New Way to Get Money out
of China and India
There's no doubt the two great slumbering giants India and China (both unspoilt DM markets with
huge potential) are beginning to wake up. In response to customer demand, a well-known international
service provider plans to announce in July they will introduce a facility in India to receive credit card
payments in rupees and pay the equivalent amount in US dollars (or any other convertible currency) to mailers
offshore.
The same company will also be able to receive and process debit and credit card charges in renmimbi
within China and pay the equivalent in any convertible currency to mailers offshore.
This is not a complete solution to receiving payment from either country. Payment transfers through the
postal system in China are still enormously important, for instance. But it's a start and better than asking
Indian and Chinese customers to send cash outside the country — which many do — but it's illegal, of course.
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Breakthrough in China
While on the subject of China, I should mention that MLA, together with one of its partners WORLD MARKETING
GROUP (with offices in Shanghai, Beijing and throughout Asia), have recently had something of a breakthrough
in China.
Listowners in China are paranoid about list security (understandably because horror stories abound)
and they are simply unwilling to release names to third party lettershops, clients — anyone — within China.
The solution presented to leading listowners during a recent trip to Shanghai, is for them to release instead
to WMG in Hong Kong where WMG will carry out de-duping, addressing and lettershopping, and the listowners
(who should learn to seed their lists) are protected by written security guarantees under Hong Kong law. List
data ownership is not protected under China law.
Reluctant initially, China listowners (at least the larger ones) have now agreed universally to release files
to WMG in Hong Kong on a test quantities basis at first. This will also enable mailers to de-dupe multiple
lists against one another, and their house file, which will reduce mailing costs. Mail will then be picked
up by WMG and entered directly into Shanghai Post for Shanghai Province, into Beijing Post for Beijing
Province etc. Any extra cost will be more than covered by the savings achievable through de-duping.
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Market and Distribute
Your English-Language
Publications in China More Easily
Another breakthrough in China is of interest to English language magazine and newspaper publishers
who wish to build a subscriber base and/or distribute their publications in China.
Traditionally this has been done almost exclusively through CNP (China National Publications) who
are pleasant people I'm told, but expensive and sometimes less than reliable.
WMG has now established a strategic alliance with BANTU who are also official importers of
English-language publications but competing with CNP. Publishers are guaranteed payment offshore in US
dollars within just a few weeks after supplying copies to Bantu and WMG for subscriber and newsstand
distribution.
Interested parties should contact SK Ng of WMG in New York
(sk@wmg-group.com) or Sew Chu of WMG in Singapore (sewchu@wmg-group.com). Some publishers have
recently approached BANTU direct, but this won't work I'm afraid. sk@wmg-group.com
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The “International
Pavilion” at the 2004 DMA Annual
In New Orleans is Sold Out!
In the last issue I reported the commendable decision by the DMA to relocate the reinstated
“International Pavilion” to an (acceptable) central position on both sides of Aisle 1700 at the next DMA
Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans.
I was told by Charles Prescott in London a couple of weeks ago that all available stands have now been booked.
This is in contrast to Orlando where the International Pavilion was given a lousy position at the
edge of the conference, and nearly all international exhibitors (including MLA) stayed away.
The DMA would like to allocate more stands to the “International Pavilion” later this year in another
area close by (starting at booth 1852). They already have a number of exhibitors committed to this area and
you should contact Kevin Fox at kfox@the_dma.org if you're interested in participating.
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You Can Save
Money by Printing, Laser Addressing and
Lettershopping in Asia for Domestic or International Markets
There's been talk around for some time about large US and European direct marketers seeking quotes on
printing, de-duping and lettershopping in Asia to save costs. This talk is now being translated into
action.
There are a handful of printers and lettershoppers being used in Shenzhen (China), Manila (Philippines)
and Bangkok (Thailand). Singapore and Hong Kong are too expensive. Sometimes contact is direct but more
often through a trusted and familiar third party.
For domestic markets, addressed pieces are then shipped by surface container to the US (or back to Europe)
or other countries for dropping into their domestic postal systems. The cost savings for pre-planning
in this way are very significant especially on larger volumes.
European mailers can also choose to mail back into the EU from Asia using either private delivery or
the UPU system for less than REIMS tariff rates within the EU. Their mailings are not classified as ABA as
long as no mail is sent back into the specific countries in which the mailer is incorporated or has a legal
presence. If the mailer uses private delivery and direct entry, ABA isn't an issue.
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Private or Public
Sector Postal Delivery?
This brings me to a critical issue in international postal delivery.
The early days of private mail delivery 2 3 years ago were a disaster. We received many complaints about
the dumping of mail by unscrupulous sub-contractors (even a lot of UPU mail wasn't being fully delivered)
to the extent I was invited by Tom Leavey, Director-General of the UPU, to air the topic publicly at the
2002 UPU Customer Day in Berne, Switzerland.
Over the past year or so, there seems to have been an effort by both the public and private sectors to
improve quality of service standards in cross-border mail.
