Insights on Wholesale Trade and Logistics (2024)

By Damon Chee

Discovery+ is a series of online industry panels which gives students the chance to interact with working professionals and learn about the careers they aspire to enter. These panels provide youths and working professionals with the opportunity to better understand industry trends, hear first-hand perspectives from industry professionals, and gain valuable advice on entering or navigating these industries.

On 16 April 2024, Advisory hosted Discover+: Wholesale Trade and Logistics, the 82nd edition of the Discovery+ series. Speakers on the panel included:

• Jesse Oeni (Moderator), Director, Transport & Logistics Division, Enterprise Singapore
• Glenn Lai, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fr8Labs
• Mark Tan, Head, GeoPost Southeast Asia, GeoPost
• Paul Lin, Head, IT Strategy, Group Digital and Technology Division, Singpost

Attendees included students at various levels of education with a desire to know the different career paths in the wholesale trade and logistics industry, and how to best position themselves for such roles. Below are some key points shared during the session:

What are some key sub sectors of the logistics industry?

The logistics industry focuses on three main areas, namely trucking (moving goods from one point to another), warehousing (the storage of items in buildings), and freight forwarding (how goods are arranged and conveyed internationally).

How does one quantify the success of logistics?

One question to keep in mind is, ‘how do we make logistics more efficient and reliable to maintain the international competitiveness of Singapore?’

For logistics competitiveness, we need to think about ensuring visibility of a good supply chain, reliable shipments, and a trained workforce to handle logistics. For example, it is crucial to establish a good connection with the transport sector to support the logistics industry for containers to move in and out of the port efficiently.

As we have done well in these aspects, the top 25 global logistics firms have a presence here, and companies view Singapore as a key regional or global headquarters.

There is a perception that logistics seems to be boring and complex. Is this view truly the case?

This perception may arise from the fact that logistics is repetitive in nature. That being said, the logistics industry deals with a lot of complexity. It covers numerous industries where the customers and situations faced will differ each time, and the devised solutions are non-identical for each case.

For example, there are many processes involved when transporting goods from a country to another. Before containers transport goods to ports and ship them overseas, goods are first held in warehouses. When the goods are shipped to their destination, the same process of unloading, trucking and storage repeats. The timing at which goods first depart from their original destination will determine when they arrive at their final destination.

As a systems provider, one of the greatest challenges in work is to create a system to handle these complexities. Technologies such as automation are also being integrated into the system. This is required if companies wish to run a warehouse and port terminal that can seamlessly transfer goods from one place to another. Automated storage and retrieval systems, along with pick and pack work are already incorporated in warehouses. We may thus see job opportunities in design, maintenance, and implementation of these systems.

One can see logistics as a complex puzzle that requires time and effort to solve. Although it may be taxing at times, this is what makes the job interesting.

What roles are sought after in this industry today?

Roles in operations are in high demand as manpower is needed to sort and deliver goods. Sorting and delivery is done late at night as traffic is much lighter during this time. A lot of people are still needed for these roles, although firms are reducing their reliance on manpower through automation.

Now, technologies such as machine visioning, QR codes, or apps such as What3words allow individuals to pinpoint their location by keying in three words. Those who can successfully incorporate new technology such as machine visioning to identify, sort and deliver parcels quicker will be highly sought after by companies. These people can help their employers achieve a 10 to 30% improvement in operational efficiency, which translates to greater profitability for the company.

The industry is also looking for those who can utilise artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) to increase productivity. The aim is to leverage these technologies and only step in to handle cases that deviate from normal processes. A good system requires employees to intervene and solve problems only when the AI or ML system is unable to do so themselves, helping the company to achieve higher productivity. However, we are less likely to see this being used in the next few years as a lot of creativity and innovation is needed to come up with the appropriate solutions. Only recently, generative AI has shown a possible way to solve this issue.

Now, there is a high demand for roles in business analysis, where employees marry technology and business systems together. One of the main challenges for firms is to leverage technology effectively to solve problems. When interviewing candidates, someone who is creative, takes initiative, and has the courage to do things outside of their comfort zone would be a great addition to the company.

We need to think of ways to add value in areas where other low-cost countries cannot. As mentioned earlier, employers look out for courage in prospective employees. Attributes such as a global mindset, which is the ability to speak, present, and engage well, is also an advantage which Singaporeans have over other low-cost Southeast Asian countries. These skills may be why firms choose to hire their leadership teams in Singapore. In a country with regional headquarters of many large companies, one can start off in Singapore and acquire experience before branching out to your desired domain. To do so, having that growth mindset is essential.

