Constantin Robertz co-founded Locad to simplify e-commerce fulfilment through a cloud-based platform that enables brands to store, pack, ship and track their orders across Asia-Pacific
During the pandemic, many brands—from retailers to restaurants—began investing in omnichannel strategies to reach their customers. According to a survey by Square and Atlantic Brand Partners, 45 percent of respondents launched new channels for their business, with 80 percent of them adding that they plan to keep them post-pandemic. And one Filipino logistics startup has been created to ease the process for such businesses in Southeast Asia.
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Locad aims to be “the logistics engine” for modern consumer brands, says the startup’s co-founder and CEO Constantin Robertz, a 2022 Gen.T honouree. “We provide a cloud supply chain that brands can pluck into for their e-commerce and omnichannel regional business.” Through its cloud-based platform, Locad enables e-commerce businesses to store, pack, ship and track orders across the Asia-Pacific region.
On the omnichannel growth, Robertz says: “There’s been a shift away from what used to be a very wholesale distribution [approach], where the brand would show and sell their products to distributors, department stores, retailers. Now, every brand needs to build direct-to-consumer capabilities, and a big part of that is on the supply chain side. You have to fundamentally change the supply chain to be able to serve directly to the customers.”
As businesses embrace omnichannel strategies—selling on their own websites, through an app, at brick-and-mortar stores, and even on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada—streamlining their operations is increasingly needed for greater efficiency. “[Brands] will want to integrate that multichannel selling to use one inventory tool for all these channels,” Robertz says.
With its network, Locad helps businesses address the need for quicker delivery. “Brand consumers want their goods faster, and the only way to [ensure that is] to bring your stock closer to them. That’s what we call a distributed supply chain or localised fulfilment,” he says. “You cannot keep your stock only in Hong Kong or Singapore, and serve the whole of Southeast Asia. You need to increasingly push your stock into warehouses that are closer to customers.”
This January, the startup closed a US$11 million Series A round led by Reefknot Investments, a joint venture between Singapore's Temasek and logistics company Kuehne and Nagel.
With the new capital, Locad will further build out its platform, invest in its tech capabilities and grow its network of third-party warehouses and shipping carriers across Southeast Asia and Australia.
See more honourees from the Philippines on the Gen.T List 2022.