Sendle inks major deal with DHL

AN AUSSIE start-up wants to be the Australia Post-killer, and a major deal with shipping giant DHL has put them one step closer.

PARCEL delivery start-up Sendle says a major deal with logistics giant DHL will allow small businesses to ship to more than 220 countries at prices “at least 20 per cent” cheaper than Australia Post.

The rapidly growing company, which claims to offer domestic rates up to 40 per cent cheaper than traditional post, recently won a two-year trademark battle against Australia Post over its tagline “Post without the Office”.

Sendle’s partnership with DHL eCommerce will extend its door-to-door delivery internationally, with Sendle managing domestic pick-ups and DHL providing access to its global network.

“Until now, really if you wanted to access the global postal network you had to go via Australia Post,” said Sendle chief executive and co-founder James Chin Moody. “Because DHL is part of the global network, what access to the network means is we’ll be able to do it significantly cheaper than Australia Post — and door-to-door.”

A recent study by Forrester found 20 per cent of all e-commerce would be cross-border by 2022, and with the impending arrival of Amazon in Australia Mr Moody said it would be important for local businesses to increase their reach offshore to offset the competition.

“[It’s] also about taking up the opportunity,” he said. “If you can export and do it cheaply and reliably, then there is an entire global marketplace to unlock.”

Earlier this month, Australia Post announced a new round of price hikes, with some products increasing by an average of 2.8 per cent to meet the rising cost of delivery.

Mr Moody said Australia Post was “effectively a monopoly”. “Many people they don’t even realise there’s an alternative,” he said.

“[That means] Australia Post gets to do monopoly pricing, it gets to put the prices up when it wants. Every time Australia Post puts up its prices, another small business is going to struggle making ends meet.”

DHL eCommerce CEO Charles Brewer said delivery performance was a “critical success factor” for any eCommerce business.

“Australian [small businesses] are winners in this partnership as 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 in a statement.

Sendle says its revene has grown 20 per cent month-on-month and has recently integrated with e-commerce firms including Neto, Xero, Shipstation and Shopify.

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