The year 2019 demarcates the year of consistent shifting in consumer expectations, and according to further studies, it seems to be the same for the coming years ahead too. Inevitably, the role of logistics in eCommerce covers up a large section in regard to it. The modern age customers are very trendy and demanding; mostly driven by their various choices when it comes to especially buying things online.
The eCommerce industry is growing at an enormous rate and it is driven by the trends that are witnessed in regards to eCommerce logistics. There is always an amazing opportunity to seize for the shippers who can the trends to reduce freight and elevate profitability at the same time. Time adequate amount of time spent on understanding these eCommerce logistics trends, helps an organization to gains success and beat the challenges of eCommerce fulfillment through a unique way of shifting products on a massive scale.
The Basics
Business owners and big and small-sized enterprises need robust and actionable eCommerce strategies to ensure success in pleasing their customers. It is the customers who decide their buying options based on how, when, and where are they going to buy along with their willingness to how long they might wait for receiving their purchases.
Going further having just a simple presence online isn’t enough; delivering a product that has been ordered by a customer to their doorstep is a big game altogether. Here what becomes important is the eCommerce logistics process which has to be fast, accurate, and error-free. Planned operations and fulfillment processes can stand out to be factors that can either make or break your brand’s success.
Also, studies have proved that automation technologies and workflows contribute to making improve customer relationships and many other things too by being one of the key advantages to beat the competition.
Challenges of Traditional Logistics
The preliminary reason for developing a successful and workable eCommerce strategy is because of the infrastructure that has been put in place due to the creation of brick-and-mortar sales. The struggle to sustain the competition with the eCommerce giants is a common scenario of retailers around the world.
Other eCommerce logistics’ challenges make the industry crippled at times; the increasing number of fraudulent activities, identify thefts and counterfeit products are threatening with respect to destabilizing legitimate eCommerce supply chains. When it comes to speaking from the point of view of the customers, they less worry about fraud and put much of their valued preference in having conveniences. Thus, it becomes imperative for the shippers to find a perfect balance between eradicating fraudulent activities and keeping the customers away from it at the same time.
What is eCommerce Logistics?
In developed nations, eCommerce logistics stands for being one of the biggest reasons that bring in a potential change in physical distribution networks and logistics. Over the past forty years, it has seen substantial evolution and continues to grow further. Giving deeper thoughts on what more to be entailed for distribution network infrastructures, multi-channel shoppers are looking out for various ways.
In the most layman words, eCommerce logistics meaning stands for representing the logistics that exists because of internet sales. Characterizing of a specific process in place, eCommerce logistics answers to a specific flow of management. It is accompanied by eCommerce transport; this again needs a third party organization representing retail transport.
The term is well-defined as ‘logistics for eCommerce sales’, and without any further difficulty it pretty much clearly understood. However, eCommerce logistics is a crucial phrase and stands out to be one of the major factors for the logistics industry to gain profit and scalability. With the rising number of online sales and demand for doorstep deliveries, major trends are seeping in to revolutionize eCommerce logistics.
Here are five major trends that are studied and analyzed by experts to assess what more eCommerce logistics holds for the future.
Five major trends of Ecommerce Logistics
Artificial Intelligence
Ranking top amongst the major trends in the eCommerce industry, artificial intelligence sees a revolutionizing picture and commits for unfurling various opportunities for brands executing eCommerce logistics.
Mostly, when artificial intelligence is brought into the topic of discussion or the eCommerce industry, it is common to conceptualize a picture of robots working in a warehouse, however, not always it accounts for the same old depiction of AI potentials in the eCommerce logistics sector.
With AI, more applications like identification of gestures as a substitute of keyboards and mice or using autonomous vehicles which cuts out the need for human intervention, are likely to be adapted for the eCommerce logistics industry.
Before proceeding further, let’s keep this clear that AI and automation are two different sets of concepts and adheres to operate different kinds of applications. With AI, the eCommerce logistics sector will see the potential elimination of tasks that are mostly redundant or extremely tiresome; this entire shift will help in better the management of logistical shipments.
Technological advancement and deployments bring inevitable debates against the reduction of manpower and cut down in employments. Whereas in reality, these technological trends are adapted in retail logistics to enhance work productivity and performance and not replace the workers. The more use of advanced technologies, the better output expected and witnessed in e-commerce deliveries.
Eco Logistics
When it comes to the smart ways of marketing, one of the poignant factors is to market your brand or the process you adhere to in your organization that touches humane emotions and walks along the lines of sensitivity. This concept is known as social marketing and is seen to be getting extreme popularity amongst various brands. When you market your brand to a large audience or mass, it is very important not just to highlight your brand importance but have also become necessary to advocate a typical social message.
By having a message that addresses sustainability, equality, social justice, or civil disobedience, your audience will automatically gain faith in you, and the perspective of looking at your brand changes completely. Research shows that leveraging social marketing, small brands that couldn’t ‘afford to have extensive expenditure on marketing has received bespoke identity from highlighting a social message that connects to the audience and made them trust in the brand too.
