Samsung SDS bolsters Cello Square with tech upgrades, global push

Samsung SDS Co., the information technology service unit under Samsung Group, has upgraded its digital forwarding freight service platform to bring more overseas clients on board and foster the growth of its cash-cow logistics business.

The South Korean IT and logistics company has added new services to Cello Square, its smart logistics platform, such as data analysis and greenhouse gas emissions calculating tools, as well as enhanced automation services, the company announced at a news conference on Thursday.

Samsung SDS reinforced Cello Square's services after the recent surge in the digital logistics platform's contribution to the IT company’s overall logistics sales.

The company's total logistics revenue nearly doubled to 11.2 trillion won ($8.4 billion) in 2022 from 5.7 trillion won in 2020, while sales from the digital logistics platform ballooned about fourfold to 270 billion won last year from the previous year. The number of Cello Square clients also swelled by 20 times to 6,000 over the same period.

Samsung SDS's logistics sales have also grown at a much faster rate than the company's mainstay IT service business since the launch of Cello Square.  

“Samsung SDS’s logistics business will center around Cello Square where our clients can enjoy prompt and accurate cargo shipping information and self-manage their deliveries,” Oh Gu-il, vice president at Samsung SDS, said at the conference. 

With the enhanced services, Samsung SDS will expedite the global expansion of Cello Square into the US and Europe this year and extend its international reach even further next year, added Oh.

The company launched Cello Square services in China and Southeast Asia last year.

INVENTORY PROJECTION, CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR

Samsung SDS expects Cello Square’s new services will expedite digitalization at Korea’s export- and import-centered companies.

The newly added data analysis tool will enable Cello Square users to estimate future inventory more accurately because it can provide the cargo volume information of an individual product unit, not only that of a container or a container pallet.

The new data analysis tool also provides real-time reports on unexpected extra costs or incidents during shipping to enable its clients to manage costs efficiently.  

The automation of the platform is further enhanced with optical character recognition (OCR) technology that will automatically generate additional documents from the digital image file of original print shipment documents.

The company will also use drones to inspect and record inventories at fulfillment centers to save labor costs and accelerate the freight forwarding process.

Another new feature is a carbon footprint calculator allowing clients to estimate the amount of greenhouse gases that would be produced during the entire delivery process based on distance and freight volume for the sake of clients’ own green initiatives.

It has also forged partnerships with sea carriers so that its clients can monitor the delivery of their sea freight in real-time. Data from land transportation partners at home and abroad will be available at Cello Square following the upgrade, the company explained.

Cello Square was launched in 2018 to enable its users to manage orders from rate inquiries to invoicing in one place.

Its clients include marketplace operators Amazon, Wish and Rakuten, as well as merchants on Shopify, Cafe24 and Makeshop.

Amazon Seller customers can use the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) inventory management system on the Cello Square platform.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.