Logistics providers announce big deals ahead of Amazon launch
As Amazon nears its local launch, Australia’s logistics providers are making moves to expand their offerings to capitalise on the predicted upturn in e-commerce penetration.
Yesterday, courier service Sendle announced that it has inked a deal with logistics giant DHL eCommerce on an international parcel delivery service that will see it provide door-to-door delivery to more than 220 countries and territories globally.
DHL CEO Charles Brewer said the move would extend his company’s reach into Australia’s SME market, while Sendle co-founder James Chin Moody is keen on DHL’s reach – what he calls “big business delivery”.
The news came within an hour of BigCommerce’s announcement that it has signed a deal with Shippit to implement enterprise shipping rates on its merchant platform, which will enable discounts for popular carriers such as Star Track Express, TNT, DHL and CouriersPlease.
Essentially Bigcommerce will integrate with Shippit, enabling merchants to flip the switch on more powerful delivery, something that co-founder Will On (pictured above, right, with co-founder Rob Hango-Zada) is excited about.
“Since 2012, Australian ecommerce has seen 65 per cent growth, but in order to compete effectively in the global marketplace, Australian merchants need tools that cater to their particular needs,” he said.
Next up was Couriers Please, who announced yesterday morning that it has finalised the relocation of two of its major logistics facilities.
The investment has seen the business move into locations in Perth and Melbourne, the latter of which is situated in a new $440 million logistics hub in West Melbourne.
With one site already having been relocated in Brisbane last year and one more to come in Adelaide before Christmas, Couriers Please is hoping to be ready to go when Amazon lands.
“CP [Couriers Please] has relocated our logistics facilities in major capital cities in order to accommodate the significant growth in the volume of parcels moving throughout our network. Our commitment in moving to the west of Melbourne has stemmed from it being a massive growth corridor with some of the highest rates of online shopping in the country,” CEO Mark McGinley said.
With Citi analysts predicting an October launch for Amazon marketplace, and several big retailers having already provided strong indications that they’ll be on the platform at launch, there appears to be no better time than the present to invest in expansion for local delivery businesses.
Amid the announcements yesterday, Sendle made sure to note that Australia Post is increasing its prices on some domestic and international parcels.
But the publicly owned postie’s e-commerce head Ben Franzi may have the last laugh, as it is well understood that his company has inked the first deal with Amazon – as was reported several weeks ago by Internet Retailing.
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