Is separation the PO’s key?

Ryman’s deal to operate concessions in Post Offices (MW last week) poses a question as to what either side hopes to achieve. Without putting a large “Ryman” sign on the outside of Post Offices, how are customers to be attracted into the building? And once there, how are they to be persuaded to join the long queue that invariably appears in Post Offices at peak times, when they could just as easily visit the Ryman store down the road (or, worse, one of its competitors)? Shops in major Post Offices are always going to be incidental to the main business, unless they are physically separated from the main counter area.

Peter Austick

Richmond

North Yorkshire