A Decade of eCommerce Growth
The majority of us have ordered products online and many of us take the experience for granted. It’s convenient, simple and in just a few clicks, your product is ordered and eventually delivered. However, the logistics involved in processing an order and delivering products are complex
The Last Decade
It is fair to say that online shopping has become the norm for our society, especially after seeing such a monumental increase in the last decade. More businesses have made their products easily accessible online and with the growth of the likes of Amazon, retailers are seeing a significant increase in sales. From bricks and mortar retailers to online retailers that dropship, it’s clear to see that more businesses are making that switch to selling products online.
Just a decade ago, online retailers were selling products but customers were still expected to wait for their products to be delivered and those delivery times were varied. However, in just a few years, we have seen a huge change in eCommerce fulfillment because companies such as Amazon and Walmart are now giving customers the potential to order items quickly and have them delivered quickly too. What’s more, the Covid-19 pandemic has enhanced the uptake of eCommerce fulfillment as more people were forced to order online and that has brought the industry to where it is today.
The Complexities Behind the Logistics
The reality is that the logistics involved with the purchase, picking, and delivery of an item is extremely complex. With thousands of companies selling items in the big chain retailers and even obscure online shops, the scope of the process is massive. Many of these companies don’t store their own products and so, they choose to use third-party logistics companies (3PLs) such as Ameriworld Fulfillment, in Miami FL.
These 3PLs provide their services to an array of businesses and brands, which means that they store hundreds of thousands of products. Once the order is made, the eCommerce fulfillment process has to be accurate. This is because customers won’t receive their products directly from retailers.
IT Leading the Way
Therefore, the technologies behind communicating the actual retailer’s online shop (where the customer makes the purchase), to the brand that is promoting it in the retailers’ shop, and then with the 3PL that will be shipping it, have to be real-time precise.
As a result of a purchase, 3PLs have to accurately process orders, then locate the products, pick them, pack them and eventually ship them, ensuring that the brand (who own the stock) and the retailer (who sells it on their webshop) receive all the information of the process and the customer receives the right product on time.
So, the order might be initially placed with a retailer but the rest of the process is handled directly by 3PL.
The Future of eCommerce
The eCommerce industry has evolved and has now become a slick and streamlined experience and this has been driven by the big online stores such as Alibaba, eBay, Mercadolibre, Amazon, and 3PLs.
In such a competing sector, companies are now looking at new ways in which they can speed up the process of picking, packing, and distributing items. Looking to continue its trendsetting behavior, Amazon is investing a big chunk of its R&D budget in drone technology that would be capable of handling their parcel delivery. What this means is that everything is pointing towards the introduction of a new way of transportation for packages that could be greener, faster, and without a human driver.
