NZ Post has acquired a 50% stake in logistics company Supply Chain Solutions in a move it hopes will lead to an end-to-end service for e-commerce customers. The company will remain a standalone business, run by its founder Brad Lindsay and its existing management team. NZ Post has separately reviewed its own third-party logistics operation, Contract Logistics, and decided to close these operations by the end of June.
“Supply Chain Solutions is a strong investment for NZ Post, providing market-leading e-commerce fulfillment services to businesses operating domestically and with import and export operations – this includes providing warehousing, picking, packing and shipping solutions for customers,” explained NZ Post executive general manager, investments and ventures, Norbert Bojarski.
“E-commerce is the future for NZ Post, and providing end-to-end logistics and delivery to support e-commerce businesses to grow makes sense for us. Partnering with Supply Chain Solutions will allow us to provide an end-to-end supply chain for our customers. We also have strong alignment of our core values,” added Bojarski.
“We’re very proud to be partnering with NZ Post,” said Lindsay. “It’s important to us that we continue to be Kiwi owned, and with NZ Post as a shareholder we know we are working alongside a trusted and historic New Zealand business that’s been around for over 180 years. Like NZ Post, we are deeply customer-centric, our customers exist at the center of everything we do. Between us, we are looking forward to supporting local e-commerce businesses to succeed.”
NZ Post notes that its latest e-commerce research, titled The Full Download, shows New Zealanders spent over NZ$5.8bn (US$4bn) online last year – 25% more than the previous year – increasing demand for the post’s services. To counter this, NZ Post is investing NZ$170m (US$118.5m) in parcel processing infrastructure over the next 10 years. Supply Chain Solutions has also been investing in new warehousing and improved automation of its operations.