Resolving Last Mile Fulfillment woes

Sairaj Iyer

It might be relatively easy to commit to a next day delivery, but it takes a committed supply-chain and logistics system to complete even a two-business day delivery. Stories of customers getting anything from soap, to brick and stones when placing an order for a smartphone, are no longer humorous. A wrongly spelled or late or mis-delivered product is not going to win customers, in fact it will break trust, and severely impact loyalty too. Such episodes only go to prove that Last Mile Fulfillment is a sore point in ecommerce’s rising stature. A series of panel discussions held at the recently concluded Last Mile Fulfillment summit at Mumbai drove around these pertinent notes.

The two day conference organized by Franchise India saw participation from Retail, ecommerce, and technology players on topics related to logistics, supply-chain efficiency, and how to transform traditional logistics business to ecommerce. Logistics corporates such as DHL, FedEx, TCI Xpress, Blue Dart, DTDC and Logi Next as well as AT Kearney participated in the conference.

Ritu Marya, Editor-in-Chief at Franchise India, attributed that the Indian consumer behaviour has gone through a tectonic shift. The transition is inspiring because it has given rise to new online spending patterns. “India is a shoppers paradise now, albeit, online rather than offline. Commerce has moved to ecommerce and retail has transformed to omni-retail,” she pointed out.

The discussions at the conference proved that customer experience and ability to execute COD transactions within the committed time-frame is paramount to success. SmartBox, a company that offers lockers at central locations for customers to pick-up their orders, was placed high on the Innovation Quotient at the expo. Amit Sawhney the CEO of SmartBox, points out that his offering is one which promises easy delivery and customer experience.

Besides prominent faces from ecom and retail, there were industry experts from US and Canada too. Misko Kancko, Director for Global Strategy at Canada Post, observed that online customers have a penchant for detail. “They are all in for offers, but a majority of cart abandonment is attributable to lack of offers, and an unclear returns policy.”

The two day conference saw shipping and logistic companies launch new solutions and services. DTDC Express used the platform to launch a new e-fulfillment solution. The new service would allow small and medium enterprises with handling capacity of 5 lakh outgoing orders and 750,000 incoming SKUs on a daily basis to gain access to customers across the country at low operating costs.

“This launch is an integral offering to our Indian and International businesses. We have one goal, to provide the best, personal customer experience, through the largest last mile Cash on Delivery pan India capabilities, says Suresh Bansal, Director, DTDC Express, who also represented DTDC at one of the panel discussions.

The Indian logistics industry is projected to grow a CAGR of 15-20 percent between 2015-16 and 2019-20. This is likely to get a boost if GST is rolled out this year which could decrease costs by 20% as reported by Care Ratings in its annual report.