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HK's U-Freight says growth potential in e-commerce 'far from exhausted'

THE head of Hong Kong's logistics provider U-Freight Group (UFL) Simon Wong, says major growth potential in global e-commerce is "far from exhausted" even in established regions such as the US, Europe or Japan.

But, it will need new approaches to logistics to ensure a problem-free supply chain, the CEO added, pointing out that he'd recently attended an Amazon Global Selling Expo in Hangzhou, China, together with the member unit of Air China, CAE.

"We came away convinced that there is much, much more to come from the global e-commerce market and we are in fact only just scratching the surface," Mr Wong said, pointing out that they highlighted in particular the potential of the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) programme.

"We are focusing on the FBA market by offering a service all the way from origin through to delivery, customs-cleared, to the Amazon Fulfilment Centre.

"As we at U-Freight have commented in the past, online retailers need to find new models and innovative platforms to deal with the logistics challenges they face. That includes ensuring that they engage with their freight forwarder at an early stage of the process to ensure that they truly understand the complex logistical demands of e-commerce," Mr Wong said.

U-Freight and CAE are offering a range of services, including both standard and express customs clearance at origin in China and at destination in the US and Europe, air and ocean line haul and direct drop shipments to the FBA warehouse by courier or nominated truck.

U-Freight also operates its own e-commerce fulfilment centre in Shanghai for pick and pack services and a similar delivery centre in Los Angeles that can carry out inventory storage, return services or product rework, along with all necessary customs formalities and record-keeping.

"The Expo was attended by over 3,000 participants and there was a strong interest in our service offering, particularly in our line haul services and overseas fulfilment centres. We have now communicated with over 100 Amazon sellers direct as a result of the gathering," Mr Wong said.