Amid speculation that international giants such as Amazon and Uber may be about to launch their own global freight brokerage businesses, Amazon has now announced it will be commencing full-scale retail operations in Australia. They are initially looking for warehouse floor space of up to 93,000 square metres, to be situated in one of the Eastern state capitals, and intend to ultimately roll out distribution centres in every state, as well as stores in regional areas. With their Australian Web Services and Kindle store already employing almost a thousand staff in the country, they see retail as the next logical step, focusing on low prices, wide selection, and fast delivery.
Amazon’s entry to the market follows hot on the heels of Chinese on-line mammoth Alibaba, which opened its office in Melbourne in February. These major players are set to revolutionise the retail and logistics market in Australia. This is in line with the trend of other international companies who aim to cut out freight intermediaries.
Uber has already soft-launched Uber Freight. The San Francisco based company will introduce ‘load matching apps’ which provide real-time pricing. Smaller U.S. start-ups such as Cargomatic, Convoy and CargoX also have the same idea. What all this means is that conventional freight forwarders are going to have to leverage IT-driven process management and incorporate automation into their framework, if they are to stay in the race.  We see the likes of Amazon, Alibaba and Uber as complementary additions to, but not replacements for, the traditional industry of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders.