When talking in regards to the eCommerce industry, every eCommerce logistics model will have one thing in common and that is sustainability. Here, in this sense, ‘eco logistics’ have paved its way in and have started to become one of the reasons for seeing investments happening too.
According to verified sources, approximately 10% of adulterating emissions come from the transport sector. Thus, quite inevitably the eCommerce logistics become the culpable reason for the same and accounts for the same irrespective of being a small or large eCommerce brand. To overcome this obstacle and being environmentally aware, eCommerce brands are looking forward to adapting the usage of eco-friendly logistics providers and sustainable packaging.
For the coming years, embracing environment-friendly technologies well contribute massively to the sustainability of the organization and decides the longevity as well. Moreover, the biggest credit that such a trend brings in goes back to the idea of social marketing where exhibiting environment-friendly technologies will appease large numbers of audiences and consumers.
Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Did you know that Bitcoin now accounts to be one of the major trends in eCommerce logistics? That’s right! The popular cryptocurrency has reached to be an estimated worth of $19,000 overnight. Going beyond crypto dynamics, blockchain technology has quite a number of applications.
Logistics is now considered to be one of the inheriting successors of blockchain’s innovations and shall be executed through smart contrac6s.
The concept of smart contracts is a bit ambiguous in nature and difficult for explaining in simpler words. In another way, it denotes digital contracts that have the potential to execute themselves, and with greater autonomy it can operate smoothly as well. Factors like, speed, and transparency are far more advanced and streamlined than traditional contracts.
Smart contracts bring a lot of advantages with itself and the absence of third parties is one of the biggest perks of it. Not just that smart contracts validate the document effectively built in a greater sense it doesn’t even need verification.
When we refer to commercial logistics, advanced contacts can be an effective solution offered by blockchain technology.
Cloud Computing and Saas
The application of Saas software has become pervasive amongst almost all logistics companies and coherently accounts for massive popularity in the eCommerce industry as well. With 2020 half its way, another megatrend that is steadily coming into the picture in regards to the eCommerce industry is cloud computing.
Sharing a symbiotic relationship and posing as great allies, cloud computing and SaaS are both estimated to transform the eCommerce industry revolutionarily. They contribute most to the security and protection of software which further subsidizes to the factors scalability, flexibility, and cost savings of cloud services.
According to experts, eCommerce impact on logistics is huge and satiate the demand and maintain a sober balance, cloud computing and SaaS can be a game-changer and undoubtedly stands towering in being one of the most crucial and interesting trends of logistics.
Last Mile Logistics
Although there are no grey areas in understanding the worth of logistics in today’s age, especially with the rise of eCommerce demands. The industry is growing by leaps and bounds; however, quite a few problems still seem to be stuck and need superior attention. To state an example, the multiple frictions that are faced in the final stage of delivery can be considered. Here, the term last mile or last-mile logistics comes into the limelight.
In simple definitive words, the basic objective of last mile or last-mile logistics is to deliver the final product to the customer within the least time taken. But, the term last-mile management is actually more than that.
Omnichannel fulfillment demands have pushed eCommerce stores to analyze the present capacities of the available transportation systems. It further narrows down the importance to optimize their entire process to its maximum potential. Most of the online stores don’t use single general suppliers and instead leverages from multiple local suppliers; this can be also considered an example for a broader understanding.
In last-mile logistics, the goal is fixated to simply transporting a product or an order from the warehouse to the customer’s doorstep in the shortest time possible without any further challenges.
Other Additional Trends
Use of Innovative Delivery Methods
Additional concierge services can be accounted for being one of the new ways of making a successful delivery. Walking deeper into an eCommerce driven era, use of advanced delivery methods will enhance the time, accuracy and streamline the overall process thereby seeing more and more satisfactory deliveries happening successfully. It beats the traditional constraints and accelerates success rates of eCommerce logistics in a productive way.
Focus on Customer Personalization
With an increasing number of product availability for purchase options, the capability to bring personalization of the products for customers has become even more important than before. Shippers must leverage this opportunity by adapting and permitting such personalization which will shorten the distance between manufacturers and its consumers.
Subscription Services
Making its demarcated position amongst various trends in the eCommerce sector, subscription services are quite an important one. Looking into the coming days, it shall replace single purchases. According to validated data, subscription services are gaining major popularity and marks a consistent preference for the past few years. Saying that shippers need to evolve themselves and bring in automated offerings. This will help shippers massively by triggering recurring shipping for suitable purchases
Drawing the Conclusion
To be very honest, knowing these trends in eCommerce logistics is clearly not enough. If you want to stay ahead of your competition, it is vital to take the necessary step and work on the implementation of the same. To gain a competitive advantage with respect to deliveries, this is the ultimate breakthrough for you and substitutes to be the last link in the chain of any eCommerce.
