Omni-channel Strategy

The digital transformation undertaken by Poste Italiane in recent years has involved not only its own offer, but also the distribution model which, through an omnichannel strategy, allows the Company the possibility to provide services in step with the changed needs of its customers.
Digital channels, and more generally remote channels, support the physical channel, Poste Italiane’s historical asset, every day in the management of customer relations. In 2022, Poste Italiane’s omnichannel interaction platform reached more than 20 million interactions per day.
The pandemic encouraged the acceleration of the transition to the new operating model, enabling the Company to respond quickly to changes in the market by leveraging its digital platforms, that exploit the opportunities arising from technological innovation to create new personalised products and services and by opening up additional channels of communication with its customers.
The Group’s integrated multi-channel platform provides for the monitoring of customers and the provision of services through 3 channels:

Below is a representation of the Group’s omnichannel platform:

The commercial supervision and sale of the Group’s products and services to businesses and Central and Local Public Administration is guaranteed by Poste Italiane’s Business and Public Administration function.
The organisation of the sales force guarantees territorial coverage focused by product sector, through:

• 3 Sales Macro Areas (Lombardy North West, Central North and North East, Central South), with exclusive commercial responsibility for mail and communication revenue;
• 2 Sales areas dedicated to the commercial management of products/services of logistics and parcels and specialised by industry;
• 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.

The Group’s mail and parcel services are provided through two integrated and synergistic logistics networks: the postal logistics network for the management of mail, now evolved to also allow the management of small parcels and the parcel logistics network able to handle all types of parcel.
The integration between the two networks was strengthened already in 2020 by increasing the interchange of small parcel volumes between the two networks (carriable parcels, i.e. under 5 kilos) using cost-effectiveness as distinguishing factor. The delivery of these products in Italy can be carried out indistinctly by the postal and parcel logistics network according to a dynamic approach, aimed at maximising efficiency for each area.
The organisational model for the postal logistics network consists of 6 centrally coordinated Logistics Macro Areas, which handle all stages of the value chain: acceptance and collection, outbound sorting, transport, inbound sorting and delivery. At the same time, this model makes it possible to have a single management system for the entire territory and to be able to adapt it to each specific situation with targeted interventions.

To support the Group’s digital transformation, a technology engine based on hybrid cloud &, open API & and exponential technologies* has been implemented and applied to all the Group’s activities and infrastructures. The Group has implemented a programme of “digital transformation” of all its service and offer models in order to guarantee its customers full digital contact experiences. This programme has accelerated significantly since 2021, in view of the effects of the current health emergency, in order to make the Group’s products fully accessible to customers in completely safe conditions.
The Group’s Digital Properties are as follows:

During the period, the Group worked to strengthen the digital sales channel, expanding the range of products and services that can be purchased directly through the digital properties.
Poste Italiane’s digital web and app channels are the access point to on-line services for 36.8 million retail users (33.8 million at 31 December 2021) and position themselves as both direct sales and after-sales channels. 68% of Poste Italiane’s interactions and 36% of its transactions are handled every day via remote channels (around 20% via digital channels). The average daily web and app users for 2022 was 5.8 million (4.3 million average daily users in 2021). Digital channel transactions also grew, and in 2022 amounted to 152.6 million for a transaction value of €40.3 billion (124.7 million transactions in 2021 for a transaction value of €32.7 billion).
 

Third-party networks play a crucial role in the Group’s omnichannel strategy. They have been strengthened to provide Poste Italiane customers with a valid alternative to the post offices for access to transactional services. The objective is to create a platform for the integration of the Group’s products with new third-party distribution channels and to use third-party services within the Group’s commercial offerings, also introducing innovative services with high added value. Poste Italiane contracted an extensive network of contact points, which was further strengthened during the year with the acquisition of LIS, and counts 58 thousand contact points at 31 December 2022.



The acquisition of LIS in September 2022 increased the operations of the omnichannel platform, increasing average daily customer interactions by about 0.6 million.
In particular, operations increased significantly in the third-party network channel, which was supplemented by the new products handled following the acquisition (telephone top-ups of other operators, pagoPA and other services), reaching about one million average daily transactions (+161% compared to 2021), of which LIS accounts for about 88%. Horeca (hotels, restaurants, bars) locations 10K Tobacconists 32K Newsstands 8K Retail and mass retail* 4K Eni Stations 3K Other 1K 58K of daily operations in 2022 took place on the new channels >36% 70 Annual Report 2022 Poste Italiane Group Section Summary
The omnichannel importance of proximity networks is confirmed by the significant growth of parcel management (acceptance and delivery) on the third-party networks, which with 17.2 million parcels handled in 2022 shows 173% growth over 2021.
During the year 2022, the PuntoPoste11 network expanded with the entry of more than 1,600 new points. At 31 December 2022, the Punto Poste network had more than 15,000 contact points.