LOGISTICS OF THE FUTURE: HOW TO MEET THE EXPECTATIONS OF E-COMMERCE CUSTOMERS

Internet commerce is a very promising and rapidly developing market. According to several estimates, the market for revenue through online shops is increasing in most countries in addition to the development of information technologies. Forecasts show that by 2023, the talk of e-commerce in complete retail sales will be nearly 25%.

At the same time, not all of online stores can fulfill customer expectations because of incorrect or ineffectively constructed logistics and expenses of transport operations. Too little attention is paid to the in the beginning stages of company growth. And thus, during an immediate encounter with a problem, much more funds and resources are needed than would have been invested in the case of a timely organization of the matter.

How to make logistics fulfill the needs of contemporary e-commerce? Let us find it out.

Assembling your logistics system is not always the best choice, especially when it comes to medium-sized or smaller companies. It’s always very troublesome and expensive, and it’s impossible to do absolutely in all resolutions. Each link in the logistics chain must be carefully calculated in accordance with the following standards:

• Economic — costs;

• qualitative — that the level of service;

• qualitative — shipping rate and order processing time.

The expense of a mistake is extremely high: when confronted with problems, the client will just give preference to a different shop. Unless, of course, you’re the only seller of exclusive products that are the topic of the desire of millions of people.

Today logistics is nearly entirely depending on the aid of information technologies, which are continuously evolving. If you are not tech-savvy, you put yourself at chance of buying hardware and software which can become obsolete in a month with no potential for upgrading. In this manner you lose money, time, as well as competitiveness.

Do you know more about the return rate? The percentage of returned purchases in the internet space reaches 40 percent, as, unlike offline, the product can’t be touched, measured, and assessed beforehand. You can imagine the additional burden on your delivery system the should coordinate yields will deliver!

However, providing return logistics is very important . This can be a indication of store reliability, an indicator of authority, and openness to talk to the client. Its right organization will grow to be a huge advantage of the shop and will favorably distinguish it from rivals.

Before deciding whether to take part in logistics privately or to outsource it, then it is essential to carefully calculate distribution chains, assess cross-functional connections, and compare approximate cost amounts. Combining both options isn’t worthwhile : the more heterogeneous links in the supply chain, the more complicated the machine, the reduced its reliability, worse quality of labour, and greater logistics costs per unit of goods.

There are exceptional services that permit you to figure out the expense of different kinds of global shipments by sea, air, or land. This really is a excellent way to get immediate pricing information based on your dates and terms. By way of instance, SeaRates provides not only to consider costs but also to arrange transport and supply insurance. A modern solution to contemporary problems.

We place both concepts side by side because logistics will offer online shops together with key competitive advantages: merchandise delivery in a couple of hours from the moment of purchasing, flexible delivery and return occasions, special rates for the last mail delivery, and more.

Customers will get their orders even quicker than they do now, and express shipments will require less than a day and will probably be measured in moments. Logical conversion in favor of an even greater digitalization of trade is quite possible: selling products on the internet with consulting assistance in three-dimensional avatars. To shield makers from counterfeiting, logistics companies offer secure supply stations.

What we are seeing today is that a concentrate on the personalization of supplies and a single approach to the customer . New technology make it feasible to specify the client profile a lot more accurately than before, and this trend will only intensify in the long run.

Because of comprehensive analytics of their personal profile, habits, hobbies, lifestyle, and job of individuals, rather precise individualized proposals will be shaped. Also, info on new products and product range will be sent to customers through all present stations, taking into account their orders. In this way, retailers are going to be able to optimize their interactions with clients and decrease the total amount of information unwanted for your prospects.

As a result, advertising and advertising activities will become more successful and customer satisfaction increases. The trend of personalization will inevitably influence the requirement for logistics: For example, the choice of delivery system will also be offered to take into account the individual requirements of their customer.

If we try to systematize other Significant trends by class, we get something similar to the following listing:

1. The concept of everywhere trade. Trading through interpersonal networks and messengers is gaining momentum, and also some businesses sell their goods exclusively this way. Together with different options such as voice assistants, chatbots, and augmented reality, they’ve formed the trend of barrier-free trading. When it is likely to utilize a messenger to get information about a product, almost all customers would go for this alternative. And the smart phone proves to be useful even when the purchaser is inside a tangible shop: it can be utilized to quickly study competitors’ offers, find analogs, etc. The logistics system is formed even before the full range of products is introduced, and is thoroughly examined before the first order is received.

2. “Every moment counts” express delivery. This mostly applies to the delivery of merchandise purchased online. The trend to reduce delivery time was outlined for a long time: a few delivery services claim that it is going to require less than 15 seconds for your order to arrive. This was achieved by raising the amount of supply warehouses and linking to certain locations. To ensure profitability, business owners might need to work hard to make sure large density and uniformity of orders.

3. Distribution of Bundle terminals. Astonishingly, fast and totally free delivery is gradually becoming obsolete. The future belongs to automated residence shipping, BOPIS (purchase online, pickup in-store), and other omnichannel choices which allow satisfying orders considerably quicker. The ease of the package terminals is undeniable: the job program up to round-the-clock, convenient and accessible places, you don’t have to pick a opportunity to meet up with the courier, and so on. This arrangement has each of the prerequisites for additional modifications, by way of example, small parcel terminals in the halls of apartment buildings or weather-protected choices for placing directly onto the streets.

4. A rise in the share of shipping outsourcing. While most big sites continue to maintain their delivery and logistics systems, most middle-sized and tiny companies decide to outsource their transport. These outsourcing services do their job perfectly, being at the point when the leader has not been determined yet and everyone can take over the sweet area.

5. The usage of artificial intelligence. The ability of artificial intelligence is largely utilised to execute complex calculations: predicting long-distance shipping times, calculating loads and paths, using machine learning elements in automatic sorting machines, warehouse managementand client interaction, video recognition of actions, and people.

All these are from all of the trends which are becoming more concrete in the light of the ultra-fast evolution of e-commerce. However, these specific scenarios are already firmly rooted at the e-commerce business and will show consistent benefits in the near future.

Wrapping Up

Nothing stands still. The rising demand for customization requires a quick response from businesses that don’t want to be left on the sidelines. That is why they resort to modern logistics solutions that enable them to meet clients’ expectations without breaking the bank.