Prepress

Pitney Bowes Signs Distribution Agreement With Digital China

Tuesday 29. September 2009 - Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) announced today that it has appointed Digital China to distribute Pitney Bowes products to small- and medium-size companies across China. Digital China is that country’s largest information technology distribution and service company, with a presence in six hundred Chinese cities and a network of more than five thousand resellers and system integration partners.

The agreement will enable a much broader segment of Chinese companies to have access to the hardware and software tools and services that support effective customer communications. Until now, high-end versions of these systems have been available only to the largest enterprises in China.
Among the midrange systems included in the new agreement are numerous models of letter inserters, address printers, letter openers and folders, as well as the Planet Press and Flexmail software systems that provide for variable data composition, including multi-channel output management for Planet Press. These products can be seamlessly integrated to create a solution for either direct mail or transaction mail, depending on the company’s needs.
The agreement does not include postage meters, which by Chinese law are not sold or leased to commercial enterprises.
“With this announcement, thousands of Chinese companies will be able to capitalize on our technology to become more effective direct mailers or transactional mailers,” said Eric Yves-Mahe, president of Pitney Bowes’s operations in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. “We are very proud of our relationship with Digital China and look forward to working with them to deliver high-integrity solutions to more customers.”
The mail market in China is growing as the economy expands and as more companies take advantage of the unique communication properties of consumer bills and statements. Numerous studies have shown that consumers are far more likely to open and read bills or statements carefully compared to other forms of communication, creating a regular opportunity for companies to provide targeted and relevant information that can lead to increased sales.
According to Euromonitor International, there were 160 million credit cards in China in 2008, up from only three million in 2003, and the number is increasing by tens of millions of cards per year.
This is the second major distribution agreement that Pitney Bowes has announced in Asia this year. Earlier, the company announced it had signed a deal with Canon Marketing Japan Inc. to distribute the DM100 postage meter to small- and medium-size business customers in the Japanese market.
“Asia offers almost unlimited opportunities for growth as markets develop and companies work harder to develop deep customer relationships,” Mahe said. “Regular communication through the mail is one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with existing customers and provide information and offers that keep them engaged and satisfied.”