Avalon Airport Positions as Major Gateway For Temu, Shein Imports - ChannelNews

Home › Latest News › Avalon Airport Positions as Major Gateway For Temu, Shein Imports Avalon Airport Positions as Major Gateway For Temu, Shein Imports Emma Wheaton | 12 Aug 2026 SHARE As Australia’s shift to online marketplaces accelerates, the country’s freight infrastructure is evolving, with Avalon Airport signing a deal that will position it as a hub for imports from online marketplaces including Temu and Shein. The Victorian airport is set to become a gateway for Chinese goods from online platforms under a deal with logistics specialist Teleport, affiliated with Air Asia, reports The Australian Financial Review. The development comes as Australia’s online marketplace sector continues to expand at double-digit rates. Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025, up 14% year-on-year, according to Australia Post’s 2026 eCommerce Report, with pure online marketplaces accounting for $18.9 billion of that spending. Online purchases now represent about 24% of all retail transactions. The scale of the change is particularly evident among the major international marketplaces. Roy Morgan estimates Amazon generated $7.1 billion in Australian retail sales in 2025, up from $5.9 billion a year earlier, while Amazon, Temu and Shein together generated close to $12 billion in Australian sales, more than $2 billion higher than in 2024. Temu alone generated close to $3 billion in Australian sales in the latest financial year, according to Roy Morgan research, and has been used by 47% of Australians. That growth is increasingly translating into physical freight volumes. Under the new Avalon Airport deal with Teleport, turnaround times at the new facility are reportedly expected to be as little as 60 to 90 minutes, highlighting the focus on moving high volumes of parcels rapidly through the supply chain. Major Australian retailers are increasingly expanding private-label and house-brand ranges, reducing their reliance on established suppliers. That has left some brands looking for alternative routes to consumers — and marketplaces have emerged as one of the fastest-growing options. Kogan provides a snapshot of the economics behind the transition with Kogan Marketplace revenue rising 31.6% in the first half of FY26. Marketplace-related activities, including advertising and loyalty, now account for 65% of the group’s gross profit. For retailers, marketplaces provide a way to broaden their online range without carrying the inventory risk associated with conventional wholesale buying. For brands, they provide a broader access to consumers, even when a retailer has removed their products from physical shelves. But the growth of Temu and Shein is taking that model a step further, with the marketplace itself becoming an important driver of international freight demand. Avalon’s deal with Teleport points to an emerging logistics model built around speed, volume and direct connections between Asian supply chains and Australian consumers. The airport is already positioning itself as an integrated aviation and logistics gateway, with international cargo operations and partnerships including Teleport. The development also reflects the changing economics of online retail. Traditional retailers carry inventory, warehouse products and accept the risk that goods may not sell. Marketplace operators can instead collect commissions, seller fees and advertising revenue while third-party sellers carry the majority of the inventory burden. For consumers, that model has helped create an enormous range of inexpensive products delivered directly from global supply chains. The result in the Australian retail market is increasingly a split between traditional retailers, pushing further into house brands and digital operations, which are opening their virtual shelves to huge numbers of outside sellers. Now, the logistics industry is adapting to the same shift. With Australian online spending already above $82 billion and marketplace sales continuing to grow, airports like Avalon are positioning themselves to capture the demand created by this next stage of e-commerce.