Logistics software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Shippit aims to accelerate the Southeast Asian e-commerce industry with its new Cash On Delivery (COD) service
for retailers. By partnering with e-commerce platform Shopify, Shippit
now provides instant access to simpler shipping and cash-on-delivery
capabilities for Asia’s online retailers.
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. Through its partnership with Shopify, Shippit
will offer COD as a payment option regardless of order volume or
business size.
This offering makes Shippit the first
end-to-end shipping solution that enables retailers to instantly offer
COD as a payment option to merchants and retailers. They need only sign
up for a Shippit account and connect their Shopify store. Shopify
retailers will not need to negotiate COD rates
with their couriers, as this handled by Shippit.
Singapore is the company's first market in Southeast Asia. Singapore
has one of the most active online buyer segments in the region, with two
out of three Singaporeans purchasing products online at least once a
year, Shippit said.
With Shippit’s COD offering,
Singapore retailers will also be able to access other markets in
Southeast Asia that prefer cash, at a time when retailers are seeking to
expand delivery options and enhance their shipping practices. To better help partners scale internationally,
Shippit has discounted rates for regular cross-border delivery.
Southeast
Asia presents a huge opportunity for Shippit as it has an Internet
economy expected to more than double to US$150 billion by 2025 — but
also presents a challenge through the 296 million (74%) of the
population who are either unbanked or underbanked. This means that cash
is still largely king for transactions.
Shippit’s
shipping engine saves retailers time, money and provides
better experiences for delivery recipients, the company said. Lavneesh
Arora, Director of Market Development at Shippit, said: “Southeast Asia
has one of the fastest growing Internet economies in the world, and due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen a rapid acceleration of e-commerce,
with many businesses realising they need to go online.
"However,
we’ve also seen the majority in Southeast Asia are still heavily
reliant on cash over credit cards and online banking. Shippit can be
seen as an e-commerce enabler: by providing Cash On Delivery as a
new service, we allow online retailers like Shopify to access a huge
section of the market that they would not be able to reach.”
Australia-founded Shippit 's value proposition has led to a 400% increase in online
purchasing rates in Australia from April 2020. Delivery volume growth
has broken records previously set by Black Friday and Cyber Monday —which are typically the biggest shopping events in the year.
By
using automation and machine learning to simplify the order
fulfilment, Shippit has attracted than 6,000 customers a month across
Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, powering delivery for
Sephora, UNIQLO, CottonOn, and Harvey Norman among other retailers. It
has also been serving small businesses like Common Man Coffee Roasters
in Singapore since April.
Shippit is also committed to a future of sustainable retail, and offsets
100% of the carbon emissions for all deliveries at no extra cost. It
does this by purchasing carbon offsets to support projects that prevent
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
