Asendia and An Post form Premium Partnership to help cross-border retailers crack the Irish e-commerce market.

Asendia, the joint venture between La Poste and Swiss Post, and An Post, the Irish Postal operator of Ireland, today announced a formal Premium Partnership agreement. This enables Asendia to offer retailers privileged access to An Post’s final mile delivery services for mail and parcels, from the 15 countries it operates.

Marc Pontet, Asendia’s CEO commented, “We continually look to develop our cross-border parcel services to markets where e-commerce is thriving and Ireland is one such market. We chose to partner with An Post because their services offer a long list of unrivalled benefits such as Saturday and evening delivery, safe places and 3 delivery attempts. These are the features that online shoppers are looking for. But what’s more, An Post was voted the most trusted brand in Ireland, which is high praise in a country that brands like Google, PayPal and Pfizer have made their home. This is testament to An Post’s excellent reliability, tracking, and delivery speed, and to the relationship consumers have with their local Postie”.

Renaud Marliere, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer commented, “The Irish consumer loves to shop online and has a thirst for buying from overseas stores. UK retailers in particular should be excited about this opportunity to access an excellent service at a great price, because the UK is the number one shopping destination by far for the Irish. But they shop further afield too, from Asia, USA and across continental Europe”.

Recent figures available in Asendia’s eBook titled ‘How to crack the Irish E-commerce market’ back this up:

• Ireland is a fast growing e-commerce market, with total value to have reached € 6,762 million in 2017
• Cross-border spending is expected to represent over 77% of this, reaching €5,206 million
• 63% of Irish cross-border shoppers buy from the UK
• China and the US are the next most popular shopping destinations for Irish eshoppers

Gilles Ferrandez, An Post’s Commercial Director said, ‘An Post is evolving to meet the demands of e-commerce. We want to make it easier for companies and consumers to sell, to buy, to receive and return goods, wherever and whenever they choose. By partnering with Asendia we are able to expand solutions in the UK, across continental Europe, the USA and Asia; this is a really exciting opportunity for us to grow our reach, with an international partner that has a strong reputation”.

For more information, please contact Elliott Mallows, Communication Manager, Asendia, elliott.mallows@asendia.com or +44 (0)330 123 9910.