DHL eCommerce has opened its Melbourne distribution centre to support the strong growth of e-commerce exports from Australia.

According to DHL, the centre is co-located with DHL Global Forwarding’s 16,700-square-metre facility in Tullamarine and will support e-commerce exports weighing up to 2kg shipped to over 220 countries and territories worldwide, and up to 20kg to popular destinations such as China, Germany, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the UK and the US.

“Two significant trends are influencing global trade: the increasing adoption of e-commerce and the prominent role of logistics networks in shaping trade,” said Charles Brewer, CEO of DHL eCommerce. “In this changing environment, Australian consumer goods companies have an excellent opportunity to grow export markets with e-commerce continuing to grow as a strong channel. Logistics plays a key role in enabling trade and DHL is investing in our presence in Australia to ensure we are well positioned to support businesses to capture the cross border e-commerce opportunity.”

Together with the existing distribution centres in Sydney, the Melbourne distribution centre will support Australian e-commerce sellers looking to export to an increasing number of markets internationally.

“The ‘Made in Australia’ brand is highly recognized and widely trusted internationally,” said Denise McGrouther, managing director of DHL eCommerce Australia. “E-commerce is a strong and growing channel with 78% of Australian exporters already generating orders from online channels. Besides selling directly to consumers, cross border e-commerce will also be supported by e-commerce platforms and marketplaces which provide specialized services that enable online selling. We work very closely with e-commerce platforms, marketplaces and direct customers to help Australian sellers internationalize their products by making logistics as easy and affordable as possible.”

She added that new operating models are needed to allow businesses to optimize operations and costs while fulfilling orders to their consumers fast.

“Businesses are increasingly ‘drop shippers’ and can use our pay-per-use, scalable fulfilment services to store their inventory closer to the end consumer,” she said. “Through DHL Supply Chain’s extensive footprint of warehousing facilities globally, we have one of the largest networks available to enable businesses to win in this exciting e-commerce opportunity.”