Overview:

Aramex, the Dubai-based courier, has announced the recent acquisition of Fastway for approximately Dhs 294m. On this article we are going to examine the reasons behind this new acquisition, and the opportunities it’s going to bring for Aramex’s expansion.

Reasons:

Aramex has one goal: increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific market. In order to achieve this goal they have already made deals in Australia and Thailand, and having a courier in New Zealand was the next step, which has come to reality this year.
Hussein Hachem, the chief executive officer of Aramex has made it clear that this is an important advance for Aramex. Because it has allowed the company to be present in New Zealand for the first time — which apart from giving Aramex the opportunity to profit from this new country — will also make it possible to support operations in Australia.
Why Fastway?
This New Zealand-based courier has been in the market since 1983. Its global network is composed by 63 regional depots, and above 1500 franchises which can be found in the following countries:
• Ireland
• Northern Ireland
• New Zealand
• Australia
• South Africa
Apart from having a good time in the market and a strong presence in many countries, its business activity tells us that they transport approximately 16 million every year, serving more than 75,000 customers.

E-commerce

Aramex has a special interest in this region, because it’s considered nowadays the biggest e-commerce market in the word. We can verify this by seeing the turnover generated by ecommerce in the Asia-Pacific region, which was approximately $774bn beating Europe and North America. Another interesting and important factor is that the e-commerce market is growing at 44%, which is 30% more than Europe and 32% more than North America.

Conclusion:

The acquisition of Fastway is a clear interest from Aramex for expanding its presence in the Asia-Pacific market, due to its profitable e-commerce market. Now they are able to serve more customers and businesses online, which will benefit the customers as well as Aramex.