offices around the world are scrambling to reinvent themselves. Japan Post is buying the largest private package and freight delivery company in Australia, Toll Holdings, in a bid to create a rival to UPS and FedEx. The United States Postal Service, which lost $5.5 billion last year, is providing Sunday deliveries for Amazon. Australia Post is working with the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba to help local businesses connect with consumers in China.

隨著傳統郵政服務的沒落，全世界的郵政局都急著自我改造。日本郵政總局正買下澳洲最大的民間包裹和貨運快遞公司拓領控股公司，以與優比速和聯邦快遞競爭。去年虧損55億美元的美國郵政總局，將為亞馬遜公司提供周日快遞服務。澳洲郵政總局將與大陸網路巨擘阿里巴巴合作，協助當地企業與中國大陸的顧客接觸。

“There are at least two business trends unfolding before us,” said Frank Lavin of the e-commerce consultancy Export Now. “One is the death of mail. The second is this boom in e-commerce.”

電子商務顧問公司Export Now的法蘭克．拉文說：「至少有兩種商業趨勢在我們面前展開。一是郵件的死亡。第二是電子商務的勃發。」

Besides its regular postal duties, SingPost offers a basket of services for companies, including website development, online marketing, customer service and, of course, package delivery. Following the Amazon model, it is building a network of 24 warehouses in 12 countries to stockpile goods for companies.

在例行郵政任務之外，新加坡郵政公司另為企業提供一籃子服務，包括網站發展、線上行銷、顧客服務，當然，還有快遞包裹。它遵循亞馬遜的模式，正在12個國家建立24小時的倉儲網，為企業儲備商品。

Singapore’s central location, said Wolfgang Baier, the chief executive of SingPost, makes it a natural hub for e-commerce in Asia. He recited numbers to demonstrate the scale of the opportunity: Over 600 million consumers live in the region around Singapore, and 2.2 billion people are within a five-hour flight. “We want to be the gateway to the East,” he said.

新加坡郵政公司執行長沃夫岡．拜爾說，新加坡的中心位置使它自然成為亞洲電子商務的中心。他背誦出一些數字來展示商機有多大：新加坡四周居住了逾6億消費者，而在5小時飛行距離內住了22億人。他說：「我們要成為東方的門戶。」

The shift has been stark for the postal service, once a state-owned company that went public in 2003. Four years ago, e-commerce barely figured into its bottom line. Today, it accounts for more than a quarter of the group’s revenues, which have grown by 60 percent during that same period.

對這家郵政公司而言這是極大的轉型。它原為國營公司，2003年公開上市。四年前，電子商務的業績對公司還微不足道。今天它已占集團總營收的四分之一以上，而同一時期集團總營收成長了六成。

SingPost began using the Internet as a laboratory in the early 2000s. It dabbled in various parts of the supply chain. Then, two years ago, it created SP eCommerce to tap into the Internet retail boom in Asia. Today, it counts nearly 1,000 companies as clients, including Philips, Uniqlo, Deckers and Muji.

新加坡郵政公司在2000年代初開始把網路當成實驗室。它涉足此一供應鏈的各個不同部分。之後，在兩年前，它創立「新加坡郵政電子商務公司」，以分享亞洲網路零售的榮景。今天，它的顧客有近千家公司，包括飛利浦、優衣庫、Deckers休閒鞋和無印良品。

SP eCommerce’s chief executive, Marcelo Wesseler, created his first e-commerce website in 1997 and worked in Silicon Valley before moving to Singapore. Other employees have come from technology stalwarts like Amazon and Hewlett-Packard.

新加坡郵政電子商務公司執行長馬塞洛．韋瑟勒在1997年創立自己的第一個電子商務網站，移居新加坡前在矽谷工作。這家公司其他員工來自亞馬遜、惠普之屬科技巨擘。

The company also created a customer-care department. At its Singapore offices, 30 or so employees handle the phones, answering questions or addressing complaints. An additional 200 agents work elsewhere.

這家公司也創立了客服部門。在新加坡的辦公室裡，約有30人接聽電話、回答問題或處理客訴。另有200人在其他地方工作。

Last year, Alibaba paid $250 million for a 10 percent stake in SingPost. They are now in discussions to form a joint venture focused on e-commerce logistics in Southeast Asia. As part of the e-commerce expansion, SingPost upgraded its core delivery services. It has bolstered its network of warehouses and fulfillment centers, which handle freight and customs clearance so goods can move faster through the region. With its swelling population of young, mobile consumers with newly disposable incomes, the region offers new opportunities.

去年，阿里巴巴以2.5億美元買下新加坡郵政公司10%股權。雙方現在正在討論設立合資企業，專門做東南亞電子商務的物流業務。為了擴展電子商務，新加坡郵政公司提升核心快遞服務。它強化了倉儲網和物流中心，處理貨運和報關，如此一來，商品在此地區移動的速度更快。隨著剛獲得可支配收入的年輕、行動消費人口的膨脹，此地區提供了新的機會。

The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi last year opened a regional headquarters in Singapore, using it as a launching pad to move into Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Next, it is targeting Vietnam and Thailand. It teamed up with SingPost for support on logistics for e-commerce, which accounts for 80 percent of Xiaomi’s sales in Southeast Asia.

中國的智慧型手機製造商小米去年在新加坡開設地區總部，作為進入馬來西亞、菲律賓和印尼的跳板。接下來，它的目標鎖定越南和泰國。它與新加坡郵政合作，支援電子商務的物流業務，電子商務占小米在東南亞營收的八成。

SingPost is helping the Chinese telecom company ZTE to offer its products regionally through a website that will go live in Malaysia in a few weeks. ZTE is trying to sell its smartphones directly to consumers in new markets like Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

新加坡郵政正在協助中國的電信公司中興通訊公司，透過一個即將在幾周內上線的網站在此區域供應產品。中興通訊正試圖在馬來西亞、印尼和印度等新市場把智慧型手機直接賣給消費者。

Triumph International, the lingerie company, had been eyeing Southeast Asia for years, waiting for online consumers to reach a critical mass. Then, last year, Triumph approached SingPost to get started. “Using Singapore as a base, you can reach 680 million people in the region,” said Teo Doy, managing director of Triumph in Singapore. “That is practically half of China.”

黛安芬國際這家內衣公司緊盯東南亞已有多年，等待線上消費者達到群聚臨界量。之後，黛安芬於去年找新加坡郵政展開行動。黛安芬新加坡公司總經理張朵伊（譯音）說：「把新加坡當基地，你可以接觸到此地區的6.8億人口，實際上相當於半個中國。」

Next, Triumph is planning to expand into Indonesia, once again with the help of SingPost.

接下來，黛安芬計畫擴展到印尼，還是由新加坡郵政協助。

“They have completely evolved,” Ms. Teo said. “I mean, who sends letters anymore?”

張小姐說：「他們已完全進化，我的意思是，現在誰還寄信？」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/279790/web/#2L-5983240L