Going the distance with e-commerce

WHEN a leading e-commerce firm first came to them, it was burning S$20,000 to S$30,000 for every round of merchandise air-flown to Indonesia. It was taking its agent one to two weeks to clear the goods, too.

Now, the e-commerce firm has turned to using sea freight instead, allowing goods to reach its Indonesia warehouse within seven days at a third of the previous cost - all on the advice and services of local logistics provider Satsaco Group.

Satsaco, which specialises in freight forwarding to Indonesia, began providing business-to-consumer (B2C) services to e-commerce players only last year. Five years ago, it started catering for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce fulfilment. And though it is in its early stages, income from the e-commerce segment already accounts for more than half of the company's revenue of S$11.3 million in 2016.