Figure 6.1

Source: Royal Mail Regulatory Financial Statements, Royal Mail Wholesale, Royal Mail Group Annual Reports, AA/Warc, Nielsen. Note: Royal Mail calendar year volume figures are derived from Ofcom calculations based on financial year figures in Royal Mail’s Regulatory Statements and unaudited submissions to Ofcom and are therefore not directly comparable with Royal Mail’s published accounts. Royal Mail figures relate to the ‘Reported Business’. Prior data are not comparable. Figures are nominal.

UK postal services: industry key metrics

UK postal services industry 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Addressed letter volumes 15.6bn 14.6bn 13.5bn 12.9bn 12.7bn 12.2bn

Addressed letter revenues £4.1bn £4.1bn £4.2bn £4.2bn £4.3bn £4.2bn

Proportion of access in total mail 44% 49% 54% 56% 56% 58%

Letter volumes delivered by operators other than Royal Mail

11.3m 8.5m 18.0m 56.1m 158.5m 67.6m

Direct mail share of total advertising spend 15.9% 14.9% 14.5% 14.1% 13.9% 14.1%

Figure 6.2

1

15%

17%

42%

44%

17%

15%

12%

12%

10%

8%

4%

4%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2016

2015

At least once a week At least once a month

At least every three months Less often than every three months

Never Don't know

Source: YouGov Reports, Innovations in Retailing 2016, fieldwork March 2016. Base: nationally representative adults aged 16+ 2016: 2003, 2015: 2114 Q5: How often do you purchase products online (including via your mobile)?

Frequency of online shopping Proportion of respondents (%)

Figure 6.3

2

9 10

17 6

13 18

22 42

52

8 8

17 24

51 55

0 20 40 60

Heard that the delivery firm was unreliable

Previous poor experience with retailer

Previous poor experience with delivery firm

Item was too valuable

Unable to arrange a suitable delivery location

Return charges were too high

Was not able to arrange a suitable delivery time

Delivery time was too long

Delivery charges were too high

20152016

Note: Three options were asked in 2016 for the first time and have no 2015 comparison. Source: YouGov Reports, Innovations in Retailing, fieldwork March 2016. Base: All adults aged 16+ who have not ordered a product due to delivery concerns, 2016: 842, 2015: 937 Q19: Why did your concerns regarding delivery stop you from ordering the product? Please choose all that apply.

Reasons for stopping an online order Proportion of respondents (%)

Figure 6.4

3

Source: YouGov Reports, Innovations in Retailing 2016, fieldwork March 2016. Base: nationally representative adults aged 16+, 2016: 2003. ‘Don’t know’ (7%) responses not shown Q15: Now thinking about shopping online (including via your mobile) and the delivery of your purchases, in general which of the following do you prefer?.

Figure 6.5

4

17% 28% 24%

50% 38%

37% 42%

29% 34%

25% 24% 13%

11% 9% 10% 9%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Within the hourdelivery

Sundaydelivery

Same daydelivery

Next daydelivery

Don’t know

No, and I’m not interested in using this No – but I’d be interested in using this Yes (I have used this)

Source: YouGov Repots, Innovations in Retailing 2016, fieldwork March 2016. Base: nationally representative adults aged 16+, 2016: 2003. Q24: Have you ever used, or would you be interested in using same day delivery, within the hour delivery, Sunday delivery, and/or next day delivery?

Use of faster or Sunday delivery options Proportion of respondents (%)

5

15,567 14,598 13,482 12,874 12,681 12,211

8,650

7,423 6,236 5,633 5,455 5,075

6,906

7,166 7,228 7,185 7,068 7,069

11 9 18 56 159 68 0

6,000

12,000

18,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Total mail

Royal Mail end-to-end*

Royal Mailaccess

Other operatorsend-to-endletters

Source: Royal Mail Regulatory Financial Statements, operator returns to Ofcom, Ofcom estimates. Royal Mail calendar year volume figures are derived from Ofcom calculations based on financial year figures in Royal Mail’s Regulatory Statements and unaudited submissions to Ofcom and are therefore not directly comparable with Royal Mail’s published accounts. Royal Mail figures relate to the ‘Reported Business’. *Royal Mail end-to-end is an Ofcom calculation and refers to Royal Mail total letters volumes excepting access. Royal Mail access volumes are as per its Regulatory Financial Statements and include a small amount of parcels. The effect of this is that Royal Mail’s access volumes are slightly overstated and its end-to-end volumes are slightly understated. Prior data are not comparable.

