SINGAPORE — Riding on Singapore’s smart nation drive, SingPost launched a slew of new initiatives and services that offered a glimpse at the future of the post office.

At the launch of its new flagship General Post Office (GPO) and SingPost Centre at Paya Lebar on Monday (Oct 9), the country’s biggest player in the traditional postal industry also unveiled its first Smart Post Office where facilities and services are “future-ready”.

The new services include features such as the digitalisation of its 24-hour self-service SAM payment machines, where services such as stamp purchases and bill payments will be available on web and mobile app next year.

The SAM kiosks have also been upgraded with new touch screens, new capabilities and payment modes. Even the customer service stations have been upgraded to utilise technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), near field communication, and electronic notifications.

“With the opening of the GPO, our first Smart Post Office and the revamped SingPost Centre, we are establishing new ways to leverage opportunities in the eCommerce logistics space,” said SingPost’s group chief executive Paul Coutts at the opening, which was graced by Minister of Communications and Information, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

“In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation drive, we are harnessing technology in our Smart Post Office and SmartPost initiatives to deliver with greater efficiency, and a better experience for all our customers.”

For a start, these digital services will be available only at the GPO. Mr Coutts said SingPost will continue looking at demographics and “what the needs are for particular communities”, before rolling out more Smart Post Offices for the rest of country.

Speaking to the media separately at the launch, Dr Bernard Leong, SingPost’s Head of Post Office Network and Digital Services, revealed that these Smart Post Offices are likely to be smaller than the usual ones, and will be “automated to cater for the younger generation”.

Elaborating on the new SAM platforms, Dr Leong said people can now drop off their registered parcels or mail instead of queuing up at the counters. For instance, senders can fill up a form at the SAM machine, or even do it before hand on web or mobile, print out the postal label, and drop off their registered package or mail.

The new SAM machines will also include new payment modes such as credit cards, QR code payments, Apple Pay, which are likely to be launched by early next year.

The upgraded customer service counters are aimed at resulting in improving productivity and cutting of wait times, added Dr Leong.

But just because post offices are turning smart, it does not mean that employees are left behind. For instance, postal staff might be trained to offer assistance to customers via video conferencing, for times that customers need assistance at the unmanned smart post offices, said Dr Leong.

These new initiatives came on the back of SingPost’s efforts in recent years to ramps up its e-commerce logistics capabilities.

For instance, in May, e-commerce portal Lazada Singapore moved its warehouse operations to SingPost Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub in a bid to leverage on each other’s strengths to meet the rising e-commerce demand in Southeast Asia. The partnership has seen SingPost working with Capitaland — which manages the SingPost Centre — and Lazada on a new “click and collect” service at the SingPost Centre, where shoppers can collect or return their online purchases, said Mr Coutts.

The SingPost Centre is not all about postal services too.

The first ‘living lab’ NTUC FairPrice store was also unveiled at the venue on Monday, where the facility will serve as a testbed for innovative retail technologies, said retail giants NTUC FairPrice.

Some of these technologies include a self-scan system, where shoppers can scan items as they go, using handheld scanners, to save time at the checkout counters and cut queue waiting times.

There is also an experiential corner, where companies test out their new retail technologies. The first partner to do so is consumer goods company Unilever, which has put in place a virtual kitchen where consumers can try out different products through an augmented reality headset.

Shoppers can also tap on in-store navigation to find the products they need, via the FairPrice@SingPost mobile app. This is done through a smart lighting system in the store, which communicates with the mobile app, which will then track the shoppers’ location and guide them to the items they need.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, chief executive officer of NTUC Fairprice, said: “This supermarket at SingPost Centre is designed to showcase and test new retail technologies in a real world environment. The aim is to provide greater convenience, boost productivity while also providing customers with a glimpse of what the future of supermarket retail might be.”