Strategy and goals

We have three strategic approaches aimed at meeting the challenges of our business, both today and in the future.

Securing our core business

We cut costs wherever possible and sensible, and enhance our business by launching new products and perpetuating strong customer relationships. We also retain the high quality of our services whilst protecting the environment. Ideally, we search for solutions that meet several goals at once: a new generation of machines in our mail centres, for instance, not only raises the level of automation and thus quality but also lowers production costs and carbon (CO₂) emissions.

Proximity to our customers is important to us. We operate the largest network by far of fixed-location retail outlets in Germany, consisting of some 17,000 outlets and sales points. We are expanding our partnerships with retailers, and we offer fast and easy online access to our mail and parcel services. Over the next three years, we will expand our network of around 2,500 Packstations by another 150 machines.

Making our network more flexible

To ensure that the earnings contribution of our mail business remains stable in the future as well, we need to fundamentally change our network to make the costs more flexible. In 2009, we tested procedures for enabling us to respond to fluctuating or declining volumes without sacrificing quality. During the summer holiday period, we combined carrier routes, relocated mail sorting to neighbouring mail centres and downsized our overnight airmail network. We will repeat those procedures that proved effective as necessary. Moreover, we plan to expand our parcel network and render it more flexible in the interests of our customers.