Worldnet launches UK to Australia ecommerce shipping service
Worldnet Direct, the cross-border ecommerce arm of US-based forwarding business Worldnet Shipping, has launched a new UK to Australia parcel shipping service. The “Express Direct” service is being run in partnership with international shipping firm AMS, and is particularly targeted at encouraging British online retailers to sell products Down Under.
However, Worldnet Direct said the service also offers the potential for Australian retailers to sell to the UK market.
Worldnet said its service was fully-trackable, with a tracking label applied at the start of shipment, allowing customers to access detailed information on a package’s whereabouts.
Stuart Hill, managing director at Worldnet, said: “Express Direct was developed because there was nothing out there which matched online retailers’ needs. There was always a compromise. We don’t believe in compromise – we believe in getting it right.”
International logistics company Worldnet Shipping, which has been operating near JFK Airport in the US since 1987, launched its UK facility near Heathrow Airport just over 10 years ago.
The firm has been targeting business from online retail since 2005, and since then has seen “tremendous” growth in country-to-country, door-to-door parcel services, and its services injecting parcels into local postal networks has now shipped more than 3m packages.
Worldnet Direct launched earlier this year specifically for ecommerce retailers, with a management team led by Hill, who joined the company earlier this year having spent two years overseeing international operations at online fashion retailer ASOS.
Worldnet states that it is currently ASOS’ single largest supplier of international shipping services. Plans are to roll out the Express Direct service to 35 countries in 2012.
The company said its Australia service would operate two injection sites in Australia – in Melbourne and Sydney – with a third in Brisbane opening in time for this year’s festive peak.
Nextday deliveries will be available to Sydney and Melbourne, Worldnet said.
The Australian ecommerce market is growing rapidly, with predictions it will follow in the “aggressive” footsteps of growth in the UK market. Record sales were seen in the run up to last Christmas, with National Australia Bank figures suggesting that January and February 2012 were 19% and 26% up on the same months last year for Australian ecommerce sales.
Worldnet said its new service offering was motivated by the recognition that many online retailers were “reluctant to dip their toes in the global waters” because of perceived uncertainties in shipping and customs costs.
