Locad’s tech platform syncs inventory across online channels and organises end-to-end order fulfilment through its reliable network of warehouses and carriers across the Asia Pacific. Through this, brands and merchants get a geographically distributed warehousing infrastructure that allows them to stock goods closer to customers, enabling faster delivery at lower cost.

With an operational presence in Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Australia, Indonesia and China, Locad has completed the milestone of serving more than 300 brands as of now, as the venture synchronises inventory across sales channels and coordinates end-to-end order fulfilment, from storage to delivery, through a network of warehouses and shipping partners. The start-up was in the news in November 2024, by raising USD 9 million, in its bid to expand in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

A Start-up With Loads Of Opportunities

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping activities saw a solid surge, thereby necessitating robust logistics services. The use of AI-powered tools in e-commerce services, among other solutions to address the challenge, has also attracted investments from businesses looking to optimise operations and save costs. Locad’s goal is clear here: to provide a platform rich with AI-driven features and better analytics, for addressing demand and inventory-related concerns in a seamless manner.

Among the key services provided by the start-up, let’s start with the flagship one called “Fulfilment,” which is helping 21st century e-commerce ventures through its omni-channel fulfilment solution. With strategically located warehouses across the globe, Locad, as a B2B fulfilment partner, prevents supply chain disruptions and helps its partners gain a competitive advantage by receiving, storing, and packaging items for further transit.

Locad acts as a distributor in moving bulk orders of products along the partner’s supply chain to other fulfilment centres, factories, or customer addresses, thereby offering value-added services to help streamline and grow these businesses as part of an extended partnership.

Locad’s multi-channel fulfilment capabilities help the partner brands keep up with shoppers’ expectations, by connecting storefronts (Shopify, Amazon, Ebay, Shopee, and Lazada), managing inventory, and easily fulfilling orders from various channels, without any extra cost and labour. The Locad Dashboard also gives these e-commerce businesses consolidated visibility, by managing their inventory and fulfilment process across channels with ease.

The dashboard provides the partner businesses features like inventory and shipment management, expedited pick, pack, and ship process, last-mile carrier management, multi-marketplace integration, reduced errors and turnaround time, apart from helping e-commerce businesses to understand evolving industry trends and align their business needs as per the that, by connecting their marketplaces with the start-up’s pre-built integrations.

Knowing the fact that the storage of an e-commerce brand dictates its capabilities to accept orders (playing a crucial role in the seamless flow of packages through the fulfilment process), Locad also offers warehousing storage services to its partner businesses, allowing the latter to store inventory in strategically located warehouses across the globe. The clients can efficiently manage inventory levels to meet customer demand, apart from reducing transportation costs by positioning inventory closer to customers.

With “Locad Logistics Engine,” brands can effectively integrate the start-up’s storage and dashboard for real-time inventory updates across marketplaces. This ensures transparent availability and helps in avoiding out-of-stock orders, while keeping a check on inventory wastage. Merchants also get accurate order forecasts, paramount for resource allocation necessary to support the fulfilment of orders to keep up with marketplace and customer expectations.

Expedited product shipping, in a timely and efficient manner, becomes a critical success recipe for any e-commerce brand. Locad steps in here by coordinating with carriers, and negotiating rates, to cut costs and speed up delivery times. With real-time tracking, businesses and customers can monitor shipments on the Locad Logistics Engine. Built to deliver accuracy and reliability in the fulfilment process, The start-up’s “Shipping Engine” seamlessly integrates with its warehouse operations, and carrier networks to facilitate effective movement of the parcel.

Through Locad’s help, e-commerce businesses handpick their preferred shipping carrier, set specific allocation rules to govern order fulfilment, and specify pickup times that work best for their operations. They also keep a close eye on key metrics like order status, sales volume, and revenue, spot potential issues and promptly initiate remedial measures, all from a single, comprehensive dashboard, making data analysis simpler and faster and most importantly, ensuring smooth and continuous operation for e-commerce businesses.

“Locad Cross Border” helps ecommerce businesses to maximise their business growth beyond borders, by availing tailored solutions at competitive rates. The start-up’s freight service (via air and sea) manages every aspect of transportation right from customs clearance to destination handling to “Locad Warehouse.” To sweeten things up, the start-up, through its “Value Added Services,” helps brands and products get registered for selling on Local marketplaces.

