Study on Appropriate Methodologies to Better Measure Consumer Preferences for Postal Services

210 Pages·2011·1.86 MB·English

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technical RePORt
Study on appropriate
Methodologies to Better
Measure consumer Preferences
for Postal Services
Final Report
Charlene Rohr • Urs Trinkner • Alison Lawrence • Priscillia Hunt
Chong Woo Kim • Dimitris Potoglou • Rob Sheldon
Prepared for internal Market and Services DG MaRKt/2010/14/e

EUROPE
The research described in this document was prepared for the Internal Market and Services
DG MARKT/2010/14/E.
RAND Europe is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation whose mission is
to improve policy and decision making for the public good. RAND’s publications do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
R
® is a registered trademark.
© Copyright 2011 European Commission
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or
mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval)
without permission in writing from the European Commission.
Published 2011 by the RAND Corporation
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Preface
RAND Europe, in conjunction with Accent and Swiss Economics, was commissioned by
the European Commission Directorate-General Internal Market and Services to conduct
research on appropriate methodologies to better measure consumer preferences for postal
services.
This report summarises work undertaken testing the use of stated preference discrete
choice experiments to measure consumer preferences for postal services. It discusses the
importance of understanding and quantifying consumer priorities in the postal sector and
presents different methods used for valuing non-market goods. We recommend the use of
stated preference discrete choice experiments, and test the use of this approach in three
member states. We provide the findings for these member states, as well as a “tool kit” for
applying this methodology in other member states in future.
RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to
improve policy and decision making in the public interest, through research and analysis.
RAND Europe’s clients include European governments, institutions, NGOs and firms
with a need for rigorous, independent, multidisciplinary analysis.
For more information about RAND Europe or this document, please contact Charlene
Rohr at:

RAND Europe
Westbrook Centre
Milton Road
Cambridge CB4 1YG
United Kingdom
Tel. [phone]
[email protected]
iii

Contents
Preface ........................................................................................................................ iii
Table of Figures ........................................................................................................... ix
Table of Tables ............................................................................................................ xi
List of Acronyms and Definitions ............................................................................... xv
Country Abbreviations ............................................................................................. xvii
Summary ................................................................................................................... xix
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ xxxix
CHAPTER 1 The importance of understanding consumers’ preferences for
postal services ................................................................................... 1
1.1 Structure of the report ....................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER 2 Our methodological framework for measuring consumers’
preferences for postal services ........................................................... 3
2.1 Valuing non-market goods and services ............................................................. 3
2.2 Understanding consumers’ priorities for postal services ...................................... 7
2.2.1 The role of postal services .................................................................... 7
2.2.2 Underlying needs of postal services from an economic
perspective ........................................................................................... 8
2.2.3 Summary and remarks ....................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 3 Implementing the valuation methodology in three member
states .............................................................................................. 13
3.1 Defining the attributes to be tested in the choice exercises ............................... 13
3.1.1 Implications of our analysis of the underlying needs of postal
services ............................................................................................... 14
3.1.2 Review of attributes tested in other postal studies ............................... 16
3.1.3 Levels of USO across member states ................................................... 19
3.1.4 Views from stakeholders..................................................................... 20
3.1.5 Recommended attributes to be tested ................................................. 21
3.2 Treatment of altruism ..................................................................................... 27
3.3 The inclusion of an “as now” or baseline alternative ........................................ 27
3.4 Designing the choice experiments .................................................................... 28
3.5 Other information collected in the questionnaire ............................................ 32
3.6 Key market segments ....................................................................................... 33
v
Study on Appropriate Methodologies to Better RAND Europe
Measure Consumer Preferences for Postal Services Accent
Swiss Economics
3.7 Recommended survey sample sizes ................................................................... 34
3.8 Survey methodology ........................................................................................ 36
3.9 Choosing the member states for testing the methodology ................................ 37
3.10 Pilot testing the questionnaire in the member states ......................................... 48
3.10.1 Cognitive testing ................................................................................ 48
3.10.2 Pilot surveys ....................................................................................... 49
3.11 Main surveys.................................................................................................... 51
3.11.1 Characteristics of the achieved sample ................................................ 51
3.12 Summary of key implementation issues ........................................................... 58
CHAPTER 4 Postal service preferences for customers in Italy, Poland and
Sweden ........................................................................................... 59
4.1 Background findings ........................................................................................ 59
4.1.1 Mail sending and receipt .................................................................... 59
4.1.2 Paying for postage .............................................................................. 68
4.1.3 Internet access .................................................................................... 68
4.1.4 Use of competitors ............................................................................. 71
4.1.5 Improvements to postal services ......................................................... 74
4.1.6 Value for money................................................................................. 77
4.1.7 Mail and postal services ...................................................................... 78
4.1.8 Post office usage ................................................................................. 80
4.1.9 Rural delivery ..................................................................................... 82
4.2 Findings from analysis of the choice experiments ............................................. 83
4.2.1 Respondent’s understanding of the choice exercises ............................ 83
4.2.2 Trading in the choice exercises: the influence of cost .......................... 84
4.2.3 Developing discrete choice models from the SP choice data ............... 87
4.2.4 Business preferences for postal services ............................................... 90
4.2.5 Resident preferences for postal services ............................................. 101
CHAPTER 5 Conclusions and considerations for future studies ....................... 113
5.1 Consumers’ preferences for postal services...................................................... 113
5.1.1 How consumer postal service attributes in Sweden, Poland and
Italy ................................................................................................. 113
5.2 What the findings mean for policy and regulation ......................................... 118
5.2.1 Discussion of results ......................................................................... 118
5.2.2 Regulatory implications .................................................................... 121
5.3 Methodological successes ............................................................................... 122
5.4 Methodological considerations for future studies ........................................... 123
5.5 Toolkit for measuring consumers’ preferences for postal services in other
member states ................................................................................................ 126
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 131
Reference List .......................................................................................................... 133
vi
RAND Europe Summary
Accent
Swiss Economics
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 137
Appendix A: Description of USO in the EU and member states .............................. 139
Appendix B: Model coefficients ............................................................................... 161
vii