What are the work conditions, remuneration and future career prospects for someone interested in this industry?

In the Information Technologies (IT) department of the logistics industry, there are many problems that can be solved by technologies, along with numerous opportunities to go deep into applications and data. Some applications include the use of generative AI, machine learning, optimisation and cloud solutions. Recently, logistics companies are beginning to use IT to coordinate their transactions and transform their operations, translating to huge opportunities for those with an IT background to enter the industry.

If one is interested in working in the logistics industry, be prepared to work hard as companies need to ensure the constant and safe movement of goods to its destination, making this a challenging endeavour. Also, countries in different regions have distinct work cultures. For example, European companies have a four-day work week with flexible work arrangements, as compared to Chinese businesses with a more challenging and taxing work culture.

What are some challenges that are currently impacting the industry?

Individuals need to learn to anticipate what social commerce — where products are marketed on social networking sites — will be like in six months to a year. One cannot predict too far ahead as laws can change within this timeframe. For example, the Indonesian government banned Tiktok from conducting e-commerce transactions on their platform as this practice is deemed to be anti-competitive. Indonesia has also requested Shopee to include a delivery option in their app. This is because Shopee has their own delivery service and the company would unfairly benefit from their e-commerce business if customers only have Shopee as an option to deliver their online purchases. These laws eventually contributed to increased efficiency and productivity within the industry.

How important is the education background of a prospective candidate when it comes to hiring decisions?

What you study in university shapes your worldview. Those who study economics look at the big picture and think about trade-offs when making decisions. As for engineers, they approach issues by brainstorming possible solutions. Ultimately, your education background is a means to land a job, and you learn skills required by the company during your employment with them.

Education plays a crucial role for fresh graduates as there is nothing much for employers to base their hiring decisions on. Doing well in your degree is a proxy of how hardworking and committed you are. Candidates with extracurricular experience may also stand out as it is an indicator that they have achieved something tangible outside of school work.

That being said, some employers may place a bigger premium on the interpersonal skills that you possess, such as stakeholder management. Other attributes could be your ability to think out of the box, which you need to further hone after graduation.

What is the weightage between soft skills and hard skills for in-demand roles?

For technical roles, hard skills would have a much higher weightage. For example, if a company wishes to create a database of the locations of warehouses and fleet availability, they would need someone with strong programming and conceptual skills. Also, while hard skills may land candidates an interview, it is their soft skills that make them stand out and leave a good impression on their interviewers.

Entry-level workers tend to possess more hard skills which are required to gain promotion. As people rise up the ranks, most end up in middle management. At this stage, they would most likely have strong technical expertise. Since these people are required to manage and lead their department, leadership skills are now a necessity. For these roles, a mix of hard and soft skills is paramount.

For any role, an individual needs to identify their strengths and articulate to their employer that they can leverage on them to contribute to the company effectively. Refrain from taking on roles with skill sets that differ greatly from those which you possess. Most importantly, job seekers need to be aware of their value proposition to the company.

Any advice for those who wish to be an entrepreneur in this field?

For those who wish to start a logistics business, the first thing one needs to do is to define failure. If the startup was unsuccessful, it does not mean you have failed. Things are more nuanced than that. You may have done your best to innovate and create a solution for a gap in the market, but things may not work out as the timing may not have been the best. Hence, one can take this experience as a learning process.

Another important lesson for entrepreneurs is to be resourceful. As a founder, other than convincing investors to fund their product, another challenge is to successfully persuade customers that the product is worth buying. Being resourceful in this aspect will help kick start business. Note that businesses with abundant resources do fail as well. Ultimately, this journey of innovation and entrepreneurship is driven by insight and grit.

At a point in time, one may ask themselves, ‘is this the right time to stop and consider a new venture?’ At its core, startups should strive to achieve a product-market fit – this is where entrepreneurs spend their time ideating and adding value to the market through their products. Sometimes, there is inadequate demand for these products, despite its usefulness. In other cases, the market may be unwilling to pay for these goods, although the product is a good fit for the market. This would require budding entrepreneurs to tweak their product to find a suitable product-market fit. It might be time to quit after numerous unsuccessful attempts.

Based on experience, grit is more important than product-market fit as passion and belief is needed to remain motivated. With a strong conviction, any endeavour undertaken will eventually make sense. Unless one believes that their idea will be successful, it is not recommended to venture into the entrepreneurship field.