INTERVIEW: SINGPOST We also have key priorities to enter markets outside of Asia, and the 4PL platform will allow us to leverage our extensive partnerships to connect the dots and grow the ecosystem that we’re creating with that. The platform allows us to fundamentally change the way that we do business. Which markets are you focusing on outside of Asia? We are already operating very mature commercial lanes for Asia-Pacific exports to the USA, Latin America and Europe, but Asia-Pacific is our home court, especially Southeast Asia, and we are forging a very close alliance with the ASEAN logistics and postal operators. We also have a big subsidiary established in Australia – these two home markets form the fundamental foundation of the current business model. We have always been very close to the UK/EU market and leveraging our postal licenses in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands allows us to act on behalf of many service providers. There is a lot of work being done already in those key areas, but the Middle East is an area where we’re looking for a key partnership and we already started the groundwork last year. There are lots of things to prioritize but our ambition is to grow beyond Asia, focus on Australia and Singapore as our two home markets, but continuously grow the UK/EU market while putting in the Middle East as the part that can connect all the other dots. WE’RE WORKING WITH OUR CLIENTS TO SEE IF WE CAN COMPLETE THE PICTURE OF END-TO-END FOR CROSS-BORDER” In many of our partnerships, we’re working with our clients to see if we can complete the picture of end-to-end for cross-border. We’re also hoping to offer them more value-added services such as customs clearance, last-mile fulfillment and returns management, so it is interesting to witness and we’re excited about their journey with us. For Lazada, we have been working with them on the cross-border piece and last-mile delivery, so the MoU we signed with them at the end of 2022 was to empower the adoption of carbon-efficient delivery options by consumers, small businesses, marketplace sellers and entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help reduce the environmental impact of the first mile, last mile and reverse logistics [see Lazada agreement , opposite]. How is the changing e-commerce market and the move to consumer-to-consumer influencing your business decisions? We have been looking to the B2B and B2C markets and most of our volumes are flowing through the B2C channel today. We are creating fulfillment channels through the supply chain management side to fulfill B2B and B2C demands, and that is the model we’re running using our 4PL platform – and will continue to do. Certainly, we’re seeing a very interesting trend in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) as well, but I would say whether its B2C or C2C, leveraging the right last-mile service providers and adopting the right technologies to serve all customers will be the key to success. Another piece will be around how to manage returns for those C2C customers as it becomes a much stronger market in Asia-Pacific, and how to be sustainable in the long run. No matter the approach, you need to have an alternative delivery model to give end customers a way to make their own decisions on how they want the last mile to be delivered, and also give them the option for easy returns management – these will be the two key success factors. If the focus remains on e-commerce, the demand for B2C or C2C will ultimately be fulfilled by the technology enablers. Tell us some more about your partnerships with Shein and Lazada – why are these businesses of interest to SingPost? ABOVE: The 4PL platform enables SingPost to increase the efficiency of its B2B and B2C fulfillment channels RIGHT: SingPost will switch all of its fleet in Singapore to electric vehicles by 2026 It is interesting to see the acceleration of the likes of Shein to boost volumes in the retail fast fashion industry. The partnership with them in Singapore allows us to provide them with new ways of completing end-to-end e-commerce last-mile logistics and allows us to introduce the cross-border service to Shein. 24 www.ParcelandPostalTechnologyInternational.com March 2024