An Post has launched a new version Admailer, its online marketing platform which has been in operation for the past few years. The latest iteration of it, called Admailer 2.0, uses its own proprietary software and adds much greater functionality to online self-service platform.
According to Liam Sheehan, sales and marketing director of An Post, the company has received interest from postal services in the UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal and is in advanced discussions with two of these. A deal to licence the platform to at least one of the interested parties could concluded by Q1 of 2017, he says.
“About four years ago, we developed the original beta site that used other companies’ software and technology. It didn’t cost us very much and it was just about functional. But we were surprised with the demand and the positive feedback we received. While it was being used primarily by SMEs, we found more and more big brands wanted to use it,” he says.
“So we took some of the good bits from the original Admailer and set about rebuilding it from the ground up. It was like developing a start-up internally within An Post. We now own all the intellectual property around it which makes it an attractive proposition in its own right,” he adds.
While SMEs are expected to account for the lion’s share of customers, An Post will launch a version of the product aimed at larger corporates at the end of August.
“An example of a large corporate using the service could be a car brand that can store all its marketing collateral in the cloud and allowing the local distributor download it and personalise it for the local market. While control of the brand is still managed centrally by the company, it gives dealers the ability to be smarter at a local level,” says Sheehan.
The move comes as postal services around the world continue to seek out alternative and complementary revenue streams as the volume of traditional mail and the revenues derived from it continues to plummet.
