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Category: Logistics

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Logistics news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • DHL named Dell EMC 2016 Best Global Innovative Partner

    DHL named Dell EMC 2016 Best Global Innovative Partner

    DHL, the world’s leading logistics provider, announced it has been named a winner in Dell EMC’s 2016 Partner of the Year Awards.

    Presented by Dell EMC, the annual awards honor Dell EMC channel partners for delivering commendable solutions for their customers and were presented at the Dell EMC Global Partner Summit in Austin, TX. Award winners are selected from a group of nominations, based on their dedicated use of Dell EMC technologies to provide solutions for their customers’ needs.

    “We are extremely excited that our regional and Singapore teams have been presented with the Dell EMC 2016 Best Global Transport Logistics Partner and Best Global Innovative Partner of the Year awards respectively,” said Terry Ryan, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific. “It is an honor for our warehousing and transport solutions, including bulk transportation capability, to be recognized for excellence in quality and cycle time performance. At the same time, the recognition for our innovative solutions – from an advanced storage and retrieval system to award-winning design, construction, operation and maintenance of ‘green buildings’ – is further acknowledgement of our efforts toward innovation and sustainability.”

    “We congratulate DHL on receiving Dell EMC’s 2016 Best Global Innovative Partner and Best Global Transport Logistics Partner of the Year Awards, which recognizes partners that have exhibited an exemplary commitment to Dell EMC and our joint customers throughout the year,” said John Byrne, President, Global Channels, Dell EMC. “Dell EMC’s partners are an important part of the Dell EMC ecosystem and provide customers deep expertise and exemplary support on their Digital Transformation journey.”

    As a Dell EMC Innovative and Logistics Partner, DHL provides a robust transportation and logistics infrastructure, which in tandem with Dell EMC’s expertise in hardware, software and services, helps to eliminate IT complexity for customers and create greater efficiencies.

    Through its partner program, Dell EMC offers partners like DHL greater value and choice to their customers, while rewarding investment in key Dell EMC solutions that will help drive business growth.

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  • Lalamove to expand to 100 Asian cities

    Lalamove to expand to 100 Asian cities

    Hong Kong-based logistics startup Lalamove has raised US$30 million in Series B funding to enable it to push into more than 100 cities in Asia by the end of the year.

    It is already established in 45 cities across China and Southeast Asia.

    Since it launched as EasyVan in 2013, the company has raised a total US$60 million in funding, with its latest round being led by Xianghe Capital from Beijing, with Blackhole Capital participating as a new investor. Previous investors Crystal Steam and Mindworks Ventures also contributed.

    Lalamove MD Blake Larson says the company is close to being profitable.

    Lalamove says it already has the largest service area for intracity deliveries in Asia with more than 500,000 drivers using the platform. More than 5 million people have used the service.

    Founder/CEO Shing Chow said he believes the logistics industry is underpenetrated by mobile platforms, citing the US$1.7 trillion market in China as an example.

    “The evolution of the logistics industry has not been as rapid as some other markets like communication, but we believe we are at a tipping point where transformation will now happen very rapidly.”

    Dubbed the “Uber for logistics” because it applies the on-demand economy to the delivery industry, Lalamove lets users choose pick-up and drop-off points, type of vehicle and either “advance booking” or “immediate delivery”.

    A company can schedule up to 20 stops per order, customise an account with “favourite drivers” and use one-click optimised routing to save time, reports E27.

    In Thailand, Lalamove partnered with Japanese chat company Line to set up Line Man so its user base could buy and deliver documents, packages, groceries and food items.

    In November, the company expanded into the Philippines, where its option to request round-trip deliveries for cash-on-demand was important.

    The company rebranded from EasyVan in November 2014, ahead of its Bangkok launch.

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  • Free trade deal boosts South Korea’s exports to Vietnam

    Free trade deal boosts South Korea’s exports to Vietnam

    Vietnam was the world’s third largest importer of South Korean products during January-October, data show. The Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, which took effect a year ago, has largely expanded exports from South Korea to Vietnam.

