Australia Post to fulfill Cole’s Online Customers

A five-year partnership agreement between the Coles Myer e-commerce grocery business and Australia Post was inked in late October last year. It will see the extension of Australia Post’s role with Coles Online, with Australia Post managing the supermarket’s entire online customer fulfillment process. The corporation will in turn take over the running of two fulfillment centres, one based in Clayton, Victoria, the other in Turella, NSW.

Australia Post’s fulfillment solution prevailed over competing offers from other logistic companies, and came into effect in November last year. Australia Post have devoted significant resources to this venture , including new electronic systems and work practices, both of which are expected to greatly improve the capacity of the Coles fulfillment centre’s to provide grocery orders for online customers. As such, both Coles Online and Australia Post expect substantial growth in online grocery shopping across the two states.

”This is a strategic expansion of our already strong relationship with Australia Post,” said Jon Wood the Managing Director of e.colesmyer.

According to the general manger of Australia Post’s logistics division, the new agreement is in-line with international grocery fulfillment practices around the world. He stated that the fulfillment operation Òwould undergo a huge transformation,” enabling online customers to do their shopping in a fashion similar to that of shopping in a “traditional” supermarket. The new technology would accommodate both new work practices and enable the fulfillment of multiple orders.

”It is a very different way of fulfilling orders, almost as different as the idea of Australia Post delivering groceries,” he said.

Coles Online offers next day delivery within a two hour timeslot, with orders delivered via specially outfitted vehicles, provided by Australia Post.

The new fulfillment system sees Coles Online as the owners of the customer relationship. The Coles Online Web site receives customer orders, which are then transferred to Australia Post for processing and delivery. Individual orders placed on the Web site are simultaneously linked to order picking staff, the dispatch centre, and ultimately back into the Coles ordering system. The new fulfillment system is built around Australia Post’s “electronic spinal chord that combines its logistics services with customers” e-commerce order taking systems.