Australia’s first digital mail service Digital Post Australia is closing down after just a year of operation, due to lack of customers, leaving Australia Post as the last player standing in what was touted as the future of mail.
The service was founded two years ago by business document printing giants Computershare and Salmat, each owning 40 per cent, along with US software developer Zumbox, to tap into a $138m secure online mail market and started beta testing in August 2012.
However, after Fuji Xerox bought Salmat’s printing arm in December 2012 it sold the 40 per cent stake to Computershare, which has just advised customers to move their documents elsewhere by July 31, and has already stopped delivering mail to the digital post boxes.
The service had only about 1000 businesses signed up in February and about 12,000 consumer level users at last count, seemingly well short of the required numbers to be profitable.
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Computershare Australian and New Zealand regional director Scott Cameron confirms the reason for ending Digital Post was a lack of users, and while he gave no indication the company is working on an alternative it does not seem to have given up on the concept.
“Consumers and senders alike were excited when they first heard about the concept but without enough senders supporting the channel, Digital Post Australia is unable to make its service sustainable at this point in time,” he says.
“Computershare is always looking for cost efficient and innovative ways to help its clients effectively engage with their security holders and customers and reduce the cost to communicate.
“Our involvement in the Digital Post joint venture was a good example of our commitment to this endeavour.”
Salmat and Computershare had earlier boasted that their clients represented 70 per cent of Australia Post’s mail volumes and Digital Post would be able to offer secure communication with clients at 30 per cent of the cost of physical mail.
It seems this prediction was overly optimistic, with Digital Post chairman David Hynes admitting that although businesses were initially excited about the concept, in the end many preferred to build their own platforms.
[Related: More Digital Post news]
Some of the lack of consumer interest may be explained by an Australia Post consumer survey which found 42 per cent of customers preferred to receive bills and statements by mail as opposed to 31 per cent by email, 25 per cent both mail and email, and two per cent neither.
The company says it will 'permanently and securely’ destroy all users’ personal information once the service is closed.
The demise of Digital Post leaves Australia Post’s Digital Mailbox as the only large-scale service left on the market, with the national mail carrier claiming it is going well.
“We’ve been really pleased with how customers have embraced the Digital Mailbox since its launch last year, and we expect the service to continue to grow as we add more service providers and tools to make it easier for consumers to manage their busy lives,” the company says.
“We are proud to be partnering with some of Australia’s largest companies including Telstra, AMP and Westpac, and with more than 40 providers coming on-board over the next four months, the Digital Mailbox is well positioned to deliver now and into the future.”
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