Canada Post is seeing success with mobile as the company recently crossed one million application downloads and mobile traffic growing by upwards of 130 percent year-over-year for some of its tools.

The marketer launched the app in 2011 to let Canadians access postal services on the go. Some of the functions of the app include parcel tracking, shipping rate look-ups and access to Canada Post?s digital mailbox, epost.

?Canada Post is seeing more and more Canadians accessing our product and services via a mobile device,? said David Stevens, general manager of echannel delivery at Canada Post, Ottowa. ?Our mobile traffic has increased by upwards of 130 percent year-over-year for our track tool, find a post office and find a postal code.?

Mobile services
Canada Post?s main goal is to make postal services as convenient as possible for its users, and mobile helps the company achieve that.

The app?s No. 1 feature is tracking parcels. Users have tracked more than 12 million parcels on their mobile devices since the beginning of 2013.

Users can also manage their bills and statements through the app.

Additionally, the app offers a feature called Picture Postage, which allows users to create their own stamps, greeting cards and postcards.

The app is available for free download in Apple?s App Store, BlackBerry's App World and Google Play.

Canada Post is not the only postal company using mobile.

For example, the United States Postal Service also has a suite of mobile services, including an iPhone app that was rolled out in 2010 (see story).

Increased success
Since the Canada Post's app launch in 2011, it has only grown in popularity.

In 2011, Canadians opened the app seven million times. In the first six months of 2013, Canadians have already opened it twice as many times.

According to Mr. Stevens, Canadians make on average 550,000 tracks per week via the mobile app, and around 26,000 customers access the app?s epost feature.

Businesses are also accessing Canada Post?s online services. The marketer has launched a new site that simplifies and enhances the process for businesses, for example.

?Canada Post understands the accelerated growth of mobile devices in Canada and, moving forward, will provide Canadians convenient access to postal products and services from anywhere and at anytime,? Mr. Stevens said. ?Canadians will have the ability to manage their mail, parcels and address all from their mobile device in the future.

?We will also focus on providing small and medium enterprises the tools and applications to make doing business with Canada Post easier,? he said.

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York