The United States Postal Service (USPS) gave the go ahead for PC postage in August 1999. By yearend, only four months later, U.S. small businesses and home offices had already spent $8.2 million on the product, and according to market research firm IDC, they`re just getting warmed up. In 2000, their annual spending will approach $300 million, and by yearend 2001, it is expected to soar past $600 million.
Despite the fact home businesses outnumber U.S. small businesses, IDC expects small businesses will be responsible for the lion`s share of PC postage spending because the number of small businesses moving to PC postage and the average spending per company will be greater than that of home-based businesses.
IDC estimates small businesses alone will spend $212 million on PC postage in 2000, accounting for almost 3% of their total first-class spending. Additionally, they will spend more on PC postage for overnight express mail, second-day, and parcel-post packages.
With PC postage, customers print a USPS-approved barcode with postage and address information using their own printers, ink, and labels or envelopes. Depending on what solution they choose, customers can download and print the postage while they are online or they can download ahead of time. According to IDC, 9.5% of small business PC owners are very interested in PC postage, an exceptional interest level for a new product category.
Raymond Boggs, vice president of IDC`s Small Business and Home Office research programme, believes the convenience in printing postage is only one part of the technology`s appeal: "PC postage brings the SOHO mailroom into the 21st century from the 19th century. Managing mail lists, targeting prospects, and delivering material effectively can all be done by the smallest firms," Boggs said.
IDC`s new report, Small Business PC Postage (IDC #B21014), analyzes small businesses` current use of different postal solutions and sizes the opportunity associated with new PC and Internet postage products and services. The small business market for PC postage is forecast through 2003. Additionally, profiles of the major PC and Internet postage suppliers are included.
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International Data Corporation (IDC)
BMI-T has established a long-standing business relationship with the International Data Corporation (IDC). With research centres in over 40 countries and more than 500 research analysts and 3 900 clients world-wide, IDC provides a global market perspective on IT market and technology trends.
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BMI-TechKnowledge Group (BMI-T)
BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T) is Africa `s leading supplier of market intelligence and knowledge-based consulting in the areas of IT, telecommunications and broadcasting.
Formed over fourteen years ago, BMI-T provides its clients with an unmatched and comprehensive range of unbiased market knowledge. BMI-T conducts more than 20 000 market research business-to-business and business-to-consumer interviews and more than 100 focus group projects every year.
BMI-T has an active ongoing research publications business that has consistently published research-based market analysis covering many facets of the IT, telecommunications and emerging media sectors. This knowledge base provides the platform on which we build our customised research and consulting, including assignments such as market entry strategies, product entry strategies, channel and distribution analysis and African research.