Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing paid a visit to RedMart’s Jalan Buroh West Fulfilment Centre on July 21 and took stock of not just the new physical location, but also the hard work and long hours put in by the staff.

In his post, Chan wrote that he heard stories of how RedMart’s employees had to put in long shifts during the Covid-19 outbreak.

This was despite not realistically being able to adjust and fulfil all the demand that was coming in, and with the staff worried about their own health and well-being.

Opportunity in crisis

However, the current health crisis has also allowed businesses to rework how they do things.

Although not mentioned in the post, the Jalan Buroh West Fulfilment Centre is understood to be part of RedMart's expansion of its presence in Singapore.

Chan wrote that RedMart’s adoption of automation in its processes has "enhanced operations across the entire logistics value chain from receiving, packing to delivery", and "will also create better and higher-skilled jobs for our workforce".

Background

It was reported in June 2020 by CNBC that RedMart’s unique visitors on a daily basis increased more than 11 times, according to Lazada Singapore CEO James Chang.

From April to June, online grocery sales in Singapore increased four times.

Chang told CNBC’s Squawk Box that the company had a “pretty tough time” trying to keep up with the services customers expected during the peak period.

To cope, Lazada invested in information technology and logistics infrastructure here that culminated in the opening of the warehouse, which was, in June, referred to as the “West Fulfilment Centre” that has several automated areas designed to meet customer needs.

A new delivery system introduced on April 4 allowed the company to increase its capacity by 50 per cent.

These investments saw jobs created.

Lazada ended up hiring 500 staff in Singapore over the course of a few weeks, CNBC also reported.

They were a mix of full-time staff and part-timers.

RedMart's ownership

Lazada’s online supermarket delivery business in Singapore is RedMart, which was acquired in November 2016.

Lazada, in turn, is owned by Alibaba.

Lazada has about 65 million active consumers on its platforms across six different Southeast Asian markets.

Top photo via Chan Chun Sing Facebook