Following 18 months of intermittent lockdowns across Australia, shopping centre giant Westfield is launching a new service that will tap into the ecommerce boom.
The new service, named Westfield Direct, will take on the likes of Australia Post by providing shipping directly to customers.
Shoppers will also be able to select items from an online hub and purchase from several stores within a Westfield centre in one transaction.
Scentre Group Chief Customer and Business Development Officer Phil McAveety explained how Westfield Direct will help the company moving forward.
“We are bringing the Westfield experience to more people. This is fundamental to our customer strategy and our ambition to grow,” McAveety said.
“Westfield Direct offers more convenience, flexibility and choice for customers to shop Westfield, any time, anywhere – still with the human connection they value.
“Westfield Direct provides our business partners with the opportunity to increase the productivity of their physical store networks whilst alleviating the time-intensive and costly process of fulfilling and delivering orders.
“Westfield Direct also presents a significant growth opportunity for our SME retail partners, many of whom only have one or two physical stores with us and no online presence. We’re looking forward to supporting them through this transition and introducing them to new Westfield customers particularly in the lead up to the Christmas period.”
Westfield confirmed all of its centres across Australia will operate as a Westfield Direct distribution hub.
Not only does the launch of Westfield Direct coincide with the upcoming holiday shopping season, it also comes at a time when Australia Post and other delivery services struggle with the vast demand for ecommerce deliveries.
Australia Post has explained that a combination of lockdowns in NSW and Victoria, fewer passenger flights and temporary facility closures/self-isolation protocols have contributed to delays across the network.