Rewriting Logistics Industry Rulebook

During peak seasons, high order volumes daily get taken care of by Locad’s effective inventory management across multiple warehouses, which in turn reduces fulfilment time and increases customer satisfaction. All these e-commerce companies need to do is integrate Locad’s enterprise fulfilment solutions into their existing supply chains. Locad’s effective Management Systems will then empower these businesses’ operation control and optimisation tools, apart from streamlining last-mile carrier management solutions.

Any large e-commerce enterprise constantly seeks solutions to navigate fluctuating demand without compromising efficiency or incurring excessive costs. Manual inventory overview doesn’t work here, as it leads to errors in warehouse staffing, thus losing out on the order volume. Another worry is a lack of scalable fulfilment, which can lead to a heavy cost burden concerning items damaged/lost or orders not catered.

Locad’s automated inventory and warehouse management for adaptable staffing takes care of these issues, by ensuring accurate fulfilment and helping businesses embrace scalability and adapt to fluctuations in demand without any supply chain disruptions. It ensures distributed fulfilment, as inventory gets stored across multiple locations, strategically positioning products closer to customers. By decentralising inventory storage, brands can leverage a network of warehouses located in key geographic regions.

Enterprise brands deploy effective management of inventory levels to ensure supply and demand, while minimising costs and maximising operational efficiency. With the rising demand, brands partner with fulfilment players to analyse demand patterns to determine the optimal levels of inventory to keep on hand.

However, they often face problems like frequent stockouts, that lead to heavy business impact in terms of lost sales, apart from poor visibility on inventory tracking or marketplace performance to make effective stocking decisions. Locad again solves this by optimising the inventory, preventing stockouts and reducing inventory wastage with the start-up’s inventory management systems that keep the users informed.

Enterprise brands are built by the loyalty and satisfaction of their customers, making it crucial for them to prioritise exceptional after-sales experiences. Fast shipping plays a pivotal role in this regard, serving as a benchmark of customer satisfaction in today’s e-commerce landscape. Enterprise brands are prioritising swift order fulfilment and seeking logistics partners who can aid this vision. Locad steps once again in this domain by increasing repeat sales thus driving long-term revenue growth, along with establishing strong brand loyalty and trust with effective and fast shipping options through Locad’s carrier management.

A Promising Road Ahead

The start-up is also empowering SMEs (small and medium enterprises) with seamless fulfilment solutions, apart from enabling frictionless e-commerce for brands and merchants across every possible sales channel. The “Pick-Pack-Ship” process is streamlining and optimising fulfilment effortlessly by gaining full control over inventory management and tracking, order processing, and workflow management. The partner businesses are enjoying the market edge over their rivals, by getting complete visibility across their supply chain from a single view dashboard.

When it comes to exporting goods, Locad is helping e-commerce businesses to achieve cost savings via optimised routes, reduced fuel consumption, and fewer delivery errors, contributing to improved profitability of these brands. The start-up’s “Multiple Carrier Integration” is ensuring the most optimised version of the fulfilment process (for partner brands) with Locad’s “Last Mile Capabilities.” From strategic route optimisation to selecting the ideal carrier, Locad is making lives easier.

Within just five years of its inception, Locad has truly become “the logistics engine,” opening up a host of possibilities in front of the e-commerce brands with a cloud supply chain to grow their omnichannel business.

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In a blog post, Amazon said that the promise of drone delivery is like science fiction. Lockeford citizens will be one of the first citizens in the world to receive Prime Air deliveries. Amazon also said their feedback about Prime Air in Lockeford would help the company scale the drone delivery model globally.

Lockeford has a population of about 4000 people, and the drones would drop packages in their backyard.

The company stated that human beings would not control the drones and would instead have visual sensors that help them avoid aircraft, people, pets, and other obstacles.

The retailer said that they hope to deliver packages within an hour with this innovation.

However, critics argue that Amazon has been using drone delivery to grab headlines for some time.

In 2013, former CEO Jeff Bezos assured his customer base that he would fill the skies with a fleet of delivery drones in less than a decade. In 2019, they iterated the same assurance and said drones would deliver packages within months.

In April, Bloomberg highlighted the safety hazards of Amazon’s drone fleets. However, the e-commerce company defended its drones saying they are “rigorously” tested and follow “all applicable regulations.”

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The newly expanded network by Cainiao in Singapore will comprise over 1,600 collection points, 600 couriers and 500 lockers island-wide.

