Founder Sendle -James Chin Moody
Sydney-based parcel delivery startup Sendle has set its sights on the overseas market after signing a deal with DHL eCommerce, an offshoot of the global courier giant.
The deal will mean the fledgling Australia Post rival will offer door-to-door delivery to more than 220 countries in DHL’s network.
Co-founder and CEO James Chin Moody has been focused on positioning Sendle, which launched in November 2014, as the small business alternative to Australia Post, and earlier this month signed an integration deal with eBay that lets sellers link their account to the Sendle service. The company has also integrated with e-commerce companies such as Neto, Xero, Shipstation, and Shopify.
Chin Moody says he hopes his company’s international service will be around 20% cheaper than existing rivals such as Australia Post, and the deal with DHL is “just as big as when we launched Sendle”.
“From day one, our mission has been to unlock the power of big business delivery infrastructure for millions of small businesses. Our agreement with DHL eCommerce, a true world leader in logistics, is a major step forward in leveling the playing field in Australia,” he said.
The company will initially run a Sydney-based trial of the service with selected businesses in the lead-up to Christmas before a national roll-out in 2018.
Sendle will handle the local logistics with pick-up at the door, before hooking into DHL’s international network.
Chin Moody said that with 20% of e-commerce by Australian businesses likely to be with overseas customers within the next five years, he wanted to “unlock infrastructure for small business”.
“If you’re not thinking exporting then you’re leaving a lot of value on the table, particularly in the age of Amazon and other global disruptors coming to Australia,” he said.
“This arrangement with DHL eCommerce means a whole lot of small businesses are now going to be able to export at competitive prices because we think there’s been a lack of choice up until now and we know what that does to prices.”
Chin Moody says the pay-off for DHL is Sendle’s local logistical network giving them access to thousands of small businesses in Australia.
“With this international parcel delivery service, our customers will be able to ship internationally within a few clicks and pay for it online — it has never been so simple,” he said.
DHL eCommerce CEO Charles Brewer said the delivery performance was a critical success factor in e-commerce when it comes to the customer experience. “We combine DHL’s global expertise and reach with Sendle’s deep knowledge of small businesses to create simple and affordable solutions for international parcel delivery,” he said.
The two companies have another strategic alignment with Sendle’s service being carbon-neutral and the DHL Group recently pledging to reduce its logistics-related emissions to net zero by the year 2050.
Chin Moody says he hopes that within 12 months, the Sendle-DHL joint venture will account for “tens of billions of kilometres in parcel delivery” that is carbon neutral.
