Page 297 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

This latest model has not materialized yet in Kenya and only a limited number of Posts would have the necessary
capacity to build a national switch. Yet it shows the potential of postal operators to be key actors in the provision
of digital financial services, either as direct providers, or as support services for other actors.

4.8 The Post as an eCommerce or mCommerce facilitator

Worldwide B2C e-commerce sales reached $1.7 trillion in 2015, and are growing by double digits. Postal
networks are a key component of the global supply chain and Posts deliver a large portion of products bought
online. However there is still a large potential for Posts to strengthen their role in this field. For the unbanked,
the lack of access to payment solutions means they are de facto excluded from the benefits of eCommerce.
However, Posts, which combine logistics and financial services capabilities, can bring concrete solutions to
these populations. Services such as payment on delivery (also called cash on delivery), where the postman
collects the payment when performing the delivery, are a concrete answer to this issue. Posts can also offer
escrow services, holding clients’ payments until the provider has delivered its products. Another option that
has been implemented by 33% of Posts (Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia, South Korea for example) is to develop
online stores where they integrate merchants and facilitate client identification, physical delivery, and payments
(either online or offline).
10
This shows that Posts, in addition to facilitating DFS development, have a unique set of capabilities which can
be leveraged to contribute to the development of the global economy.

10 Nieto and Donohoe, 2015, “Measuring postal e-services development”, Universal Postal Union

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