Managing logistics is one of the most significant challenges for any e-commerce company. One of the prime reasons for the same lies in the increased expectation of the customers. Everyone, including us, places an order with the expectation of fast delivery with free shipping. That’s where the role of an efficient logistics partner comes in. Mastering the basics of logistics is an essential prerequisite to running an e-commerce business and keeping operations afloat. It gives a competitive edge to e-commerce businesses in controlling the expenditure of the company, ensuring the viability of products, and providing the best customer service.
With the emergence of technological advancements in logistics, the process is relatively more accessible than ever. This has been possible via necessary technical infrastructure, supply chain preparedness, and robust customer service. Today, e-commerce brands use e-commerce logistics to deliver their customers’ orders to their doorstep. After an online purchase, the order is packed, shipped, and delivered. Sometimes the packages receive a return request due to many reasons. In a nutshell, it is a complex process involving multiple stages to help brands succeed:
- Getting checkout from the customers.
- Ensuring they convert consistently.
- Delivering on time to ensure loyalty.
E-Logistics is the NEXT-GEN technology that brings the whole logistics business onto one platform. This one-stop working process makes managing arenas like organizations and departments easier to handle from one centralized point. In addition, this digitized version makes the logistics process extremely easy and convenient. Quintessentially speaking, logistics come with benefits like higher sales conversion, better shopping experience, e-consumer loyalty, retention of clients, and a better business reputation.
As we can see, the need for logistics is being felt at all quarters in a business; still, many challenges plague logistics in an e-commerce business.
These challenges include:
- Operating logistics and handling extra expenditures: At this stage, the whole digital operation transforms into an offline delivery platform and managing logistics requires more sources and costs to carry out the process.
- Cash on delivery fraud is another challenge faced by e-commerce logistics. When the payment channel is COD, there are chances of fraudulent activities, non-payment, and undue payments, resulting in heavy revenue losses.
- Managing returns is a big challenge as it has become a regular part of the online shopping experience. Online buyers can easily purchase and return products if it doesn’t fit right to their expectations.
- Providing easy online tracking of the orders: The customers always want to know when the package is out for delivery and when it will be delivered. So, the companies need a tracking solution to connect the buyers to the retailers with an easy-to-access tracking system.
This article has been authored by Mr. Vishal Totla, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Shipyaari, a Mumbai-based e-Commerce logistics solutions platform.
