LogisticsTech You Need to Survive the eCommerce Boom this Holiday Season
Amazon has changed the game. Keep up.
Data from Practical E-Commerce indicates that holiday eCommerce sales this year could reach $90 billion, a 13% boost from 2015. It’s a favorable outlook, but unless e-tailers are perfectly prepared to handle the influx in demand, it could be a rocky holiday season.
Success hinges on whether or not eCommerce businesses are prepared to handle their consumers’ online shopping activity. In today’s world, customers need to know that their product is available, and that it can be delivered — often for free — within an acceptable window. But armed with the right logistics technology, systems and processes, businesses need not worry.
Here are two ways modern logistics technologies can help e-tailers yield a fruitful peak season:
1: Don’t leave customers in the dark
E-commerce businesses that don’t produce delivery options, transparent timelines and tracking visibility on freight items are losing ground to competitors who do (Amazon).
Consumers don’t know the difference between freight (think: a large kitchen appliance) and small package (think: a new pair of shoes) items. Here’s the issue: They require significantly different order, fulfillment and delivery treatment. But shoppers expect the same transportation experience for products shipped Truckload, Less-than-Truckload (LTL) and Small Package when they shop online.
For most e-commerce companies, online ordering and fulfillment of heavy weight items is still very manual and controlled by legacy systems. Because of that, there are no delivery options presented to the consumer and no real-time shipment tracking available. If you order a couch, you’ll most likely be told it will show up in 8 days between the hours of 10am and 3pm.
But there is an easy fix. Implementing modern API data feeds that connect the consumer, retailer and transportation providers will give consumers both choice and transparency from the point of purchase through delivery.
2: Optimize your inventory
Retailers who can’t seamlessly execute omnichannel strategies will lose this holiday season to those who can.
Stock-outs cost retailers more today than ever. On the other hand, bloated inventory or tightened supplier deadlines and higher fees for late inbound deliveries are also problematic. The majority of stock-outs are due to faulty in-store ordering and replenishing practices — retailers often order too little too late and lack real-time visibility into the location of their inbound inventory shipments.
Efficient and agile transportation management is of the utmost importance in managing the timely flow of products and services without errors. As the complexities that accompany e-commerce and omnichannel user experiences continue, a better means of managing inventory to prevent stock-outs, while still maintaining optimal inventory levels, is to better manage your freight transportation network.
Why Modern Logistics Technology is So Important
Transparency, a hyper-connected supply chain and inventory optimization are three critical components that will drive e-commerce success, or failure, this peak season.
These all rely on having modern technology in place to be able to manage the ever-evolving demands of today’s consumer. Yet, many e-tailers still rely on legacy systems that can’t support the demands of today’s on-demand consumer. Ultimately, the means a greater amount of shopping cart abandonment, fail to meet customer demands for transparency and increase the cost of transportation.
How is your eCommerce business differentiating itself this holiday season? Thoughts on LogisticsTech that is transforming eCommerce? Reach out in the comments, or to the p44 team on Twitter.
HitTheButton is brought to you by the team at Dynamo Accelerator and Fund. Got a LogisticsTech question or want to learn more about what we are doing to bring logistics into the future? Reach out on Twitter at ThisIsDynamo.
