The Russian Post announced last week the launch of a “universal payment portal,” a new online system intended for customers who wish to settle public utilities, mobile, Internet or digital TV bills, or even to pay traffic fines. The system charges users’ bank or mobile accounts, adding a commission fee to each transaction ranging from 2 to 8.5 percent.
By early 2014, the Russian Post expects to have as many as 15,000 companies, primarily utilities, connected to its portal in 80 Russian regions, a large increase from the current 430 companies in just over 30 regions.
The postal operator has traditionally played a major role in collecting payments for utilities through its 42,000 offices across the country – an activity which absorbs an important fraction of postal employees’ work hours. The volume of these payments reached 350 billion rubles, or almost $12 billion, in 2011, reported Russian business daily Vedomosti.
But attracting online customers may turn out to be difficult. In the offline world, the Russian Post enjoys a dominant position due to its historical role and its physical presence everywhere in the country; but in the online world, the operator will have to cope with a plethora of competitors, including well-established electronic currency companies, cash terminal operators, mobile operators, and banks.
Undeterred, the Russian Post looks set to bet on its primary competitive advantage over its online competition – its long-standing offline partnerships with 27,000 public utility providers across the country, Vedomosti notes.
The Russian Post’s press service did not answer EWDN’s inquiry on how this service could be developed further.
