Fulfilling online fashion and footwear orders is a core element of our business
Asendia combines the expertise of La Poste and Swiss Post to offer unparalleled cross-border e-commerce and mail solutions, servicing over 200 destinations worldwide. With a commitment to carbon neutrality and a wide range of tailored services, Asendia empowers businesses to expand globally, ensuring an optimised delivery experience for international shoppers. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, CEO-Global Returns Helen Scurfield discusses international e-commerce parcel delivery.
Can you describe Asendia’s journey since its inception in 2012 and how it has evolved over the years?
Asendia was founded by La Poste and Swiss Post in 2012, as an international mail business, with export-led businesses across the world.
The company has grown from a revenue of €400 million in 2012, to €1.1 billion today. Currently, 75 per cent of what we do is international air freight of export packets and parcels, and the mail part has declined significantly. Fulfilling online fashion and footwear orders is a core element of the business today.
Asendia owns ESW (formerly E-Shop World), a Dublin-based e-commerce technology provider, and we are constantly building on our network of delivery partners.
What makes Asendia unique in the cross-border commerce and delivery industry?
Asendia is a dynamic, agile provider of cross-border e-commerce logistics, catering to both local and global retailers and marketplaces. We aim to expand our solutions, offering new delivery destinations and methods supported by robust technology. Emphasising the importance of delivering on promises, we commit to maintaining high-quality solutions, ensuring on-time delivery, and investing significantly in technology for excellence. Sustainability is woven into our DNA. Recognising the international e-commerce industry’s reliance on air freight, we seek low impact ways to operate. We actively pursue low-carbon options and collaborate with green logistics innovations.
Crucially, our vision revolves around our people, the ‘Asendians’. Focusing on their engagement, support, and development ensures the successful execution of our strategies and exceptional service to our customers.
Ultimately, Asendia is a people-focused business, embodying values like friendliness and caring. These values are crucial in our customer interactions, where we acknowledge the importance of individuals meeting their needs. Our commitment to friendliness and care reinforces our trustworthiness, essential as we handle the delivery of goods worldwide on behalf of brand customers. We take the responsibility very seriously, aiming to be a safe pair of hands that customers genuinely appreciate.
How do you ensure that Asendia stays at the forefront of innovation in e-commerce parcel solutions?
Automation and AI play a pivotal role in enhancing productivity in the competitive e-commerce logistics market. Asendia’s successful implementation of automated sorting and six sophisticated robots at the Heathrow parcel processing centre, operational since March 2022, has significantly increased parcel throughput for e-commerce retailers. With a £2.5 million investment, benefits include achieved ROI targets, reduced employee stress during peak times, and the acquisition of new business based on improved reliability and speed.
As we expand globally, we plan to replicate these automated systems, with upcoming installations in our Chicago hub in the US next year. However, we emphasise maintaining flexibility to cater to the specific packaging and handling needs of retailers and avoiding potential pitfalls of over-automating operations that require specialised services.
Adapting to evolving shopper preferences, our innovations address the need for speed and affordability. For example, our e-PAQ range, launched three years ago, provides a diverse set of international parcel services. By offering different delivery price points and tailoring services to local preferences (e.g., cash on delivery in the Middle East), we empower retailers to meet customer needs, reduce carbon footprints, and manage profit margins.
Navigating the challenge of returns, we aggressively entered this space with new solutions in 2023. Our focus extends to reaching new global shoppers, emphasising ‘harder destinations’. We master new trade lanes, establish partner networks, and plan destination launches for 2024, potentially including South and Central America. Our commitment is to excel in expanding routes and serving diverse markets.
Could you elaborate on the role and impact of Asendia’s acquisitions, such as ESW and wnDirect, in expanding your services?
Thanks to agility and strategic acquisitions, we have weathered the recent storms of Brexit, COVID, new postal regulations globally, economic upheavals and supply chain disruptions. wnDirect was acquired by Asendia Global in March 2019 and it was clear that their international commercial delivery network, people and knowhow would add huge value, and help the Group achieve its global reach ambitions.
As of 2021, Asendia also owns ESW, and we are actively seeking ways to drive closer collaboration between digital and logistics to enhance our services.
What strategies does Asendia employ to maintain efficient and reliable delivery, specifically for fashion and textile products across, over 200 countries and territories?
Fashion and textile items, ordered online by shoppers around the world, are air freighted by Asendia as safely, swiftly and cost-effectively as possible. We operate a robust global network and partnerships with local carriers and logistics providers, which helps ensure comprehensive coverage and smooth operations in various regions. We can flex the lanes, air freight partners and postal network partners we use at short notice, helping retailers reach customers even when supply chain disruptions occur.
Customs compliance is one of our strengths. Dealing with customs processes efficiently is crucial for international shipments, and at Asendia we have expertise in navigating customs requirements to minimise delays.