    South Korea’s shipments to Vietnam in the first 10 months climbed 12 percent from the same period last year to $26.4 billion, citing reports from the trade ministry and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

    South Korea’s trade ministry said the rising exports made Vietnam the world’s third-largest importer of South Korean products during the January-October period, after China and the U.S.

    Vietnam’s General Statistics Office on Friday released trade data for the first 11 months, putting South Korea among the top exporters to Vietnam in a wide range of products from iron and steel and garment materials to phones and consumer goods.

    In particular South Korea was the biggest seller of computers and electronics to Vietnam, with a total value of $7.94 billion, up 26.3 percent from the year-ago period. It was also the second biggest supplier of machinery to Vietnam, with exports of $5.12 billion, up 9.5 percent.

    Fuel shipments from South Korea increased fivefold to 1.6 million tons, the biggest expansion from all suppliers.

    Statistics showed that Vietnam has been recording a larger trade deficit with South Korea since 2010. The decifit hit nearly $19 billion last year.

    A survey by the Korea investment promotion agency found 42 percent of 60 South Korean exporters increased their shipments to Vietnam following the enactment of the Korea-Vietnam FTA in December 2015. A majority expected the free trade deal to continue helping their business in 2017.

    For years, South Korea has been the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, driven by major projects of electronics giants LG and Samsung.

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  • DHL Express invests in infrastructure in Chandigarh

    DHL Express invests in infrastructure in Chandigarh

    Aimed at supporting the growth of export and import demands of customers especially SMB’s in the Northern region,  logistic service provider-DHL Express India, opened its new modern service facility in Chandigarh. The new facility will serve as a pick-up, delivery, sorting center etc., with a shipment handling capacity of over 100,000 shipments a year and will cater to the logistics needs of customers-based at Chandigarh and its vicinity namely Dera Bassi, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, Baddi, Parwanoo etc.

    Speaking to Business Standard, RS Subramanian, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, DHL Express said, “In the recent past, due to rapid industrialization, the tricity namely Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and nearby areas like Zirakpur, Baddi, Parwanoo etc. has grown in prominence as an industrial hub. Through the service center facility, we are strengthening our infrastructure and capabilities to support our customers’ growing business. We will now be able to move shipments faster and with greater efficiency, providing superior service quality.

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  • China has launched its first UK-bound freight train

    China has launched its first UK-bound freight train

    China has launched its first UK-bound freight train from the city of Yiwu in Zhejiang province to London. The train, which is jointly operated by the Yiwu government and China Railway Container Transport Corp., Ltd., a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Corporation, set off from Yiwu West Station and will leave China at Alanshankou, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium, France and the English Channel before arriving at Barking in East London.

    The journey, which is over 12,000km long, is expected to take approximately 18 days.

    According to China Railway, goods carried on the train include household commodities, apparel, textiles and suitcases.

    Yiwu is also the origin of various China-Europe and China-Central Asia trains.

    The new link to the UK is part of China’s Belt and Road initiative and will strengthen trade ties between China and West Europe, according to China Railway.

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  • DHL eCommerce offers e-commerce expertise and logistics services to help Thai rice farmers

    DHL eCommerce offers e-commerce expertise and logistics services to help Thai rice farmers

    DHL eCommerce, a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has collaborated with the Ministry of Commerce in Thailand to offer e-commerce expertise and logistics services free of charge for a period of four months to help Thai farmers grow their business and reap the benefits from selling on e-commerce platforms. This follows recent challenging market conditions which have seen an oversupply of rice and strong export competition.

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    Partnering with the Thailand Ministry of Commerce’s Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), DHL eCommerce works with farmer co-ops across Thailand to help set up and enable an easy and streamlined process to manage their online inventory and ship to consumers domestically. Experts from DHL eCommerce advise and support farmers by integrating their sales processes with e-commerce portals on BentoWeb, a local e-commerce services provider which has been pre-integrated with the DHL eCommerce Customer Web Portal. Once on BentoWeb, farmers will be able to easily arrange for deliveries and shipments quickly at a click of a button, allowing rice goods to be picked and dispatched to end consumers located in Thailand.

