Shopping online was a fad back in the day. If we talk about a decade ago, shopping online was something very new and was seen with a skeptical eye. But this paradigm shifted, and it shifted for good.
If there wasn’t a thing like e-commerce, tacking situations like the recent COVID-19 pandemic would have been impossible for businesses. With the shift towards e-commerce, sellers and buyers both enjoy a suitable and quick mode of exchanging benefits.
The spine of the e-com sector is Supply Chain. Physical cargo, manpower, vehicles, machines, and warehouses that fulfill online purchases and transform a virtual transaction into reality. But the e-commerce supply chain has undergone drastic changes in recent years. Especially with the growing volume of online orders and the shift of upcoming consumers towards e-com stores.
Back in the day, businesses used a bulk supply chain system. Where wholesalers stocked goods in bulk and shipped them in bulk to retailers. It was then the responsibility of retailers to manage a proper storefront and storage for retailing those products to consumers. This system has limited scope for tracking, slow speed of movement of goods, and a hectic risk management system. Not to mention the probabilities of undelivered or expired cargo being unrecovered or even stolen.
But as times changed, this basic method of managing logistics shifted to a more quick and advanced mechanism. The basis of modern e-commerce logistics is the same, but with improved procedures.
Large and Small Fulfilment Centers
E-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart now keep a large central repository of goods and local parcel hubs in almost every big district/region of the country. This ‘post office’ like system ensures better tracking and distribution of cargo and speeds up delivery times if the regional parcel hub has those goods already stored.
Partnerships and Affiliations
Platforms like Amazon allow individual sellers/businesses to sell their goods via their online marketplace. Offering doorstep picks up from their premises and charging a small commission out of their sale. This has drastically reduced the warehousing costs for such companies.
The Use Of Digitization And AI
Technologies such as artificial intelligence and SAAS software are now being employed in supply chains to ensure quicker and more precise conduction of procedures. This reduces the overall human labour, its cost, and the margin for human error.
Better Visibility And Tracking
The use of technologies like GPS and live-online-portals for real-time updates has greatly improved visibility and ease of tracking of cargo. This helps a business to properly estimate the delivery times.
3PL Logistics
A trend that has recently started picking up fast in supply chain management is the use of 3PL logistics. In this setup, you dock your goods with a third party warehouse that charges a fee for storing and shipping your goods to buyers. 3PL warehouses are great for instant delivery of products and selling your goods abroad and avoiding long overseas shipping times.
The e-commerce supply chain has evolved quickly in recent years. Factors such as the use of AI and the availability of 3PL logistics have improved e-commerce business processes and ensured the stable growth of such businesses in the near future.
AAJ Supply Chain Management
