Omni-channel Strategy

The Group's integrated multi-channel platform provides for the monitoring of customers through 3 channels:

 

• the physical network of Post Offices flanked by a commercial network specialising in business customers;
• a digital infrastructure made up of all the Group's digital properties, capable of serving the entire national population;
• third-party networks, consisting of over 37 thousand retail outlets and the result of commercial partnership agreements for the marketing of Group products and services.
   

Poste Italiane is widely represented all over the country.
The customer physical contact channels are managed by two Poste Italiane functions dedicated to the sale of products and services and specialised by type of customer: Post Office Network and Business and Public Administration. Additional organizational guidance is provided by Group companies to support commercial development.

In the course of 2020, the new commercial model was developed. It saw the overcoming of the organization by channel/product in favour of a model that strengthens the presence on the territory and simplifies dialogue with the territorial structures. With the new structure, the geographical responsibilities of the commercial functions of the Macro Territorial areas, have been redefined, from 6 to 12.
 
In order to best exploit the potential of the territory, a new organizational model of the post office network that maximises operating efficiency and further strengthens the monitoring of commercial, operational and management indicators. This new model is based on a "Hub & Spoke" logic¹, which guarantees, especially for smaller post offices, efficiency and operational continuity in the event of a lack of resources, thanks to the creation of post office areas.
 
The Post Office Network function manages the commercial front end for the retail and Small Business (POE) segments and is in charge of Macro Area offices, Branches and Post Offices covering the entire country.

 

¹Network management and development system in which connections are made, using by analogy an expression referring to the bicycle wheel, from the spoke to the hub and vice versa. In this specific case, the Hub Office Manager is responsible for coordinating resources in terms of planning personnel attendance and managing replacements in the event of sudden absences, as well as providing commercial support, especially for products sold at the counter

Regions	Postal Offices	Branches
Abruzzo	473	4
Basilicata	180	2
Calabria	618	6
Campania	951	9
Emilia-Romagna	889	10
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	331	4
Lazio	786	9
Liguria	426	5
Lombardia	1,872	19
Marche	409	5
Molise	167	2
Piemonte	1,388	12
Puglia	471	5
Sardegna	441	4
Sicilia	775	12
Toscana	900	11
Trentino-Alto Adige	323	2
Umbria	262	2
Valle d'Aosta	71	1
Veneto	1,032	8

	31 December 2020		31 December 2019
	Category	Personnel	Category	Personnel
Macro Areas for Logistics*	6	933	6	962
Sorting Centres	16	7,337	16	8,079
Operating Centres	9	996	9	1,043
Delivery Centres**	1,510	40,402	1,543	40,306
Total	1,541	49,668	1,574	50,391

All workforce data (permanent and flexible) is shown as full time equivalent employees.
* Logistics Network - Macro Areas , whilst coinciding geographically with the Post Office Network - Macro Areas, from 2018 have their own, separate organisations in terms of processes and competences.
** Delivery staff include 32,966 postmen and women and delivery supervisors (31,376 at 31 December 2019).

ATM Cashpoints	7,792
Consulting Rooms	6,861
Sales corners for Poste Mobile telephone products/services	342
Post Offices providing public administration services	5,716
Post Offices with a queue management system for booking financial and mail products/services (also by App or website)	3,631
Post Offices with WiFi	10,423
Post Offices with dedicated staff for foreign clients	29
Post Offices with mail collection points	12,307
Post Offices with parcel collection points	12,109
Post Offices with Amazon collection points	11,774
Post Offices providing philatelic services	501
Post Offices dedicated exclusively to the sale of philatelic products	10
Post Offices open in the afternoon (from Monday to Friday)	1,745

Macro Area	Regions	Main Area Offices	Size of Macro Areas in  Km2	Number of Communes  within the Macro Areas	Number of Branches	Number of Employees (FTE) at 31/12/2020
						at 31 December 2020
North West	Lombardy	MILAN	57,928	2,996	37	12,716
	Piedmont
	Liguria
	Aosta Valley
North East	Friuli Venezia Giulia	VENICE	39,875	1,069	14	5,706
	Trentino Alto Adige
	Veneto
Centre  North	Emilia Romagna	BOLOGNA	63,306	921	28	9,960
	The Marches
	Tuscany
	Umbria
Centre	Abruzzo	ROME	56,625	1,196	19	9,690
	Lazio
	Molise
	Sardinia
South	Basilicata	NAPLES	58,507	1,342	22	12,774
	Calabria
	Campania
	Apulia
Sicily Area	Sicily	PALERMO	25,832	390	12	4,507
			302,073	7,914	132	55,351

The Business and Public Administration function of Poste Italiane guarantees the commercial supervision and sale of the Group's products and services for businesses and the Central and Local Public Administration.

The commercial model, defined in June 2020, provides for a specialization of the sales force by type of product and customer segment, controlling the market through:
 

• 3 Sales Macro Areas (Lombardy North West, Central North and North East, Central South), with exclusive commercial responsibility for mail and communication revenue and commercial support for the specialist sales force;

 

• 2 Sales areas dedicated to the commercial management of products/services of logistics and parcels and specialised by industry (1. Health&Beauty, Electronics and Informatics, Other Sectors; 2. Food&Grocery&Pet, Homeliving&Fashion, Platform&Solution Players);

 

• 1 Commercial area specialising in the offer of financial and insurance products for large business customers and public administration;

 

• 1 Commercial area for Central and Local Public Administration related to Metropolitan Regions and Cities.

Outside post offices, the Group's services are provided via digital channels (poste.it website and APPs), which in the 2020, showed significant development, amplified by the Covid-19 emergency and related travel restrictions.

For more details on 2020 performance, please refer to the section "Digital Properties, Third-Party Networks and Main KPIs", in Chapter 6 "Performance".

A crucial role in the Group's omni-channel strategy is played by third-party networks and the development recorded in the year 2020. In the context of healthcare emergency, third-party networks have been a viable alternative to own networks for accessing transactional services.
Poste Italiane has signed agreements with a large network of retail outlets (over 37 thousand at 31 December 2020). The main types of agreements entered into are listed below.

• Proximity networks: partners that enable their local points of presence to offer Poste Italiane services to consumers (e.g.: tobacconists to pay slips, top up Postepay cards, accept/deliver parcels), ENI to pay slips, API to accept/deliver parcels, DO (organised distribution) and GDO (large organised distribution) to pay slips;
• Placement Agents: partners, authorised by the Bank of Italy, which sell Poste Italiane's financial products (e.g.: Lottomatica, which sells Poste Italiane's full acquiring to the tobacconist network);
• Technology Enablers: partners that enable Poste Italiane to sell its products to "third-party" customers via its own service platforms (iPratico, Team System for the sale of acquiring);
• Partners: legal entities that offer their associates/stores the purchase of products directly from Poste Italiane, through the stipulation of "framework agreements" (e.g.: ENI and its distributors for the purchase of acquiring).


Below are the products distributed through the third-party network:

• Phone top-ups
• Postepay top-ups
• Payment slips
• Acquiring
• Acceptance, delivery and return of parcels