The expansion has been carried out by Cainiao through partnerships with Singapore Post, BEST, Roadbull and Park N Parcel.

According to the logistics company, its expansion and digitalisation of its last mile network aims to support Singapore’s rapidly growing ecommerce industry that is contributing 200,000 parcels daily and worth $2.4 billion.

With regard to the expansion in Singapore, James Zhao, general manager of its global supply chain arm at Cainiao told the media, “The expansion of last mile network is an organic extension to deliver an end-to-end logistics service that provides greater stability and quality assurance to our customers in Singapore.”

“This is also part of our ongoing effort to support the Southeast Asia market by establishing win-win partnerships with local logistics partners. By driving the digital transformation of the entire industry, we are confident that logistics will continue to play an instrumental role in bolstering ecommerce growth in the region and serve as a key building block for the digital economy,” he added.

China-based smart supply chain solutions and logistics services giant BEST also expanded into Cambodia earlier this month, the media reported.

The expansion is a part of BEST’s plans to develop an efficient logistics network across Southeast Asia.

The China-based logistics company expanded in Thailand and Vietnam last year. This year, it also announced the launch of its operations in Malaysia and Singapore.

The post Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistic arm, to expand last mile network in Singapore appeared first on International Finance.

Alibaba will be the sole investor in this particular funding round for Grab and will acquire the stocks previously held by Uber Technologies.

This could be Alibaba’s biggest investment in Singapore, if the transactions is completed. Previously, Alibaba invested around $1 billion in ecommerce firm Lazada in 2016.

The investment would come at a crucial time for Grab as the coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted its business.

The Financial Times reported that as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, shares of both Grab and its rival Gojek, have been selling at major discounts.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Grab is also planning to raise around $500 million to boost its fintech arm.

The company is in advance talks with the likes of Prudential, AIA Group Ltd and others for the investment.

Over the years, Grab has developed from an ride-hailing app to an Southeast Asian super app as the company has started providing other services such as insurance, fintech and even food delivery through its app.

Last month, Grab raised around $200 million in a fresh funding round from Seoul-based private equity firm Stic Investment.

So far, Grab has raised around $9.9 billion in separate funding rounds since its inception in 2012.

Earlier this year, the company also raised around $700 million from Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

According to the deal, both MUFG and Grab will develop financial services products such as insurance and loans. The same products will be available through Grab’s mobile app.

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According to reports in the media, JD Logistics has already signed an agreement with Kuayue Express.

JD Logistics revealed in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it wil acquire existing shares and also subscribe to newly-issued shares of Kuayue Express.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2020.

Wang Zhenhui, chief executive officer of JD Logistics said in a statement attached to the exchange filing, “Kuayue Express is a reliable delivery services provider and industry leader in express courier services with innovative technology and advanced operations. Collaborating with Kuayue Express advances our integrated supply chain management, technology initiatives, and service expansion to third-party merchants.”

Earlier this month, JD.com announced that it will invest $100 million in Hing Kong-based supply chain manager and logistics company Li & Fung.

According to reports in the media, JD.com and Li & Fung will work together to accelerate the development of digital supply chain.

JD.com has subscribed for $100 million worth of Li & Fung’s newly issued shares at HK$1.25 each, the Hong Kong-based supply chain manager said in a statement.

Reportedly, the Fung family will retain 60 percent voting rights in the company. The deal is also expected to help the company increase its footprint in China.

Earlier this year, Li & Fung, which is one of the world’s oldest supply chain manager, delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange following a privatisation by a consortium of investors, led by the Fung family and Singapore logistics assets investor GLP.

The post JD Logistics to acquire controlling stake in Kuayue Express for $432 mn appeared first on International Finance.

According to reports in the media, JD.com and Li & Fung will work together to accelerate the development of digital supply chain.

JD.com has subscribed for $100 million worth of Li & Fung’s newly issued shares at HK$1.25 each, the Hong Kong-based supply chain manager said in a statement.

In the statement, Li & Fung also said, “Amidst the continuing digital disruption to retail and the ongoing global trade tensions, compounded by the dramatic impact of Covid-19, the global retail supply chain has become more and more complex. With the breadth and depth of its global sourcing and production ecosystem, pan-Asia logistics network, and industry leading digital product development capabilities, Li & Fung is helping global retailers and brands navigate a highly uncertain and ever-changing macro environment.”