Technology integration supports reliability too. By utilising advanced technology, such as tracking systems, route optimisation, and automated processes, we enhance overall efficiency and provide real-time visibility for both the company and end customers.
Perhaps most importantly, we have brilliant people in the organisation who are passionate about meeting the needs of the customer, solving problems, and constantly improving how we operate.
Can you discuss the importance and impact of your premium partnerships?
Our partnerships with in-country parcel networks allow our retail customers to use our solutions as they enter new regions, where e-commerce is experiencing rapid and sustained growth.
We deliver all across Asia, working hand-in-hand with the national postal operators and market leading final-mile parcel delivery providers in each country. This region contains some of the biggest consumer markets in the world with a growing middle class and huge potential for retailers in neighbouring countries and all around the world.
Asendia’s largest subsidiary is in America, where we operate several mail centres, and are developing partnerships with leading final-mile delivery providers and customs brokers. So, once we transport mail and parcels into this important region, we have the expertise to deliver them on time and in the condition our clients expect.
We deliver to every European country from all Asendia mail and parcel distribution centres and fulfilment facilities around the world.
Our founding companies are located in France and Switzerland, we have Asendia operations in 12 European countries, and partnerships with final mile postal and parcel providers across the continent.
We also have partnerships that give access to Oceania, South America and the Middle East, including Israel Post and Emirates Post Group (EPG).
How will Asendia’s recent partnership with EPG boost e-commerce for e-tailers entering the Middle East?
The UAE plays a crucial role in the global supply chain, with Dubai having an essential part in international trade routes between Europe and Asia. Using EPG’s Dubai facility, Asendia will expand its reach into Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members—the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait—and beyond.
With e-commerce revenue in the GCC region predicted to grow significantly, how does Asendia plan to support and capitalise on this growth, particularly in sectors like the fashion industry?
We know e-tailers have been keen to seize the opportunity that the GCC presents with its many sophisticated and fashion-savvy shoppers. The partnership with EPG makes serving these shoppers much easier for our customers. This is the latest in a series of announcements which allow retailers to use our solutions in regions where e-commerce is experiencing fast growth.
With ePAQ Returns we can also provide the essential reverse logistics elements of a fashion e-commerce operation.
How will emerging technologies like blockchain, AI, and automation shape the future of logistics and supply chain management?
The reality we face is that emerging technologies like blockchain, AI, and automation are poised to revolutionise logistics management in the future. At Asendia, we keep a close eye on developments, and are constantly researching what’s possible, and how the business and our customers could benefit from these developments.
Blockchain introduces transparency and traceability, ensuring secure and verifiable transactions. This decentralised ledger technology minimises fraud, enhances trust among stakeholders, and streamlines the entire supply chain by providing real-time visibility into the movement of goods.
Meanwhile, AI plays a pivotal role in optimising logistics operations. Machine learning algorithms analyse vast amounts of data to predict demand, optimise routes, and improve inventory management. I foresee that AI-driven predictive analytics will enhance our decision-making, reducing delays and inefficiencies.
Automation, including robotics and autonomous vehicles, transforms the physical aspects of logistics, and Asendia is investing in this technology. Automated warehouses with robotic systems enable faster and more accurate order fulfilment, reducing labour costs and increasing efficiency.
When working together, these technologies create a connected and intelligent supply chain ecosystem. Smart contracts on blockchain can automate and enforce agreements, reducing paperwork and increasing the speed of transactions. AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants enhance customer service and communication throughout the supply chain. The future of logistics and supply chain management will undoubtedly be shaped by the transformative power of these emerging technologies.
How is the international logistics and e-commerce industry responding to sustainability demands, and what innovations are being used to lower its carbon footprint?
Sustainability is a critical concern in the e-commerce shipping industry due to the reliance on fossil fuels, making carbon emissions unavoidable. Asendia, committed to ethical practices, achieved carbon neutrality since January 2022, offsetting emissions across SCOPE 1, 2, and 3, including parcel returns, structures, equipment, and business travel. This involves investing in wind farms in India to support cleaner energy and local economies. For Asendia, emissions predominantly come from the aeroplanes and transport vehicles used in our international deliveries and returns. A very low percentage of emissions come from our buildings, machinery and essential business travel.
To offset 100 per cent of all the above emissions, we invest in projects which promote renewable energy and support local communities. The amount we offset is equal to the emissions produced.
Moving forward, Asendia is dedicated to further offsetting carbon emissions, prioritising renewable energy and recycling packaging. Collaborating with global partners, we select companies based on ESG credentials, anticipating increased emphasis on carbon reporting and eco-labelling as legal requirements. Looking ahead, we aim to shift from offsetting to emissions reduction, implementing measures like maximising parcels per truck, enhancing warehouse efficiency, and exploring electrification of vehicles.
We are also participating in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), designed to help companies track and report their emissions in line with agreed criteria, and this will begin to give us verified emissions data from later this year.
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