Can Aussie tech start-up Shippit help Kiwi retailers stay in the game against Amazon?

Shippit co-founders and co-CEOs Rob Hango-Zada (left) and William On.

Amid an ongoing battle against foreign retail platforms and managing cost control and customer satisfaction in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape, Australian logistics technology start-up Shippit is launching its software in New Zealand that it hopes will give an edge to local retailers.

Backed by a A$65 million ($71m) funding round in 2022, the Sydney-based delivery platform – a middleman that connects retailers to courier companies – is quickly expanding its reach across the Asia-Pacific region.

Co-founder and co-CEO Rob Hango-Zada told the Herald the New Zealand market was a logical expansion for the company as it looked extend beyond Australia’s shores.

“We’ve already got the connections, the relationships with the carriers and we believe there is a real benefit that we can bring to New Zealand-based merchants,” Hango-Zada said.

Shippit’s smart technology currently powers deliveries for 4000 retailers across Australia and Southeast Asia, with over 40 million deliveries booked through its platform in full-year 2022.

The company has positioned itself as being able to help retailers grow their business and stay in control of their cost base as they compete against foreign retail entrants from the likes of Amazon and Temu.

“The secret sauce of Shippit is really a match-making service that orchestrates decisions [for retailers] around which courier to use,” Hango-Zada said.

“The core benefit of Shippit is that we aim to provide discounted rates to the New Zealand market because we’re leveraging the purchasing power of the platform and the aggregate volumes of our retailers rather than letting them fend for themselves in a one-to-one basis with the carrier.

“We help retailers save time in terms of fulfilling orders... our workflow enhancement allows them to pick and pack their orders efficiently.”

Shippit also provides end-to-end tracking for the receiver of the parcel.

“From the moment they check out to the moment they receive their goods, they know exactly when they’re going to get it and where it is in the journey,” Hango-Zada said.

Hango-Zada started the company in 2014 along with long-time friend William On, who is also co-CEO.

The pair met on day one of study at the University of New South Wales.

“As he [William] likes to recount, it was love at first sight,” Hango-Zada joked.

“We were kind of the misfits in the class back then.”

But their path to leading Shippit came after stints in the corporate world and a catalyst event – a frustrating delivery experience in which On tried to order a vacuum cleaner online only to end up picking it up himself from a depot after missing its delivery, Hango-Zada said.

“I got familiar with New Zealand in the capacity of FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods], so I was working with Procter & Gamble for a time and Unilever.

“So I know the Kiwi market quite well from a retail point of view.”

On, meanwhile, is the “tech brains”.

“Will’s background is in tech consulting... he tended to specialise in helping banks drive digital change. He helped NAB launch their first consumer banking offering in UBank.”

“Five years ago [in Australia], it was very rare to think you could buy something online and get that delivered the very next day," said Shippit's Rob Hango-Zada. Photo / 123rf

The Amazon effect

Hango-Zada said Amazon, which launched in Australia in 2017 and started sending parcels to New Zealand in 2021, had evolved the customer expectation around buying online.

“We think Amazon is a terrific challenger for any retail market. The benefactor of that is obviously the consumer,” he said.

“Five years ago [in Australia], it was very rare to think you could buy something online and get that delivered the very next day.

“They’ve broken that barrier of ‘oh I need to wait for something... it’s going to cost too much to get it shipped’.

“The detrimental impact, however, is that sovereign retailers to any market when Amazon enters tend to see less volume come to them and more go toward Amazon. So really what local retailers are in need of is a way to differentiate and keep control of their costs so that they can effectively compete with Amazon,” he said.

“Our job is to help our retailers stay in the game.”

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics including retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.