The NET opens automated
logistics center for e-commerce

Delivery, pickup, and locker services

The NET Group, a logistics and freight solutions provider, has recently opened an automated logistics center designed for e-commerce.

The center, located in Karantina, provides faster pick and pack as well as delivery services to e-commerce clients with real-time tracking and communication, according to Mourad Aoun, CEO at The NET Group.

“The investment came in response to the increasing demand for e-commerce, and it is the first automated fulfillment center in the Levant,” he said.

Investment in the project totaled $6 million. The cost of equipment including conveyor belts and software and management systems reached $1.5 million.

The NET Group started operating the 2,000 square meters (m2) center earlier this year. The center has the capacity to fulfil up to 6,000 domestic and international orders per day.

Aoun said the new investment has transformed the business of his company and redefined the tasks of its 150 employees.

The systems and procedures at the center are designed to support business-to-client commerce and create a satisfactory customer experience, according to Aoun.

Merchants store products in the center and link their own platform to its system. Customers’ orders are directly transferred to the fulfillment center where ordered products are packed and labeled and sent to the customer. Small size retailers can benefit from a minimum storage fee of $39 per month for a space of up to four cubic meters (m3).

So far, ten merchants have linked their e-commerce to the NET automated logistics center, including HiCart, an online multi-product retail shopping platform.

Deliveries to home and business addresses are provided through a fleet of motorbikes, vans, and dry closed trucks, with 60 drivers.

The company has created ‘NET Point’, a network of locations where customers can pay and pick up their orders around the clock. These points are available at the ‘Yala Stops’ in 50 MEDCO gas stations.

NET Group has also introduced NET Locker a contactless drop-off facility, with lockers at over 20 TOTAL gas stations all over the country. The logistics center ensures communication with customers via text messages and email. These same points can serve the returns of products from customers to the merchants, according to Aoun.

The company is working on new projects for startups or small retailers and to help small merchants export their products at competitive shipping prices. “The coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for e-commerce, but the infrastructure is not ready,” Aoun said. Our objective is to promote Lebanon as a logistics hub for the Levant,” he said.

The company also plans to create similar automated logistics centers in Iraq and Jordan in 2021.

The NET Group is a Levant-based company present in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, UAE, and Turkey. It was founded in 1994 as a local express courier company.