Addressed letter volumes: 2010-2015 Volume (million items)

Figure 6.6

6

4,084 4,059 4,156 4,233 4,252 4,168

3,936 3,905 3,993 4,062 4,055 3,989 2,856 2,635 2,552 2,568 2,543 2,449

1,080 1,270 1,441 1,494 1,512 1,540

142 150 157 160 161 173 6 4 5 11 35 7 0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Total market

Royal Mail total

Royal Mail end-to-end*

Royal Mailaccess

Accessoperators

End-to-endoperators

Source: Royal Mail Regulatory Financial Statements, operator returns to Ofcom, Ofcom estimates. Royal Mail calendar year revenue figures are derived from Ofcom calculations based on financial year figures in Royal Mail’s Regulatory Statements and unaudited submissions to Ofcom and are therefore not directly comparable with Royal Mail’s published accounts. Royal Mail figures relate to the ‘Reported Business’. *Royal Mail end-to-end is an Ofcom calculation and refers to Royal Mail total letters revenues excepting access. Royal Mail access revenues are as per its Regulatory Financial Statements and include a small amount of parcels. The effect of this is that Royal Mail’s access revenues are slightly overstated and its end-to-end revenues are slightly understated. Prior data are not comparable. Figures are nominal.

Addressed letter revenues: 2010-2015 Revenue (£m)

Figure 6.7

7

Figure 6.8 Proportion of access in total letters mail: 2010-2015

Proportion of access in total mail volume

Source: Royal Mail Regulatory Financial Statements, Operators’ returns, Ofcom estimates

Year on year growth rate of access volumes 13.1% 3.8% 0.9% -0.6% -1.6% 0.0%

44% 49% 54% 56% 56% 58%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

8

11.3 8.5 18.0 56.1

158.5

67.6

0

40

80

120

160

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Source: Ofcom analysis of operators’ returns

Other operators’ end-to-end delivered volumes: 2010-2015 Volume (million items)

Figure 6.9

9

48 52 61 66

75

90 90 93 95 96

40 42 47 51

58 69 69 73 74 75

34 36 39 41 46 60 60 62 63 64

24 27 30 32 36 50 50 53 54 55

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

First ClassLarge Letter

Second ClassLarge Letter

First ClassLetter

Second ClassLetter

Source: Royal Mail. Figures are nominal. Prices refer to Royal Mail First and Second Class Standard and Large Letter list prices for letters up to 100g.

Royal Mail First and Second Class single-piece stamp prices: 2007-2016 Price (p)

Figure 6.10

Figure 6.11

10

£5.65 £5.65 £5.65 £5.70

£5.20 £5.20 £4.89 £4.95

£3.00 £3.20 £3.30 £3.35

£2.60 £2.80 £2.80 £2.85

£0.00

£1.00

£2.00

£3.00

£4.00

£5.00

£6.00

2013 2014 2015 2016*

Medium ParcelFirst Class

Medium ParcelSecond Class

Small ParcelFirst Class

Small ParcelSecond Class

Source: Royal Mail. Figures are nominal. Prices refer to Small Parcels (up to 45cm x 35cm x16cm) weighing up to 1kg and Medium Parcels(up to 61cmx46cmx46cm) weighing up to 1kg. Note: In 2016, Royal Mail introduced a different price for parcel postage bought online rather than in-store. Dashed line shows online price.

Royal Mail First and Second Class small and medium parcel prices: 2013-2016

Price (£)

11

49 48 49

24 26 26

5 5 5 9 9 9 9 8 8 4 4 3

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

OtherInternationalSocialPublishingMarketingBusiness

Source: Royal Mail plc, full year 2015-16 results, Royal Mail plc, full year 2014-15 results, and Royal Mail plc, full year 2013-14 results Note: relates to Royal Mail revenue and not the total market, so accounts for c.95% of total revenue

Letter revenue, by type of mail: 2013-14-2015-16 Proportion of letters revenue generated by each type (%)

Figure 6.12

Figure 6.13

12

91

5 2 1 0

20

40

60

80

100

Made no changes tomail practices

Moved to a lower costRoyal Mail product

Switched from RoyalMail to other providers

Moved to a higher costRoyal Mail product

Source: Ofcom Business Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All respondents using Royal Mail services (n=1185) QV7a: In the last twelve months, has your organisation…

Businesses’ changes in mail practices over the past year Proportion of respondents (%)

13

1,719 1,648 1,569 1,490 1,459 1,512

15.9% 14.9% 14.5% 14.1% 13.9% 14.1%

0%

6%

12%

18%

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Spend on direct mail Direct mail share of advertising spend

Source: AA/Warc Advertising Expenditure report . Figures are nominal.

