Leading Turkish parcels company Aras Kargo is aiming for 20% revenue growth this year, driven partly by a new Alibaba delivery contract, after double-digit growth in 2017.
The privately-owned company topped turnover of one billion Turkish lira last year for the first time, which was about 20% growth on 2016 levels, and delivered about 500,000 shipments a day on average. It is now aiming for turnover of 1.2 billion lira in 2018 and expects to create 730 new jobs.
Aras Kargo said it is designing its growth strategy on digitalization and is focusing more on cross-border e-commerce customers. After reaching an agreement with Alibaba last year, it now aims to sign other similar partnerships in the coming months. Under the Alibaba contract, it will distribute the products of the Chinese e-commerce giant in Turkey, providing a dramatic improvement in transit times. The contract value and volumes involved have not been disclosed.
General Manager Hikmet Nuri Bulduk said the company will press ahead this year with its ongoing five-year €30 million investment in technology and network expansion. "We continue to reinforce our leadership in the sector with new projects and technological applications that we implement in order to improve customer satisfaction,” he stated.
“We also continue to invest in technological infrastructure to benefit from the current growth potential of e-commerce in the best possible way. We have plans to open five big technological transfer hubs with an investment of €30 million in five big cities of Turkey: Ankara, Istanbul Anatolia, Izmir and Bursa by 2020. In addition to the increase in capacity and productivity we will make more savings in this way. We will offer solutions that improve customer satisfaction more."
The company has already invested €10 million to triple sorting capacity at its hub at Ikitelli in western Istanbul. The regional hubs in Ankara, Istanbul Anatolia, Izmir and Bursa will be upgraded by 2020. Aras Kargo aims to sort and deliver about 80% of its volumes from these five hubs in future. Overall, the company, which has some 12,000 employees and 4,000 vehicles, has a network of 29 regional hubs and 825 branch offices across Turkey.
In other technology moves, Aras Kargo has improved courier tracking efficiency by 10% thanks to using GPS technology. “We ensured a 10% increase in the rate of processing at the address by means of courier tracking through hand terminals with GPS. We aim to ensure at least 96% timely delivery by improving this success in a short time,” Bulduk said.
Another innovation this year will be the launch of a map-based "Where is My Shipment?" functionality under the name ‘Kargom Nerede’. "Our customers can track the process in more detail from dispatch up to delivery with this system by entering the Cargo Tracking Number from mobile phones or computers,” the CEO explained.
Bulduk was appointed General Manager of Aras Kargo in June 2017. The company’s public image had been damaged in recent years by a complex and bitter dispute between the two shareholders, the Aras family and Austrian Post.
