According to a survey conducted by the daily newspaper Les Echos in 2009, La Poste (the French post office) is France’s second preferred company, following the sportswear giant Decathlon. And if the company failed to reach first position, its poorly innovative image is somewhat to blame. One of Synergia’s latest breakfast debates looked at seriously challenging this preconceived idea.

The French post office is innovating. However, its image does not appear to be in keeping with this reality. “I’m going to change your mind and show you a more modern image of La Poste,” convincingly declared Agnès Grange, Regional Delegate for La Poste in Lower Normandy, to the debate’s participants. “We have always succeeded in re-inventing our activity in order to adapt our offer to consumer habits.”
La Poste, just like its foreign counterparts, has been confronted over the past years with a radical change in its users’ behaviour. The irreversible decrease in the volume of mail, the consequence of new, low-cost competitors, along with the increasing demand for immediacy among consumers and the development of dematerialised exchange… all combine to impose a counter-attack. La Poste has consequently developed a new strategy centred on its preferred activities: banking, express parcel delivery, mail and distribution. “The consumer value system is different today,” explained the Regional delegate, “performance and innovation (synonymous to modernity) are gradually leaving way for ethics, authenticity and historicity. “La Poste is counting, in particular, on territories to improve its development, via offers targeting local and regional authorities and businesses (an SME pack is already available).

Innovation: a genuine lever for La Poste

“We will be making use of new technologies to offer solutions that fit business life cycles,” reported Christine Chavanon, Communications Manager at the DIDES – Innovation and Service Development Management. “Innovation has become an important lever for La Poste.” Three projects are currently underway, the most important of which is the e-commerce Box. “Available this autumn, the product will comprise 2 complementary solutions to create either an “on-line showcase” or an “on-line boutique” depending on specific needs. La Poste’s commercial offer is perfectly credible.” insisted Christine Chavanon. “We already offer e-commerce solutions such as express parcel delivery (for which La Poste is the market leader), on-line payment for e-traders and direct marketing (a key ingredient for on-line sales) with Mediapost.”

Olivier Saboulard-Luguet, Business Engineer for Extelia - a La Poste subsidiary, and specialised in external services (administration, payment method management…) highlighted the fact that “new services need to be the result of collaborative and participative approaches. Whereas, during the 20th century, innovation came from above, today we need to change our viewpoint and place the end user at the heart of the innovation development process. The emergence of the Internet and new modes of exchange (forums, chat, collaborative sites…) would tend to eclipse traditional decision-making processes and information channels. The “co-creation” of future services is synonymous to confidence and efficiency.” And from that point of view, La Poste is truly innovating.

Agnès Grangé Regional Delegate for La Poste’s Lower Normandy Regional Management
53 rue de la Pigaciere - 14000 Caen
Tel: 02 31 28 80 92
E-mail: agnes.grange@laposte.fr

Christine Chavanon Communications Manager - Innovation and Service Development Management (DIDES) Tel: 01 55 44 30 23
E-mail: christine.chavanon@laposte.fr

Olivier Saboulard-Luguet Business Engineer -
Extelia 8 cours du Triangle 92937 Paris-La Défense Cedex
Tel: : 01 41 45 13 56
E-mail: olivier.saboulard-luguet@extelia.fr

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