    The collaboration combines the global logistics experience of DHL with the in-depth local market knowledge from DHL eCommerce Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce Thailand and BentoWeb, allowing farmers to benefit from solutions that are tailored to their specific needs. The Ministry of Commerce will work on promoting and registering farmers on www.thaitrade.com/rice while BentoWeb will enable the online order process and inventory management for the farmers. DHL eCommerce will pick up the products from the farms and deliver them free of charge to the consumers directly.

    “We are extremely honored to have this opportunity to use our e-commerce expertise and logistics services to make a positive impact on the farmers’ businesses and their livelihoods. As an organization operating in Thailand, providing both domestic as well as international delivery services to the local businesses, we are committed to the Thailand market. Wherever and whenever we can contribute to the local communities, we will do our utmost best to support,” said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, Managing Director, DHL eCommerce Thailand.

    Thailand is one of the world’s leading rice exporters with an expected output of 25 million tonnes of rice expected in the 2016/17 production year. “The Ministry of Commerce has been rolling out a series of programs aimed at helping the local farmers and one such initiative is this collaboration with DHL eCommerce Thailand to help farmers sell their produce online. We have been working together in the past three weeks to onboard these farmers onto the e-commerce platform so that domestic consumers can place orders and have DHL eCommerce deliver to their doorsteps. We are extremely heartened that an organization such as DHL eCommerce is putting their foot forward to help the local communities,” said Mrs Apiradi Tantraporn, Minister of Commerce, the Royal Thai Government.

    For farmer co-ops like Ban Um-sang Rice Community, they have managed to take the matter of the rice supply glut in their stride and tap onto the opportunities of e-commerce thanks to DHL eCommerce. Ban Um-sang Rice Community explained, “The internet has opened up more possibilities for us farmers to do business. We can communicate and connect with customers directly, previously impossible with more traditional methods. We don’t have to worry about organizing our deliveries too, as they are taken care of by experienced logistics specialists. By giving us more options, e-commerce makes us less affected by existing market forces and gives us the freedom to improve our sales in new ways.”

    In addition to DHL eCommerce’s international delivery capabilities, it has since the beginning of this year been offering domestic delivery services in the Thai market. Identifying the country as one of the fast-growing e-commerce markets, DHL eCommerce established end-to-end domestic and international delivery solutions for Thai e-commerce merchants. The company has a 3,000 sqm central distribution center in Bangkok and a network of over 40 depots located throughout the country for nation-wide logistics connectivity. By 2017, DHL eCommerce aims to more than double the number of depots and enhance its fleet with two-wheel vehicles that can surmount Thailand’s complex last-mile delivery challenges.

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  • 7-Eleven US trials drone deliveries

    7-Eleven US trials drone deliveries

    Drone delivery service, Flirtey, and 7-Eleven have completed 77 autonomous drone deliveries to customer homes in the US after the two kicked off their commercial collaboration in July.

    Flirtey conducted regular weekend deliveries in November from a 7-Eleven store to a dozen select customers who used a custom app to place their unique order. Along with listing all items available for delivery, the interactive app also notified customers when their drone was loaded, when it departed from the store and when it was arriving at their doorstep.

    Once an order was placed, 7-Eleven merchandise – including items such as hot and cold food and over-the-counter medicines  – were loaded into a custom Flirtey drone delivery container and flown autonomously using precision GPS to a local customer’s house.

    Popular items delivered included hot food items, cold beverages and over-the-counter medicines such as 7-Select Night Time Cold & Flu Relief, 7-Select Headache Relief and aspirin.

  • Maersk Line appoints new Greater China head

    Maersk Line appoints new Greater China head

    Maersk Line has announced that effective from 1 January 2017, Mike Fang will take up new responsibilities in Shanghai as Head of Maersk Line Greater China.

