Challenge
At the moment there is tough competition in the market for packages in Finland. The Finnish Post Office and Itella lead the way with 50 per cent of the market, but as a newcomer Matkahuolto has managed to win 20 per cent. Prompt notification when a package has reached a collection point is important for both the customer and for Matkahuolto.
Solution
When the order is placed, the consumer chooses what kind of notification he or she prefers when the package has reached one of Matkahuolto’s 1,100 service locations in Finland. Staff in the shop scan in the barcode on the parcel, and Stralfors is then instructed to send the information on to the customer. Depending on the customer’s preferences, this is sent in the form of a regular letter or a text message.
“We send 45,000–50,000 letters and 400,000 text messages every year,” says Juha Wallin, Business Manager at Matkahuolto.
This means that every month almost half a million notifications pass through Stralfors on their way to Matkahuolto’s customers.
Result
Every year Matkahuolto handles 10 million packages, and 98.7 per cent of them are delivered on time. The most common method is for customers to collect their packages in a grocery shop, usually in Suomen Lähikauppa, the grocery chain with which Matkahuolto collaborates most widely and the one with the most generous opening hours in Finland.
Matkahuolto also offers services such as door-to-door collection and distribution. And through an agreement with PostNord, Matkahuolto delivers two million packages for them every year.
In addition to almost 500,000 letter and text message notifications that are sent every month, every day 2,500 e-mails are also sent to customers who have chosen that method of notification. However, these never pass via Stralfors, but are sent from Matkahuolto. Ideally, Juha Wallin would like as many people as possible to choose text message notification.
“It’s both quicker and more direct, which is better for both us and the customer. Both regular letters and e-mails take longer,” he says.
The future
It is difficult to say how the Finnish package market will develop. People nowadays do more shopping online, which generates packages and deliveries, and no one knows what is going to happen with the old post offices and how this will affect competition.
“But one thing’s for sure – if we play our cards right, the future looks bright for us. And it feels good that we have strong players such as Stralfors and PostNord at our side,” says Juha Wallin.