The Challenge
An Australian e-commerce retailer selling consumer electronics accessories was sourcing products from four separate suppliers spread across Guangdong Province — in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Foshan. Each supplier produced different product lines (phone cases, charging cables, screen protectors, and Bluetooth accessories), and each had their own production schedules, packaging standards, and shipping readiness timelines.
The retailer had previously been shipping from each supplier individually via separate LCL bookings, which meant paying four sets of origin charges, four customs entries in Australia, and receiving goods at four different times — making inventory planning nearly impossible. The fragmented approach was costing them approximately $3,800 more per shipment cycle than a consolidated solution, and the staggered arrivals meant they frequently ran out of fast-moving SKUs while slow-movers sat in excess stock.
They needed a single logistics partner who could collect from all four suppliers, consolidate everything into one shipment, manage a unified customs entry on arrival, and provide warehousing with pick-pack capability so they could dispatch individual orders directly from our facility rather than hauling everything back to their small home office.
Our Approach
We designed a streamlined consolidation workflow that would repeat on a monthly basis. The first step was establishing communication with all four suppliers directly. Our bilingual team contacted each factory in Mandarin to align on packaging standards, carton labelling requirements, and the consolidation schedule. We asked each supplier to mark outer cartons with a standardised label system (supplier code + SKU number + carton sequence) that would make sorting and inventory entry seamless on arrival in Melbourne.
At origin, we engaged our Guangzhou consolidation warehouse partner to collect goods from all four suppliers within a nominated three-day collection window each month. Once all goods were received at the consolidation point, our partner verified quantities against the master packing list, photographed each supplier's cartons, and loaded everything onto a single LCL booking from Nansha Port to Melbourne.
On the documentation side, we structured the commercial invoice and packing list to separate each supplier's goods by line group while maintaining a single unified import declaration. This approach meant the client paid one set of customs processing fees rather than four, and we could still accurately attribute duties and GST to each product category for their accounting records.
Upon arrival in Melbourne, goods were delivered to our Mount Waverley warehouse where our team devanned, checked against the packing list, sorted by SKU, and entered each item into a simple inventory management system. From that point, the client could request dispatch of individual orders or bulk pallet transfers to their own location as needed.
The Solution
The consolidated logistics solution delivered:
- Single monthly collection window coordinated across all four Guangdong suppliers
- Bilingual communication direct with factories — no middlemen or misunderstandings
- Guangzhou consolidation with photo verification and quantity checks at origin
- One LCL booking per month (8.6 CBM average) from Nansha to Melbourne
- Unified customs entry with itemised duty breakdown by product category
- Devanning, sorting, and SKU-level inventory entry at Mount Waverley warehouse
- Ongoing pick-pack-dispatch service for individual e-commerce orders
- Monthly inventory reporting and low-stock alerts for fast-moving products
The entire chain — from supplier collection in China to goods available for dispatch in our Melbourne warehouse — now runs on a predictable 22-day cycle. The client places orders with their suppliers based on our rolling inventory reports, and we handle everything from that point forward.
Results
By consolidating four separate supplier shipments into one monthly LCL booking, the client reduced their per-cycle logistics costs by 38% — saving approximately $1,440 every month. The single customs entry saved a further $660 per cycle in broker fees and government charges. Beyond the direct cost savings, the predictable 22-day cycle allowed the client to maintain optimal stock levels and reduce out-of-stock incidents by over 60%.
The warehousing and pick-pack service also freed the client from the physical constraints of their home office. They were able to scale their online store from 50 to 200+ orders per week without needing to invest in their own warehouse space or hire fulfilment staff. We handle the dispatch, they handle the marketing and customer service — a clean division of labour that lets each party focus on what they do best.