UK direct mail advertising spend and share of total advertising: 2010-2015

Spend (£m) Share of total advertising spend (%)

Figure 6.14

14

5,892 5,772 5,385 4,766 4,432

15.1% 15.4% 14.7% 14.2% 15.2%

0

5

10

15

0

2,500

5,000

7,500

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Subscription circulation Share of total print circulation

Source: Mediatel/ABC, 6-monthly net average circulation and subscription sales

Magazine subscription circulation: 2011-2015 Average subscription circulation (thousands) Share of print circulation (%)

Figure 6.15

15

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults aged 16+ (n = 1946 adults 16+, 636 16-34, 675 35-54, 636 55+) QC1. Approximately how many items of post – including letters, cards and parcels – have you personally sent in the last month?

Number of items sent per month

Items of post sent per month (proportion of respondents %)

21 31 17 16

20 25

18 17

18

18

20 15

27 19

30 31

9 4 11 10

5 2 3 9 1 1 2

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Don't know21+ items11-20 items5-10 items3 or 4 items1 or 2 itemsNone

6.6

Mean number of items sent per month

4.8 6.2 8.8

Figure 6.16

16

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults who have personally sent any items of post in the last month (n = 1491 adults 16+, 364 16-34, 536 35-54, 591 55+) QC2. And how many of these items sent in the last month were parcels rather than letters or cards?

Number of parcels sent per month

Parcels sent per month (proportion of respondents %)

61 55 58 69

26 30 28 19

6 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 2 2 2 1

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Don't know

21+ parcels

11-20 parcels

5-10 parcels

3 or 4 parcels

1 or 2 parcels

None

1.2

Mean number of parcels sent per month

1.3 1.4 0.9

Figure 6.17

17

33

47

83

44

56

69

46

51

52

41

51

69

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Parcels

Formal mail

Personal mail

16+16-3435-5455+

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults who have personally sent any items of post in the last month (n = 1491 adults 16+, 364 16-34, 536 35-54, 591 55+) QC5. Which of these types of mail would you say you have personally sent in the last month by post? (MULTICODE)

Types of mail sent in the past month Proportion of respondents (%)

Figure 6.18

18

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults aged 16+, (n = 1946 adults 16+, 636 16-34, 675 35-54, 636 55+) QC10. SHOWCARD Compared with two years ago, would you say that the number of items you send through the post has... increased greatly, increased slightly, stayed the same, decreased slightly, decreased greatly?

Adults’ increasing or decreasing use of post compared to two years ago

14

22

13 8

23

17

27 26

05

1015202530

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Increase Decrease

Proportion of respondents (%)

-9pp 5pp -14pp -18pp Net increase:

Figure 6.19

19

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015) Base: All who say that the number of items sent by post has decreased, compared to two years ago (n = 455 adults 16+, 103 16-34, 190 35-54, 203 55+) QC13. As your use of post has decreased compared with two years ago, which, if any, of these other forms of communication are you using more instead of post? (MULTICODE) Only responses above 5pc charted

Methods of communication used as a replacement for post Proportion of respondents (%)

69

26 22 20 15 9 9

78

32 23 27

6 10 17

75

30 25 20 11 7 8

56

16 17 16 25

12 4

0

20

40

60

80

100

Email Textmessaging/

SMS

Mobile phonecalls

Socialnetworkingsites/ apps

Landlinephone calls

In-person/face-to-face

InstantMessaging

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Figure 6.20

20

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All respondents (n = 1946 adults 16+, 636 16-34, 675 35-54, 636 55+) QC25 and 26. SHOWCARD Looking to the future…Compared with now, would you say that the number of letters and cards/parcels you will be sending in the post two years from now will have… increased greatly, increased slightly, stayed the same, decreased slightly, decreased greatly?

Expected use of post in two years’ time

10 12

17 19

9 12

5 4

15

7

13

7

16

6

17

10

0

5

10

15

20

Letters/Cards Parcels Letters/Cards Parcels Letters/Cards Parcels Letters/Cards Parcels

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Increase Decrease

Proportion of respondents (%)

-5pp 5pp 4pp 12pp -7pp 6pp -12pp -6pp Net increase:

Figure 6.21

21

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults aged 16+ (n = 1946 adults, 636 16-34, 675 35-54, 636 55+) QD1. Approximately how many items of post – including letters, cards and parcels – have you personally received in the last week?

Number of items received per week

6 9 5 4 14

22 6 15

16 20

14 16

36 32

42 35

21 14

25 23

6 4 7 7

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

Don't know21+ items11-20 items5-10 items3 or 4 items1 or 2 itemsNone

Items of post received per week (proportion of respondents %) 8.7

Mean number of items received per week

6.8 10.2 9.1

Figure 6.22

22

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults who have personally received any items of post in the past week (n = 1824 adults, 500 16-34, 628 35-54, 696 55+) QD2. And how many of these items received in the last week were parcels rather than letters or cards?

