(Yicai Global) July 6 -- Leading Chinese integrated smart supply chain and logistics services provider BEST Inc. [NYSE: BEST] is extending its footprint in Southeast Asia by bringing its express delivery services to three new markets, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore, it announced on July 2.

Following its successful debut in Thailand and Vietnam last year, the Hangzhou-based company is entering more Southeast Asian countries with ambitions to build an efficient logistics network in the region. It is also scaling up its international logistics solutions by inaugurating cross-border services between China and the five markets in Southeast Asia this week. 

"We are excited to develop our logistics networks in Southeast Asia, a key focus area of our global strategy. The outbreak of Covid-19 has accelerated and amplified consumers’ reliance on e-commerce and created even larger potential opportunities in the region,” said Johnny Chou, BEST’s founder, chairman and chief executive, adding, “We are confident that our technology-enabled logistics services and high-quality express delivery options will be a critical service component for both merchants and consumers, during both this difficult period and beyond it."

By leveraging its asset-light model and successful experience in Thailand and Vietnam, BEST plans to operate as many as twelve sorting centers and around 400 service stations across Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore over the next three years. This includes two customized flagship routing centers in Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh equipped with high-speed automatic sorting lines, dimension-weight-scanning systems and other leading-edge automation equipment.

Southeast Asia’s 360 million mobile-savvy Internet users set its e-commerce sector on a good track to reach a USD150 billion market size by 2025 from its USD38 billion value last year, joint research by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company shows. To meet this rising e-commerce demand and evolving customer needs, BEST will offer same or next day delivery options in new markets, like its existing operation across key parts of Thailand as well as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam. The company’s overall parcel volume from the region rose to 8.8 million units in the first quarter.

BEST is also weighing up chances to supply added-on services to the region, among them supply chain management, freight delivery and truckload capacity brokerage, and plans to land these operations in Indonesia and the Philippines in the near term.

BEST Inc.’s express sorting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia