Singaporean furniture retailer Castlery and global shipping and integrated container logistics leader Maersk have announced a multi-year global integrated logistics and fulfilment partnership.
Tapping on Maersk’s integrated logistics supply chain solutions capabilities, the partnership will enable Castlery to offer seamless delivery for customers, reducing wait times for orders to one to two months, approximately three times faster than the industry average of three to six months.
The company said in a statement that this comes amid ongoing global supply chain uncertainties as Castlery expands into international markets such as Australia and the United States of America (USA), which contributed to 80 percent of the firm’s total revenue.
In particular, Castlery can optimise time and cost savings at various points across the logistics and fulfilment chain, and:
- Scale their business in the USA across 50 metropolitan areas even more efficiently, by securing freight capacity per year, ensuring smooth delivery of goods to the US;
- Improve integration and performance between the freight and warehouse stages, by using Maersk Group’s warehousing facilities across the US; and
- More transparent data sharing between the companies which leads to closer alignment, more accurate forecasting and strengthened inventory management.
A key industry inefficiency is the breakdown between warehousing and freight companies, which leads to hidden costs like excessive detention and demurrage charges, especially in the current environment of supply chain congestion.
“Maersk has been a reliable partner to us since our early days, and we are very grateful for the continued partnership against the backdrop of a volatile macro environment and global supply chain uncertainties. Partnering with an integrated logistics partner like Maersk for the long-term gives us an edge in being adaptable and flexible to navigate disruptions and ensure efficient supply chain management.
“Timely delivery is critical in a digital-first furniture business, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to provide a seamless shopping experience for our customers in Singapore and the international markets,” said Declan Ee, co-founder of Castlery.com.
Castlery’s international expansion has allowed the brand to leverage the global demand from discerning, internet-savvy urban millennials for affordable modern furnishing. Catering to the needs of this fast-growing international customer base, Castlery has also expanded its warehouse capacity, including
the opening of new warehouse facilities in the US to meet customer demands at scale and buffer against future supply chain disruptions. Globally, Castlery intends to increase its total warehouse capacity by five times, with Maersk as a key partner in this build out.
“With a shared goal of creating value and improving customer experiences, we are proud to be a part of Castlery’s growth journey. Maersk Singapore has successfully tapped into our global integrated logistics ecosystem to mount a solution that provides seamless omnichannel fulfilment and last-mile delivery for Castlery’s customers.
“This is in addition to long-term ocean space commitments which in effect cuts out any unnecessary nodes that can put a strain on Castlery’s supply chains,” says Rupesh Jain, managing director of Maersk Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
