HONGKONG POST MOVES INTO LOGISTICS

HONGKONG POST MOVES INTO LOGISTICS    Hongkong Post has introduced “Hongkong Post Logistics,” a supply chain management and delivery service for e-commerce and direct marketing sellers.
   Hongkong Post will provide a range of services, including collection from and return of goods to suppliers, warehousing and inventory management, receipt of customer orders through electronic means, picking and packing of goods, local and overseas delivery of goods, providing end-customers an option to collect goods at post offices, and providing inventory and delivery status report.
   The Hong Kong state-owned postal service provider said that it can also accept orders on behalf of merchants at post offices or collect payments of purchases from end-customers.
   The logistics service is designed to cater for the growing e-commerce market. Hongkong Post Logistics “will save e-commerce and direct marketing merchants the hassles to plan or invest in logistics support,” a spokesman for Hongkong Post said.
   Hongkong Post said that it aims to provide “a one-stop, cost-effective and flexible logistics solution which can integrate with the supply chain of merchants in different kinds of businesses.”
   As in the rest of the world, e-commerce is expected to boom in Hong Kong.
   The move into logistics services by Hongkong Post is the latest by a postal service organization and follows initiatives by the U.S., German, Dutch and other postal service providers.
   Hongkong post delivered 1.1 million parcels in 1998.