SINGAPORE, 3 February 2021 — Today, fast-growing e-Commerce fulfilment technology company Shippit announced its Lunar New Year predictions that delivery volumes are expected to surge next week, one week ahead of the festivities which will begin on 12 February 2021. Based on the data that Shippit observed over the Christmas period last year, slight delivery delays may also be seen as couriers are still adapting to the boom in e-Commerce orders and deliveries due to the pandemic bringing more users online.
Founded in 2014 in Australia, Shippit announced the launch of its Southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore in July 2020. Since then, Shippit has partnered with Shopify as well as expanded to Malaysia in August last year, and counts SingPost, DHL, Ninja Van, and Aramex among its delivery partners in the region. By using automation and machine learning to simplify the order fulfilment process, Shippit serves more than 6,000 customers a month across Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, powering delivery for Sephora, Decathlon, UNIQLO, CottonOn, Harvey Norman, and JD Sports among thousands of leading retailers. The Shippit platform enables retailers to instantly ship with Asia’s leading carriers, share seamless tracking and notifications and access dedicated delivery support, processes hundreds of thousands of orders daily, and has already begun powering delivery for businesses, including Common Man Coffee roasters, Paula’s Choice, Velo Velo Cycle, and Time for Toys in Singapore.
These predictions for Lunar New Year follow delivery trends Shippit observed during October to December 2020, around order volumes during the Christmas period. According to the data, Shippit saw a 92.7% increase when comparing delivery volumes in December 2020 vs November 2020. The data also showed deliveries have been increasing, with December seeing a 163.3% jump from October 2020. Peaks in shipping have also been seen between 14 to 20 December, about a week ahead of Christmas.
With as many as 40 million new users across Southeast Asia coming online for the first time in 2020, sudden increases in order volumes and spikes have been harder to predict due to changing consumer behaviour, leaving some logistics firms unable to keep pace. Shippit saw about 15% – 20% of all deliveries being slightly delayed over the Christmas period when order volume spiked, and the same may be expected during this festive season as well.
Mark Lancaster, Southeast Asian Business Development Lead at Shippit, said: “Lunar New Year is one of the big festive periods in Singapore owing to the country’s predominantly Chinese population. We are excited as this is Shippit’s first Lunar New Year here since expanding into Singapore last year, and we are expecting at least 80% of the delivery volume we saw in December. Taking into account the trends from Christmas, we would advise merchants and retailers start preparing for the increase in deliveries next week by ensuring their platforms are set up to accommodate the spike.”
“Merchants can keep customers updated to reduce their anxiety around possible delays. I’d recommend updating delivery timelines where possible, such as putting a delivery banner notification on their homepage or sending email notifications to enhance customer experience. Conducting sale events much prior to the festive rush can ensure consumers buy ahead of time, allowing the orders to arrive well before the Lunar New Year celebrations”, continued Mark.
Most recently, the logistics Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company raised S$30.49 million in its Series B round in December 2020, and is currently in the process of onboarding more couriers on the platform, such as Janio and FedEx. A full stack shipping solution used by customers of all sizes, Shippit that can be used by enterprise-level firms, fast-growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as e-Commerce businesses just starting out. From multi-channel, international retailers to homegrown sellers, Shippit unifies order fulfilment across sales channels and leverages its proprietary allocation algorithm to connect retailers to the best delivery partner for every single order.
