Logistics teams supporting e-commerce in Singapore are under more pressure than ever, especially when it comes to effective logistics cost tracking.
Customer expectations are rising with faster shipping windows, broader regional reach, and competitive price points.
But behind the scenes, logistics providers are juggling leaner teams, costlier transport, and more complex cross-border operations.
Summit has worked with logistics and operations leaders across Singapore, and what we’re seeing is clear: while e-commerce continues evolving, the infrastructure that supports it hasn’t kept pace.
And as someone who’s spent years in this space, I can say with confidence that what slows businesses down isn’t a lack of demand — it’s the friction in their everyday logistics processes.
What’s Slowing E-Commerce Logistics Down?
Singapore’s e-commerce logistics sector is growing by 15% annually.
But without smarter, faster systems to track and manage spend, many logistics firms risk growing their revenue while shrinking their profits.
Margins in e-commerce logistics are brutally thin, often just cents on the dollar.
For every parcel delivered, providers may earn less than 2%. In this environment, logistics cost tracking and discipline is the difference between staying afloat and falling behind.
Yet many logistics firms still struggle with one fundamental issue: visibility over their costs.
Cross-border logistics is messy. Each shipment involves freight charges, customs duties, third-party handling, and local transport, all of which vary by country, season, and even vendor.
By the time goods move from a supplier warehouse overseas to a client’s doorstep in Singapore, the true cost has morphed beyond the original estimate.
What’s worse is that these costs are scattered across different systems and departments.
Fuel surcharges sit in driver logs. ERP toll fees come through messaging app receipts. Subcontractor charges get emailed in PDFs.
At the end of the process, it’s just a patchwork of loosely maintained documents and poor logistics cost tracking.
Manual processes make cost control nearly impossible. Delivery teams are spread thin across hubs, focused solely on getting parcels out.
Drivers often delay expense claims due to lack of time or mobile access, while finance scrambles to reconcile receipts long after margins have been eroded.
Without real-time oversight, overspending at a hub or subcontractor rate hikes slip through the cracks, and these micro-leaks quietly chip away at profitability before anyone notices.
Multiply this across multiple countries, vendors, driver networks, and warehouse leases, and it’s easy to see how costs spiral.
It’s rarely any one big error, but rather the problems stem from hundreds of small, overlooked ones.
And in an industry where scaling up means multiplying both volume and complexity, the operational cracks only widen.
Where AI Workflow Automation Makes a Difference
Smart automation can’t replace trucks or drivers, but it can dramatically improve how logistics firms manage what happens behind the wheel and across borders.
At Summit, we built our spend and workflow automation platform based on the recurring pain points logistics leaders face: scattered expenses, delayed claims, invoice overload, and a lack of real-time logistics cost tracking across the value chain.
For cross-border logistics teams, an AI-driven platform can help teams track the true cost of getting goods from a supplier’s warehouse overseas to a client’s delivery hub in Singapore.
Beyond purchase price, this includes freight, insurance, customs duties, local handling, and taxes — all captured and consolidated in one place.
This lets logistics providers charge clients more accurately and avoid hidden losses.
For those managing subcontractors or delivery drivers, expenses like fuel, tolls, and parking can quickly stack up.
The workflows allow drivers on the go to submit claims directly without needing to detour to the headquarters. This saves both time and overhead, while also improving financial traceability.
And for logistics companies managing large volumes of invoices, from vehicle leases to warehouse and delivery hub rentals, features like Summit’s vendor invoice management automate reconciliation, flag anomalies, and help teams understand where each dollar is going.
You can even track spend by delivery hub, driver group, or subcontractor to spot opportunities for savings across your operations.
In short, when automations take out most of the manual processes, every moving part becomes streamlined for businesses where every movement means money.
Building a Stronger Logistics Backbone Behind E-Commerce
E-commerce in Singapore is only getting more competitive. Giants like Shopee and Lazada have raised the bar, and to keep up, logistics providers need more than just manpower.
They need sharper cost control, faster approvals, and better coordination across teams.
The most successful logistics leaders aren’t the ones with the biggest fleets, they’re the ones with the clearest systems.
The ones who can adapt quickly when demand spikes, or when plans change overnight.
That’s what Summit is here to support with the clarity and automation needed to keep logistics moving at the speed e-commerce demands.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by noob via Freepik