Number of parcels received per week

Number of parcels received per week (proportion of respondents %)

61 56 56 69

25 27 25 22

8 8 10 6 5 7 8 2

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults 16+ 16-34 35-54 55+

11+ parcels

5-10 parcels

3 or 4 parcels

1 or 2 parcels

None

1.2

Mean number of parcels received per week

1.5 1.5 0.7

Figure 6.23

23

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: all adults aged 16+ (n = 1946 adults) QD4. Please think about items that are addressed to you personally rather than leaflets or charity collection envelopes or bags that may come through your letterbox. Which of these types of items would you say you have personally received through the post in the last month? (MULTICODE)

Types of mail received in the past month Proportion of respondents who have received each type of mail (%)

13 16

20 27

33 36 38 40

45 51

83

0 20 40 60 80 100

Items requiring a signature

Subscription magazines

Personal letters

Smaller parcels

Invitations/ greetings cards

Catalogues/ brochures

Larger parcels

Addressed direct mail

Letters from organisations you know

Standard circulars from orgs. you do have a relationship with

Bills/ invoices/ statements

Figure 6.24

24

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 QD17. Thinking of the parcels that you have received in the last week, which of these companies delivered the parcels? (MULTICODE) Base: All who have received any parcels in the last week (all adults 16+ 678) Chart shows companies mentioned by more than 1% of those receiving any parcels in the last week. Amazon Logistics was not included as an option in the survey.

Proportion of adults reporting delivery of parcels in the last week, by company

46%

26%

21%

7%

Only RoyalMail

Royal Mailand anyother/sOnly other/s

Don't know

72

15 10 7 7 6 5 3 2 0 %

20 %

40 %

60 %

80 %

Figure 6.25

Proportion of those who have received a parcel in the past week (%)

Figure 6.26

25

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults aged 16+ (n = 1358 adults, 389 16-34, 465 35-54, 504 55+) QF1. As far as you know, how much does it currently cost to send a standard letter by First Class using a stamp? (single code) QF3. As far as you know, how much does it currently cost to send a standard letter by Second Class using a stamp? (single code) Note: Chart includes data from Q2 2015 onwards, due to a change in stamp prices during Q1 2015

Awareness of letter stamp prices

Proportion of respondents (%)

35 30 39 36

7 4

8 7

25 26

27 21

34 39 26 36

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults16+

16-34 35-54 55+

Don'tknow

Incorrectprice -over 63p

Correctprice -63p

Incorrectprice -under63p

38 35 44 34

4 1 4

6 13 16

11 13

45 47 42 47

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Adults16+

16-34 35-54 55+

Don'tknow

Incorrectprice -over 54p

Correctprice -54p

Incorrectprice -under54p

Proportion of respondents (%) First Class Stamp Second Class Stamp

26

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All adults aged 16+ (n = 1358 adults) QF3/4. It currently costs 63p/54p to send a standard letter First/ Second Class within the UK. How would you rate the Royal Mail's First/ Second Class service in terms of value for money? (SINGLE CODE Note: Chart includes data from Q2 2015 onwards, due to a change in stamp prices during Q1 2015

Perception of value for money of First and Second Class stamps

Proportion of respondents (%)

18 15

41 36

17 21

15 17

7 10

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

First Class Stamp Second Class Stamp

Don't know

Very poor

Fairly poor

Neither goodnor poorFairly good

Very good

60%

Total who agree First or Second Class stamps are good value for money

51%

Figure 6.27

Figure 6.28

27

Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 QF6: When sending letters or cards, which service do you use? Don’t know responses not charted. Base: All adults aged 16+(n=1946)

Service used when sending letters or cards

39%

17%

20%

14%

4% 4% First Class all the time

First Class most of thetimeEqual amounts

Second Class most ofthe timeSecond Class all thetimeNever send letters orcards

Proportion of respondents (%)

Figure 6.29

28

Source: Source: Ofcom Residential Postal Tracker 2015 Base: All respondents (n = 1938 adults 16+, 631 16-34, 678 35-54, 633 55+) QH2A-H. Agreement with statements about sending/ receiving post Significance testing shows any difference between age groups.

Attitudes to post among adults in the UK: agreement with proposed statements

Adults 16+

16-34 35-54 55+

I prefer to send letters or emails to companies rather than make a phone call, so that I have a written record

60 61 64 55

I prefer to send emails rather than letters whenever possible 56 71 60 37

I only use post if there is no alternative 47 61 44 37

I send fewer letters by post now due to the cost 29 26 30 32

I would feel cut off from society if I can't send or don't receive post 55 44 55 68

I trust Second Class post to get there in a reasonable timeframe 63 58 60 72