Innovation Award

Ireland

Digital Stamps from An Post

An Post had been managing the decline of stamp sales for over a decade. Each year more people were falling out of the habit of sending post. 1 in 4 of 18-24 year olds were not sending post at all. This continuous erosion of sending was a massive threat to the long-term future of the business. We needed to introduce a solution that would bring young senders back into the fold, without negatively Impacting traditional stamp sales.

Unlocking a product solution to do just that meant understanding the consumer. Digital forms of communications had changed expectations. People wanted to be able to communicate fully ‘in the moment’ – they didn’t want to wait for post office opening hours to get a stamp and didn’t like the uncertainty of not knowing when their post had been delivered. However, it was also clear that while WhatsApp’s and DM’s delivered instant gratification, people felt they were more superficial and that posting something physical was a much more tangible and memorable way of showing you really cared. Our aim was to develop a solution which brought the convenience of digital communications, and the deeper connection you create with a hand-written message together.

After extensive consumer testing – from product concept, to pricing, to purchase UX, to data security – we had identified a world-first product. In October 2022 we launched Digital Stamps from An Post. Our digital stamp product is a world-first in what it delivers for the consumer, a Digital Stamp that offers customer a notification when delivered. Customers download the An Post App, choose to purchase a Digital Stamp and then checkout, via card payment or through Google Pay/Apple Pay. Once payment is completed, the customer is presented with a unique 12 digit code. They are provided with information about how to write the code on the envelope and they can then just pop it into the nearest Postbox.