Reportedly, the Fung family will retain 60 percent voting rights in the company. The deal is also expected to help the company increase its footprint in China.

Spencer Fung, Li & Fung’s chief executive and great-grandson of its founder, said in a statement, “Our goal to create the supply chain of the future and to improve the lives of one billion people in our global supply chain remains more relevant than ever in this turbulent world.”

Earlier this year, Li & Fung, which is one of the world’s oldest supply chain manager, delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange following a privatisation by a consortium of investors, led by the Fung family and Singapore logistics assets investor GLP.

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The rise in numbers, however, makes the country’s booming ecommerce market challenging to new entrants. Against this background, Ingenico has cut through the barriers and opened up Russia to international merchants with its unique solution.

Mike Goodenough, general manager for Ingenico ePayments, EMEA, in an exclusive interview with International Finance explains the Russian ecommerce and payment markets dynamics and how the company is effectively establishing its local presence.

What is the potential growth of the Russian ecommerce market?
Russia is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic ecommerce markets. When we first launched our Russia Payments Solution it was growing by 17 percent a year and has clearly continued to expand as the solution is now one of our fastest growing payments offerings. The online sales of physical goods were expected to reach 19.74 billion euros at the end of last year and this number is predicted to reach 45 billion euros in 2023.

Although it has traditionally been a difficult market to crack for western businesses, many consumers in the country have a taste for western goods and services—making this market ripe for growth. This is applicable for many sectors from retail and travel to digital goods—so businesses that penetrate this market early on will significantly benefit from its growth.

How is the Russian ecommerce market different from Europe?
The Russian ecommerce market differs from the European market due to its unique domestic financial system and preferred local payment methods. These normally act as a barrier to entry. For businesses without a Russian legal entity, payments are usually processed as cross-border transactions which can be hugely detrimental to authorisation rates. Even international merchants that have a Russian legal entity face issues surrounding VAT and repatriation of funds remitted locally.

As a result, consumers in the market often prefer domestic payment methods that allow them to shop for their favourite goods, with the greatest chance of authorisation. This includes Mir cards which accounted for nearly 25 percent of total payments in Russia at the end of last year—and more than 70 million of these cards have been issued since they were introduced in late 2015.

What is the value proposition of Ingenico ePayments that will distinguish it from other offerings in the Russian market?
Our Russia Payments Solution provides unique local acquiring and payment capabilities for international businesses selling online to Russian consumers in sectors such as digital goods, retail, travel and much more. We have broken down barriers to entry into the market by partnering with Russia’s leading financial institutions, including the largest acquirer in Europe, Sberbank.

This gives online businesses access to the Russian financial system so they can provide services to Russian consumers using their preferred payment methods, including Mir cards and Russian ewallets such as Qiwi and Yandex. Money. Using the solution, online businesses can offer payments that are fully compliant with Russian regulations to improve authorisation rates and in different currencies such as the Rouble, EUR and USD.

What are the challenges faced by Russian consumers on the payments front? How is Ingenico addressing the issue with its solutions?
Prior to the launch of our solution, Russian consumers had limited options when it came to buying from western businesses. Now they are able to easily make payments to international ecommerce businesses using their preferred payment methods and in the currency of their choice.

As a result, the solution has opened up a whole new market for Russian consumers, with products and services that otherwise would not be available in their country.

Ingenico has recorded an impressive $1 billion transaction in the first 18 months. What do you credit the firm’s success to?
The growth and success of our solution can be accredited to Ingenico’s in-depth understanding of the Russian financial system and the partnerships we have established within it. These partnerships have formed the basis of the solution and have granted us access into a market that has been extremely difficult to enter in the past.

In addition, the partnerships have allowed us to provide a diverse range of preferred local payment methods to Russian shoppers, such as Mir cards. In turn, this has improved conversion and authorisation rates for our customers—making these businesses an attractive option for consumers.

China’s Singles Day also largely contributed to the success of the solution and acted as a proving ground for its effectiveness. On that day we experienced record breaking transaction volumes and payment authorisation rates, which saw many of our customers making a profit by servicing the growing market.

To common knowledge, Russia is a tough ecommerce market to crack. What is Ingenico’s strategic approach to build its local market presence in the country?
The Russia Payments Solution was built as part of our ongoing strategic approach of helping businesses penetrate high growth markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. The most integral part of entering these markets is ensuring that we offer payment methods that are relevant to the general population, enabling them to make payments swiftly and easily.

