Singapore Post’s subsidiary Quantium Solutions Australia has invested AUS $4.3 million (€2.9 million) in a 30% stake in HUBBED, an Australian one-stop e-commerce service provider with a growing network of newsagents, to make online shopping and parcel deliveries more convenient for customers in the country.
As part of the partnership, SingPost will work together with CouriersPlease, owned by Quantium Solutions, and HUBBED to provide more delivery options for online shoppers in Australia. They can thus order door-to-door parcel deliveries or collect and drop-off their parcels themselves from a newsagent near them.
Based in Balmain, New South Wales, HUBBED has built a network of some 680 newsagents to provide parcel delivery services in every major city across Australia. To increase customer convenience, HUBBED will now also be offering parcel drop-offs and sale of delivery products in the near future.
Dr Sascha Hower, CEO of Quantium Solutions and Group Chief Operating Officer of SingPost, said: “E-commerce is all about having multi-channels – for speed and getting parcels to customers at the times that suit them. People in Australia are busy and active, and working professionals won’t be home during work hours to receive their parcels. We want to make their lives easier by offering them flexibility – through CouriersPlease, they enjoy a nationwide door-to-door delivery service across Australia. Now with this partnership with HUBBED, Australians get another level of flexibility – they can collect their parcels through one of the many newsagents in the HUBBED network. HUBBED’s newsagents are a traditional feature of many suburbs and communities. They are super-friendly, close late and are open on weekends. Customers will now have more choice as they can pick up their parcels any time and at their own convenience.”
“We are investing to develop an e-commerce ecosystem to provide seamless access to customers in Australia, and growing markets in Asia Pacific. The ecosystem comprises end-to-end solutions from warehousing to convenient touch points, flexible doorstep delivery and track and trace features. This partnership with HUBBED, which complements CouriersPlease, will help strengthen our ecommerce last mile capability in the regional e-commerce logistics value chain in the region,” he added.
David Mclean, CEO and Founder of HUBBED, highlighted the immense growth potential of HUBBED, boosted by the growth in online spending. “This, coupled with the scope for pickup, drop off and sale of products is significant. Our strategic partnership with Couriers Please is just as important as our relationship with SingPost, due to our congruent strategic objectives. We are delighted to be a part of this growing ecosystem and this will only support the development of the services in market today, such as bill payment and referral offers, as well as the suite of products we have scheduled to launch.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian consumers spent some AUS$10 billion in 2012 through online purchases and this is set to grow by more than three times to exceed AUS$36 billion by 2016.
Wholly owned by SingPost Group, Quantium Solutions specialises in logistics and fulfilment services to businesses within the Asia Pacific region. It offers one-stop service from pick-up services to warehousing, pick and pack, inventory management, last mile delivery, to returns management and more. Quantium Solutions leverages competencies within its parent company Singapore Post Ltd, to deliver the best value-add solutions to its customers. Headquartered in Singapore, it has operations in 45 cities in the following nine other countries in Asia Pacific: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.
