Magazines Archives - 2012 February

Goodman invests US$639m to build facilities for online retail market
Story 11 - Logistics

LOOKING to provide facilities for the burgeoning online retail market, global logistics and warehouse developer Goodman Group has revealed that it plans to build A$600 million (US$639 million) worth of warehouses across the Asia-Pacific and Europe.

The company's CEO, Greg Goodman, said that the new fulfilment centres would provide for the distribution of ordered products from both e-commerce companies as well as brick-and-mortar retailers who were venturing into the e-tailing scene.

"I think there will be an acceleration of online retailing over the next five to 10 years. You will find traditional retailers such as Myers will have less retail space as they close down stores and sell more out of warehouses," he stated. In line with this, the company has inked its third and fourth deals for 2011 with global e-commerce giant, Amazon, to lease a total of 220,000sqm of warehouse-cum-office space in Koblenz and Pforzheim, both in Germany.

"The velocity of the growth in e-commerce became evident two to three years ago when the demand from e-tailers, such as online bookseller Amazon, grew rapidly," he observed.

Goodman also disclosed that fashion e-tailer, Net-a-Porter, has recently leased space in Hong Kong, while the company is also looking to make deals with China's Alibaba group. ra

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