The E-Commerce Boom's Impact on Logistics

The past decades have witnessed substantial changes in the field of logistics and this transformation was primarily driven by the customer’s needs accompanied by significant profits for the company. Previously the retailers owned storehouses through which the products were delivered to the customers. But in this modern age of the internet, the multi-story shopping centers are dramatically coming to a close with the rise of e-commerce. Technology has inspired an online retail boom that mostly benefits retailers. Traditional logistics was a linear routing system—as moving goods from manufacturing hubs to consumption centers—before the dawn of e-commerce. Given are some significant shifts in the logistics industry that have resulted from the rise of e-commerce:

For brick and mortar retailers the fulfillment process is comparatively easy as compared with online businesses. For the latter getting goods to various locations safely and on time requires complex planning. It involves costly and complicated processes like last mile delivery and reverse logistics which insists online retailers to stay competitive. These factors have to lead to highly-specialized functions in the transportation sector and have increased the need for e-commerce companies to partner with retailers to help them bag the various services they need.

To reach customers quickly with products, retailers need a different strategy. Retailer can build a mesh of fulfillment centers, and accelerate the process of order fulfillment. The unprecedented growth of eCommerce is paving the way for incorporating various novel ideas including drones to make freight transportation and last-mile deliveries more feasible.

This shows that new opportunities are creating fresher challenges and e-commerce is providing a higher degree of control over costs and making logistics operations more credible. It is transitioning logistics into a futuristic era where they can improve their delivery operations and tapping on the unique customer need.