Swiss Post has established itself at the interface between the physical and digital world. Its hybrid and digital products and services make Swiss Post one of the world's most successful postal companies. This is confirmed by a study conducted by the Universal Postal Union among 191 member countries. To maintain its leading position, Swiss Post continues to develop this offering. Distance selling (e.g. e-commerce) is to become even more customer-friendly in future. In the letter business, core services surrounding physical letters are to be expanded to include additional services, which allow recipients to receive content either physically or electronically in future.

Swiss Post's hybrid products and services at the interfacebetween the physical and digital world are taking root. This can be seen in last year's developments: in 2011, the Swiss Post Solutions Group unit scanned around 75 million pages of paper for customers such as Suva, Allianz Suisse and Raiffeisen in Switzerland. Some 3,000 customers use Swiss Post Box: they have worldwide access to their digitized physical mail via their smartphones or via the Internet. Conversely, services using the electronic/physical channel are also popular. 14 million WebStamps were created online and were printed, for instance – resulting in a 25% increase in turnover for PostMail in this area compared to 2010.

Digital signature, app and consignment tracking

The demand for more secure electronic communication with solutions such as Post SuisseID (secure identification and electronic signature) and IncaMail (secure electronic transmission) is also on the increase. Around half of all customers at PostFinance use e-finance. The PostFinance app for transferring money to bank accounts and scanning and paying bills has already been downloaded 200,000 times. The consignment tracking service for letters and parcels is also in demand: it is used around 2.5 million times a month. PostBus is developing initial hubs for regional transport networks in order to exchange real-time data, e.g. for bus stop information.

Worldwide innovation leader

With these products and services, Swiss Post is one of the most innovative postal companies in the world. Since November 2011, it has even been termed the postal company with the most advanced e-post services in the world. This was the result of a study by the Universal Postal Union among its 191 member countries in the fields of e-post, e-finance, e-commerce and e-government. Swiss Post also intends to play a pioneering role in the hybrid and digital world going forward. It has extensive knowledge and enjoys a high level of trust among its customers who wish to communicate, order and pay both physically and digitally.

Physical core services and digital alternative

Swiss Post's core physical letter services are to be expanded in a targeted manner. In future, recipients should be able to choose whether they receive their mail physically in their letterbox or electronically via a secure connection. Physical letters and promotional mailings will also have a central function in a hybrid system as they have a greater impact on recipients than e-mails or text messages. In addition, Swiss Post is expanding its offering in the area of distance selling (e-commerce, mail order, etc.) in order to provide both senders and recipients with comprehensive services. Warehousing, goods picking, ordering, packing, shipping and returns will be quicker and easier in future thanks to electronic solutions, and complemented with web solutions and payment processing.