I've been impressed by the private mail operators Spring (G-3) and Deutsche Post Global Mail whose
services are now more reliable, and we've used Direct Link (owned by Swedish Post) successfully many
times. French Post and Swiss Post are becoming more active in Asia offering private delivery services to
Europe.
Personally, I'm a lot more comfortable now taking advantage of lower rates through the private sector
and the more commercially oriented postal administrations who are by-passing the UPU terminal dues system,
but only when absolutely convinced all my mail will be delivered. There can be no compromise on this.
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Some DC's (such
as Hong Kong and Singapore) May
Become Re-Classified as IC's at the next UPU Congress
The other issue of concern to all international mailers right now are the decisions which may be made
rd at the Universal Postal Union's 23 World Congress in Bucharest, September 15 October 5.
Some major reconstructuring of the terminal dues system will certainly take place with effect from
January 2006. There are also likely to be changes relating to ETOE's and bulk airmail regulations generally.
Perhaps of most concern is the plan by industrialized countries (IC's) to press for a country-specific
terminal dues system in future based on destination countries' actual costs. This would be good for the IC's
who would receive more revenues from DC mail (and other IC mail) to “cover their costs”, but not good for
DC's whose citizens would have to pay a lot more for their mail to IC's and who would receive much less
terminal dues revenue because of their low domestic postal rate structures.
Since each member country of the UPU has one vote, DC's outnumber IC's and would easily be able to
outvote IC's on this (and other) issues.
So what will the compromise be? I'm told some DC's such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai are likely to
be re-classified (after a transition period) as IC's which will force them to charge their customers
much higher postal rates after January, 2006, to cover the higher terminal dues they will have to pay.
What will this do? Drive me and other mailers even further away from Hong Kong and Singapore Post towards
deals with private sector operators and the more commercial postal administrations who are using direct
entry. This is on condition our mail gets through — and I'm sure the private operators will make it
their business to see that it does!
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How to Keep Out the “Cowboys”?
While we're on the subject of international postal delivery, I really hope some kind of association can
be formed amongst the more professional private delivery operators where a condition of membership is
adherence to -- and maintenance of -- the highest possible service quality standards. This way they can
try to keep out the “cowboys” who can do so much damage to the reputation of the private sector as a whole,
and so much financial harm to mailers when they fail to deliver their mail in full.
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How to “Steal Ideas and Make More Money”
Unfortunately I've had to turn down an invitation to speak again at DM Thailand 2004 on May 26 — 27
having already accepted an invitation to judge again at the 5 World Mail Awards organized by Triangle prior
to their World Mail and Express Conference in Berlin on the same dates in May.
I notice that Ray Considine is billed as a speaker at DM Thailand. He's the author of “The Great Brain
Robbery: How to Steal Ideas and Make More Money”. In other words, he's a man after my own heart. I've
been saying this to people planning DM entrepreneurial start-ups for years.
This sentiment was well-grounded on my experience launching “Business Traveller” Magazine in the UK in
1976. I gathered together all the DM packages I could find (Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Business Week et al)
and shamelessly copied their design ideas but, of course, substituted my own words drawn heavily from
a “brilliant” first issue -- to give potential subscribers a taste of what they would be receiving.
The response to the first test mailing of 24,350 to the controlled circulation file of another publication I
owned was 23.7%! I remember (in my naivity) being disappointed that 76.3% hadn't responded… and was in
two minds whether or not to go ahead with the first issue…
Since this very first mailing my response rates have steadily declined. Often these days I'm thrilled
with 0.2%.
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Have You Tested the “Statement of Benefits” Yet?
While on the elevating subject of stealing other people's ideas, it's been interesting to note how the use
of the “Statement of Benefits” has proliferated. Every mailer using it, in the USA and elsewhere, has
reported lifts of 50% and more.
Over breakfast the other day, Rosemarie Wallace, Publisher of Reader's Digest in Asia, claimed the Digest
were the first to use it. Some may argue with this although the Digest have had a reputation over the
years for being pioneers of many new DM ideas. Anyway, good DM ideas that work tend to catch on like
wildfire — in other words they get “stolen” and adapted very quickly indeed and the “Statement of Benefits”
format has already been widely copied by the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Asian Wall Street
Journal, National Geographic and many others with considerable success.
I'm happy to relate there's an exception to every rule. Very recently I tested a personalized “Statement
of Benefits” package (without a visual) in an A/B split to consumer lists versus a personalized control
package(with an important visual). The visual package won by 96% against the control. Yes, we will next
test the visual package to include the “Statement of Benefits”!
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