Lazada to ramp up its collection points to ease logistics pains
Business for e-commerce firm Lazada was so brisk on Nov 11 that its chief executive Alexis Lanternier pitched in to help package goods.
It saw 16 times more sales than usual, thanks to the annual Singles' Day online shopping event.
Mr Lanternier said: "It was Saturday and I spent my time at the warehouse to help pack, with most of the team. It was so overwhelming, as we had so many orders to pick and pack."Even after Singles' Day, there is more volume with the shopping season and people buying gifts for Christmas. There is a limited number of trucks and drivers in Singapore, and everyone is optimising to deliver."
He told The New Paper yesterday that to ease logistics pains, Lazada plans to aggressively ramp up the number of self-collection points across the island next year.
He was speaking at the launch of Lazada's first offline consumer event at JCube yesterday.
Currently, customers can choose to pick up their Lazada hauls from 200 POPStation and 100 Ninja Van collection points, and Lazada said it is in talks with others to build more collection points, though Mr Lanternier declined to share more details.
Doorstep delivery can be often delayed since someone needs to be at home to receive the parcel, he said.
"That is usually what slows down delivery the most and creates much inefficiency across the network. With click-and-collect, the item will be available the next day in the collection box. It is up to customers at their own convenience to choose when they want to pick it up."
This could result in "significant" savings that can be passed on to customers. He said: "Shipping in Singapore is one of the highest costs in the region. If you manage to bring that down, it will mean more savings for the Singapore customer."
Lazada also plans to open 13 collection points at various malls by March next year, part of a strategic agreement struck with CapitaLand in August.
Customers will be able to collect and return their goods and try out their purchases using power points and fitting rooms at the premises.
According to Lazada, "hundreds" have used the lounges at Plaza Singapura and Bugis+ since they opened in late October. Three more have opened since at other malls.
Sellers can also drop off orders at the lounges, saving the step of having the goods ferried by Lazada's delivery partners to the warehouse for sorting and distribution.
Lazada's delivery work is split among its seven logistics partners, which include SingPost, Ninja Van and Courex.
He said: "The beauty of leveraging on these networks is that we can optimise all the time. We control the data, so we know what is going on.
"As soon as we see one of the partners is struggling, we shift the volume over to another one."
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