Australia Post has restored operation of its online parcel delivery system following a crash on Monday, ahead of the peak Christmas period, and more importantly, Amazon Australia’s upcoming launch.
A key partner of the American e-commerce giant, Australia Post has not revealed what caused their online shipping and tracking system to crash for several hours yesterday. A spokesperson states the matter is under investigation, however, would not be attributed the fault of the issue when fixed.
Reports state the issue was still not fixed by 10 pm Monday night.
The company has also not explained whether there’s the potential for the problem to occur again.
Reports state a plethora of business owners and retailers were negatively affected by the outage, which caused many warehouse staff to cease logistics operations.
Some retailers have expressed concern over losing repeat business, as they were not able to fulfil express and next day post orders for the entire day because of the outage.
Reports state many owners attempted to contact Australia Post about the outage but met with no response.
E-commerce business owner Jane Browning states it isn’t the first time the logistics company has left retailers in the dark:
“It really isn’t good enough, and I know most business owners would agree”.
The government-owned entity – heralded the country’s largest logistics company operating in the dot-com market – has witnessed significant growth from the boom in online ordering.
Recent GFK research reveals that free delivery is more important to consumers than same-day delivery – a move which could benefit Amazon as it sets up in Australia.
Half of the people surveyed by GFK state they have used ‘Click and Collect’, with seven in ten stating they will consider using it for future purchases of consumer electronics and appliances.
Australia Post has recently expanded its lockers located at various Post locations and at mass retailers.
65% of the people researched by GFK state that the locker system is preferred because they can “pick up products when it suits them”.
The data also reveals that parcel lockers take up around 50% of the expected uptake of Click & Collect.
Only 19% of individuals state that are confident that they would receive their items if they nominated home delivery.
Following the system failure, Australia Post’s website reads the following customer service notice:
Current service impacts – 17 October 2017
“We have successfully restored all impacted services overnight. Customers will now be able to access all Australia Post services and products online and in post offices this morning. We apologise for any inconvenience caused”.