    Commenting on his new position, Mike Fang said: “I feel privileged that I can take on this new role. Greater China Cluster contributes around 30% of Maersk Line business globally, this is where we have to win in the market place. I’m keen to explore further the opportunities and growth spots with my colleagues and to ‘Make Greater China Cluster Greater’”.

    Robbert van Trooijen, Maersk Line Asia Pacific Region CEO said: “I’m delighted that Mike has decided to take over as the Head of Maersk Line Greater China. Mike has a track record of outstanding performance in many leadership roles in Maersk Line. I believe that his extensive experience, passion for serving our customers and deep insight of the local market will bring great value to our Greater China organization.”

    Mike Fang joined Maersk Line as a sales representative in 1994. In the past 22 years, he has held a succession of leadership positions in Maersk Line’s business in China including leading Maersk Line’s North China and East China organizations respectively from 2012 to 2015. Most recently, he is the Head of Sales in Maersk Line Greater China.

    Mike Fang was born in 1968. He graduated from Hua Zhong University of Science and Technology with a Master degree in System Engineering in 1992 and earned an Executive MBA from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in 2004.

    Mike Fang will take over from Silvia Ding, who is moving to Copenhagen to take the position as Head of Trade Management in Maersk Line. “Moving to headquarter and stretching myself into a job that can make a multiplying impact on our business, customers and organization has always been in my long term career plan in Maersk,” says Silvia Ding, “I can pass the baton to Mike’s capable hands. Together with the rest of the leadership team, I’m sure the performance of Greater China Cluster will be raised to the next level, building on a strong foundation we together created in 2016.”

  • Emirates SkyCargo has appointed a new manager for Hong Kong

    Emirates SkyCargo has appointed a new manager for Hong Kong

    According to SkyCargo, Yiu has more than 20 years of experience in the logistics industry. He has worked for various global freight forwarders in Hong Kong and China, overseeing operations and capacity procurement.

    Yiu also has experience in contractual partnerships with offline and online carriers, developing multimodal solutions for major shippers.

    Hong Kong is SkyCargo’s largest operation in Asia, with 18 freighter flights per week.

    Emirates SkyCargo’s freighter fleet consists of two Boeing 747-400ERFs and 13 777Fs.

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  • Air cargo transport in Asia to double by 2035

    Air cargo transport in Asia to double by 2035

    Airborne logistics networks are expanding in Asia as demand for air cargo delivery in the region is forecast to roughly double in volume over the next two decades.

    Garuda Indonesia and budget carriers are rapidly expanding operations to capitalize on the increase of goods traded via e-commerce as well as electronic products and parts. But with other transporters, including global leaders, stepping up competition, the industry may undergo a shake-up.

    Indonesia has more than 13,000 islands, and Garuda, the country’s national airline, plans to establish an airborne logistics network connecting the core islands. As a first step, Garuda is eyeing a 40% increase in the number of its domestic freight bases to 100 by the end of 2017.

    Domestic demand for airfreight delivery is strong due to Indonesia’s growing middle class, Muhammad Arif Wibowo, president and CEO of Garuda, said. With the increase in e-commerce giving consumers faster access to goods and growing demand for fresh food, land and maritime transportation alone cannot handle the increased freight volume, Wibowo added.

    In the first nine months of 2016, Garuda chalked up $155 million in sales in its freight business, up 13% from a year earlier. While this accounts for 5% of Garuda’s consolidated sales, the carrier intends to raise the ratio to more than 10% as its initial target, Wibowo said.

    Flying high

    Global routes for air cargo transportation are roughly divided into five major networks: Asia/Pacific-Europe, Asia/Pacific-North America, Asia/Pacific, Europe-North America and North America.

