UPU

This policy brief focuses on physical digital trade, specifically the cross-border e-commerce of tangible goods ordered through digital platforms. It examines the impacts of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with digital trade provisions on cross-border e-commerce, with particular emphasis on their implications for designated operators and policymakers.

The joint research seeks to identify and test the causal relationship between digital trade agreements and the growth of cross-border postal volumes. It assesses both anticipatory and responsive behaviours in relation to digital trade policies from January 2018 to June 2023.

Initial findings from the ongoing analysis indicate significant anticipatory behaviours by businesses and consumers, as well as varied impacts across different mail categories. These insights highlight the need for clear, targeted digital trade policies to promote economic growth, reduce supply chain disruptions, and ensure better alignment between international postal policies and global digital trade regulations.

This study interviewed Posts in 29 countries, as well as regional postal associations in Asia and
Africa (restricted unions). Among the Posts interviewed for this study, nearly two thirds offered e-wallet solutions, more than half offered financial services as agents, a little over a third offered traditional card-based payment solutions (such as debit cards), and approximately one-fourth offered point-of-sale (POS) solutions to their customers.

The role of Posts should ideally be to facilitate digital payments between micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and their customers and suppliers. As a trusted member of the community, Posts serve both as ambassadors and customer support to foster MSME digitalization.

Based on the assessment conducted as part of the study entitled “Posts as enablers of MSME payment digitalization,” three potential business models were developed for Posts to consider in their efforts to provide appropriate digital payment services to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

This particular report serves as a companion document to the study “Posts as enablers of MSME payment digitalization”.