Interview with Thomas Baur, Head of PostalNetwork
“We have opened up our branches to partners and developed them into service centers.”
Thomas Baur: In 2024, PostalNetwork launched the yellow Post Mobile mobile phone subscription. How do you see it looking back?
With pride and great pleasure! After 20 years of selling smartphones and subscriptions from other providers, we launched our own product on the market. Post Mobile has a successful first year behind it, achieving its annual targets and significantly increasing its market share. We have now expanded the number of Post Mobile sales outlets to 420 Volg branches. Since June, there has even been a Post Mobile pop-up in Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse. Thanks to our partnership with Salt, we are continually expanding our range. And over 4,000 members of staff have already taken out a subscription.
What did PostalNetwork implement successfully during the 2021 to 2024 strategy period?
We opened up our branches to partners in sectors such as insurance companies, health insurers, banks and public authorities, taking us a big step closer to our goal of developing our branches into modern service centers. In addition to postal transactions, customers can now also take care of various banking and insurance-related matters there. We want to continue developing in this area and create an easily accessible, locally embedded service network for a modern Switzerland.
We are investing in modernizing our branches, so that we can ensure their future viability.
What were the challenges?
After many years with a stable network and at the same time sharply declining volumes in letters and inpayments, we initiated the necessary restructuring of the network. Our goal is to remain close to people in the future. That’s why we are investing heavily in modernizing our branches, so that we can operate them in the long term and ensure their future viability. But this also means that we have to convert some of our self-operated branches, for example into branches with partners, or replace them with the home-delivery service.
Which strategic thrusts are particularly important for PostalNetwork in 2025?
We will continue to pursue our proven “Swiss Post of tomorrow” strategy in the coming years and adapt it as necessary. The focus is on further developing the network – physically and digitally – in line with changing customer needs. Personal advice and strengthening the digital skills of our customers remain key. Both now and in the future, through regional, in-person services and digital solutions.
What impact does the expansion of the branches into service centers have on employees?
We owe our success until now in implementing the current strategy to our qualified and committed employees. So I very much want to stress that even with the planned network restructuring, we will continue to systematically recruit well-trained employees, also to make up for normal staff turnover and retirements.