    Asia is leading the sector’s growth. Japan Aircraft Development Corp., a consortium of Japanese commercial aircraft developers, forecasts that demand for airfreight services in the three Asia/Pacific networks will grow on average 3% per year and roughly double from the 2015 level by 2035. The average growth of demand on the Europe-North America route and within North America is projected at around 1% each.

    Ocean shipping in Asia is currently slowing. According to the Japan Maritime Center, the volume of ocean cargo transportation dropped 3% in terms of the 20-foot equivalent unit in 2015 from the previous year and logged a 2% year-on-year fall in the January-October period of 2016.

    The slowdown in ocean shipping possibly reflects the consolidation of plants and increased local production by manufacturers.

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  • Cambodia to Open Ports to Laos Exports

    Cambodia to Open Ports to Laos Exports

    Cambodia will soon open both its roads and ports for Laos to use in exporting goods abroad, according to an announcement posted on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page on Sunday.

    The announcement followed a meeting between Mr. Hun Sen and Laotian President Pany Yathotou in Phnom Penh on Saturday, during which the two discussed strengthening ties.

    The Facebook post did not specify when ports would be open to Laotian exports, or which ports these would be, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached on Sunday for comment.

    Soeung Sophary, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce, said opening Cambodia’s roads and ports to exports from Laos had been raised during diplomatic meetings in the past, but never agreed upon.

    “As Laos is a landlocked country, this is the first time for Cambodia to let Laos export through us,” she said, adding that she did not know the details of the agreement.

    Hun Sen’s meeting with Ms. Yathotou follows a meeting between the leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in Siem Reap last week, during which the prime minister denied that the Don Sahong dam had any downstream effects on Cambodian villagers and warmly agreed to Laos’ offer to sell Cambodia cheap hydropower.

    Laos’s main export is timber, with U.N. Comtrade putting it at 40 percent of the nation’s exports. An internal WWF report leaked late last year asserts, however, that illegal logging in Laos is rampant, and the actual volume of timber leaving the country is poorly documented.

    Denis Smirnov, a consultant for environmental group WWF focusing on the timber trade in Southeast Asia, said it’s unlikely that any illegal exports will find their way through Cambodia, owing to an ongoing crackdown on the trade.

    “The Lao government in May started to enforce the export ban on unprocessed wood for the first time,” he said, adding that it was uncertain whether it would last past the end of the rainy season.

  • Maritime transport sees growth for two consecutive years

    Maritime transport sees growth for two consecutive years

    The country’s maritime transport sector posted growth for two consecutive years, notwithstanding losses, restructuring and even bankruptcy of several large foreign carriers.

    Nguyễn Văn Công, Deputy Minister of Transport, hailed results of the maritime transport sector at the conference of the Việt Nam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine) held in Hà Nội on Monday.

    In 2016, Vinamarine was active in issuing documents guiding the implementation of the Việt Nam Maritime Law 2015. The two most important contents — price listing and seaport service prices — have eased business difficulties, helping to avoid economic losses.

    Công said growth rate of 4 per cent this year, with total output of 123 million tones, is impressive in the current situation.

    “In particular, the Cái Mép-Thị Vải seaport saw a high growth rate of containers. In 2016, the seaport received two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), surging from 499,000 TEU in 2012. More than 1,200 arrivals of vessels weighing more than 80,000 tonnes came to the seaport,” he said.

    The deputy minister asked Vinamarine to continue undertaking checks on seaport service prices. Vinamarine was particularly asked to research and invest into key maritime corridors to develop multi-modal transportation.

    Đỗ Hồng Thái, Vinamarine’s deputy head, said this year, the number of maritime accidents was 21, reducing by two cases from last year. The port authorities also conducted checks on nearly 13,000 arrivals of vessels on local routes, discovering 1,300 vessels with defects. The authorities also implemented checks on more than 2,000 foreign vessels and uncovered 817 with defects.

    “There is no security incident with the country’s seaport system this year. Vietnamese seaports continue to be safe destinations for foreign vessels,” Thái said.