That is how we are going to continue servicing the Russian ecommerce market, with locally relevant solutions that reduce shopping cart abandonment and create returning customers.

We are continuously adding new capabilities to the solution, such as our billing and settlement plan (BSP) feature for airlines, which includes local acquiring, single report and single remittance. This will ensure that merchants from all industries have the tools they need to operate in the market.

What are Ingenico’s plans in the pipeline targeting European and Russian consumers in the next three to five years?
Ecommerce across Europe was rapidly evolving, even before Covid-19. This has mainly been caused by regulatory updates that are altering the way people pay for goods and these will continue to impact the market over the coming years. This is where our focus will lie.

The EU Payments Service Directive (PSD2) and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) have forced businesses and banks to reconsider the payments services they offer across the continent. Many are looking to reach new customers using open banking and P2P payments, as many ecommerce businesses see them as a cheaper alternative to what is already being offered. As a result, we’ve seen a growth in the popularity of alternative payments.

Legislation brought in to limit card payment costs will result in international payment methods becoming more expensive. This will open up new markets and business opportunities for those using alternative payment methods.

Furthermore, transactions made on mobile will increase in value, while online payments services, such as WeChat Pay, are moving into face-to-face territory—meaning that we will experience an omnichannel orientated future in Europe. We will ensure that businesses and customers have the tools they need to offer and make payments that are fast, secure and relevant.

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With that, Mercado Libre will be able to launch several new products in the country. This even includes credit cards and will allow its users to invest through ewallets, media reports said. The ecommerce firm is a big player in Latin America. The company is seeking to slowly gain its position in the fintech sector.

More recently, ShipStation entered into a partnership with Mercado Libre to connect 600 million Latin American buyers to US merchants. Mariano Migues, CBT Supervisor, Mercado Libre, told the media, “We are extremely excited to kick off our partnership with ShipStation, offering U.S. merchants a gateway into one of the world’s fastest-growing ecommerce regions.”

Mercado Libre is the fourth largest marketplace in the world by visits per month and is the largest in Latin America. It has a strong presence in 18 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Peru.  With the new partnership, ShipStation’s US merchants will have access to more than 600 million Latin American users on the Mercado Libre marketplace. It is reported that the firm processes more than 1 billion sales each day.

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With the surge in demand, the startup planned to launch in Mexico last month. In February, Global66 received $3.25 million from UK investor Venrex to further expand across Latin America. It is reported that the startup offers transfer services eight times better than the existing ones.

Already, it has opened new offices in Peru and seeks to expand into Columbia, Mexico and Argentina over the next two years. In a span of two years, the startup has processed more than 25,000 users across 60 cities worldwide.

The fintech market is booming in Latin America. Even Amazon Web Services plans to invest $236 million in São Paulo over the next two years, media reports said. The region has a highly competitive ecommerce market dominated by players including MercadoLibre.It is reported that Amazon’s investment will help to expand into Brazil and enhance local services offerings to both private and public partners.

In fact, fintech regulation in Latin America is anticipated to propel growth in the sector. Its comprehensive 2018 fintech law comprises crowdfunding, virtual wallet, cryptocurrency transactions and open banking.

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The initiative will be known as FedEx Surround. It is reported that FedEx could become a logistics competitor to Amazon with the launch of this initiative.

Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO at FedEx, said in a statement, “FedEx has been reimagining the supply chain since our first day of operation, and we are taking it to a new level with today’s announcement.”

Both companies have decided to build an alliance to transform commerce. According to FedEx, the initiative will enable businesses to receive real-time tracking of shipment. FedEx Surround seeks to offer solutions to businesses with supply chain, in addition to those that largely depend on time-sensitive deliveries.

The proposed initiative is a boost to the logistics industry worldwide, especially on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will support ecommerce infrastructure built during pre-pandemic times and enable it to transform in a post-pandemic world.

“Together with Microsoft, we will combine the immense power of technology with the vast scale of our infrastructure to help revolutionise commerce and create a network for what’s next for our customers,” Smith said in a statement.

It appears that FedEx was forced to limit the number of deliveries from a broad range of retailers because of the ongoing crisis. However, FedEx Surround is anticipated to improve logistics capacity, build transparency, and facilitate better services for businesses.

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