Online retailers worldwide will be able to move their wares across borders more easily when posts can start offering a new optional parcel service as early as July next year.

The UPU’s Postal Operations Council (POC) has approved specifications for a service covering items up to 30 kg, said a statement.

It also features track-and-trace options and a five-business-day delivery standard from the moment an item arrives in the destination country.

With online sales expected to reach $1.5 trillion this year alone, the service is part of a global integrated e-commerce solution the UPU developed after adopting a resolution to speed up its work on meeting the needs of stakeholders in this bustling market.

The items delivered under the new service will not require a signature on delivery. Posts will have to provide pre-advice data of package contents to customs authorities, a measure expected to improve customs clearance of items from 2016, it said.

Customers will also be able to choose their preferred delivery location eventually, said the statement.

The POC also validated a merchandise-return service, which will make it easier for customers to return unwanted goods to e-tailers abroad.

Vantuyl Barbosa, vice-chairman of POC, who was charged with overseeing the UPU’s work on an e-commerce framework, said: “E-commerce is changing the way we do business. Posts must adapt to the market and provide both e-tailers and customers services they want.”

The latest UPU statistics has showed letter volumes continuing to go down, while packets and parcels traffic is going up, he said.

The posts processed 6.7 billion domestic parcels last year, an increase of 3.7 per cent from the previous year.

The traffic of international packages, including small packets – which travel in the letter-post stream – and parcels, was about 300 million items, an increase of more than five per cent on the previous year.

José Ansón, UPU economist, said: “There is a significant shift in mail composition, a clear sign of the rise of international e-commerce.”

The UPU is now set to develop pay-for-performance targets for posts offering the optional service, as well as an Internet-based inquiry system for customers, said the statement.

The UPU body dealing with operational issues has also given the green light to a new e-commerce guide outlining practical recommendations for posts as they develop their e-commerce capabilities and services for domestic, regional and cross-border markets. - TradeArabia News Service