    In 2017, Vinamarine will continue to prepare legal documents guiding implementation of the Việt Nam Maritime Law 2015. It is expected to submit eight decrees and one decision to the Prime Minister for approval. It will also complete several plans such as the seaport development planning by 2020 with a vision to 2030.

    In addition, it will also ensure maritime security by investing in infrastructure and enhancing international co-operation.

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  • DHL adding drones and ‘copters to its courier workforce as e-commerce operation expands

    DHL adding drones and ‘copters to its courier workforce as e-commerce operation expands

    DHL, the world’s largest logistics company, is poised for a major expansion of its delivery channels, including the wider use of shops where customers can collect parcels, drone deliveries, and what the company is calling “Parcel-copters”, says the chief executive of its rapidly growing e-commerce division.

    Speaking in Hong Kong, Charles Brewer suggested the routine procedure of having a uniformed courier delivering to your doorstep is rapidly becoming less popular, simply because customers these days are less willing to sit at home and wait for arrivals.

    So the company is now in the rapid process of introducing “alternative methods”, which Brewer – who’s been with the German deliveries titan since 1984 – is tipping to see the fastest growth.

    “We are going to have a big, big expansion in the choice of deliveries in some places,” he told on Thursday.

    Courier and delivery market leaders such as DHL, UPS and FedEx are having to adapt fast to ever-changing customer demands, with the emphasis very much now on faster, more convenient, internet-based methods.

    Brewer said his and other firms are increasingly facing what the industry likes to call the “parcel conundrum” – instances when shoppers enjoy the comfort and ease of picking their favourite items and placing their orders online, but are disappointed by the delivery efficiency that follows.

    “Their experience quickly begins to sour as the delivery process starts to take over,” Brewer said, citing a recent DHL survey result that showed more than 80 per cent of consumers are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their online delivery experience.

    Many logistics firms, he added, only made deliveries to people’s homes within a time-banding, of say between 8am and 6pm, when typically people are at work.

    “Nobody wants to stay at home, waiting and waiting,” Brewer added.

    Brewer noted that customers are increasingly asking for what he calls “parcel lockers” and parcel shops, where they can easily collect their deliveries.

    We are going to have a big, big expansion in the choice of deliveries in some places

    A tie-up with intelligent locker makers will allow customers to retrieve parcels from lockers using a secure pin.

    “The fastest growing delivery channel is alternative,” said Brewer, outlining the future emphasis of his e-commerce offshoot.

    Since last year DHL has been running schemes in Germany to have packages actually delivered to the boots of people’s cars – in partnership with Daimler and Audi, the carmakers.

    The company is also partnering with Deutsche Telekom to launch a joint research into applications of unmanned aircraft for the safe and rapid delivery of parcels in urban areas.

    The first application is going to be the DHL Parcel-copter, which has been trialling since 2013.

    In September, it concluded a test of shipping products including urgently needed medicines via unmanned aircraft called “Parcel-copters,” in a Bavarian village of Germany.

    The planes were equipped with a mobile communications module allowing them to be located through GPS data.

    “One thing that will be very popular in Asia are parcel shops,” Brewer said.

    Already logistics companies such as Chinese company S.F. Express have been scrambled to join hands with bricks-and-mortar retailers such as 7-Eleven, to arrange convenient parcel pickup points.

    These alternative delivery methods are still in their infancy, accounting for just six per cent of total market share, while in mature e-commerce markets such as Germany and the Nordic countries, they already represent 10 to 15 per cent, Brewer said.

    “But that’s where we will end up in the rest of the world in the coming years.” he noted.

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  • Fujitsu partners with DHL to target wearable technology, IoT

    Fujitsu partners with DHL to target wearable technology, IoT

    The two companies plan to jointly develop IoT solutions designed to improve safety for emergency services. Japanese ICT firm Fujitsu announced a strategic partnership with DHL Supply Chain U.K. to develop new services based on wearable technology and the “internet of things.”

    Under terms of the partnership, Fujitsu will share its expertise to jointly develop solutions designed to improve safety for emergency services. Fujitsu and DHL also plan to use the partnership to drive the creation of new markets in other sectors, such as airline logistics.

    The use of wearable and IoT technology such as Fujitsu Ubiquitousware is said to enable emergency services to track the health of individuals in the field through a dashboard showing their status and location. This technology is also said to provide real-time tracking for the location of protective equipment.

    “As the global logistics leader, we constantly seek out innovations that improve our customers’ lives,” said Paul Richardson, MD for specialist services as DHL Supply Chain U.K. “Wearable technology is going to transform the way we work, helping us understand the dynamics of what’s happening around us and providing real-time insight on our environment as never before.”

    In a separate project, Fujitsu is working with DHL to support the deployment of GlobeRanger IoT scanning and sensor technologies for airline duty free logistics. Following a successful proof of concept, the project is forecast to deliver annual labor savings of more than $564,000 (530,000 euros) and a 59% return on investment for the organization.

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  • Asian postal services adapt to post-mail era

    Asian postal services adapt to post-mail era

    With the pre-Christmas rush at its peak, a serpentine network of conveyor belts at Singapore Post’s new logistics centre moves parcels destined for addresses across the world in time for the festive season.

    It is a scene repeated in sorting offices around the globe in December, the busiest time of the year for postal firms with armies of workers toiling to get presents delivered on time.

    But times are changing and the explosion of online shopping is forcing traditional delivery companies such as SingPost to adapt or be damned.

    The growth of websites such as Amazon and Alibaba means customers can avoid crowded high streets and buy anything from mobile phones to sports equipment online and send them straight to loved ones.

    US-based research firm eMarketer said online sales are expected to reach $1.9 trillion this year and top $4.0 trillion by 2020.

    And traditional firms are making moves to keep up.

    The nearly 200-year-old SingPost, which is partly owned by China’s Alibaba, last month inaugurated its ecommerce sorting office capable of handling up to 100,000 parcels a day.

    It also now provides a service setting up retail websites for clients and allows for online payments while it has teamed up with brands including Adidas, Timberland and Xiaomi to help expand their online retail sales in the region.

    And last year it expanded its US and European presence by buying ecommerce technology provider Jagged Peak and ecommerce firm TradeGlobal.

    – ‘Change or die’ –

    “In this new digital age, the lives of the traditional postal companies are coming to a turning point: change or die,” said Cris Tran, an analyst with consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

    With traditional mail volumes dropping dramatically, ecommerce offers hope for national postal firms in Asia if they adapt quickly enough and do battle with giants like FedEx and DHL.

    This year’s “Singles Day” ecommerce promotion by Alibaba on November 11 grossed 120.7 billion yuan ($17.8 billion), smashing last year’s sales record of 91.2 billion yuan.

    Asian postal firms “are doing some very innovative things to take advantage of ecommerce”, said Brody Buhler, global managing director for post and parcel at consultancy Accenture.

    Japan Post has partnered with convenience stores to provide 24-hour delivery, while Pos Malaysia is boosting its warehousing, logistics and other other capabilities in a bid to become a full-service ecommerce provider, Buhler said.

    “Pos Indonesia investments in capabilities such as lockers and faster fulfillment from China are great examples of postal organisations investing to take full advantage of the opportunity ecommerce provides for growth,” he added.

    In the year ended March 2016, ecommerce-related revenues accounted for 35.8 percent of SingPost’s turnover which crossed Sg$1.0 billion ($707 million) for the first time, and that is tipped to rise further.

    Teo Chung Piaw from the National University of Singapore’s Business School said Asian postal firms must also compete with domestic startups and delivery specialists such as Japan’s Ta-Q-Bin and China’s SF Express.

    Regulation of state-owned postal firms is also slowing crucial reforms that will allow them to compete better, he added.

    Government-owned Australia Post needed regulatory approval to raise the cost of a basic postage stamp, a move it said was necessary to ease losses in its traditional letter business.