These days, last-mile logistics is the real key to e-commerce success. Online stores that want to be competitive and beat competitors, cannot help but show themselves at the forefront of this type of activity.
Logistics is forced to evolve to adapt to the needs arising from ever-higher service quality standards, which result in faster delivery speeds. Hence the need to engineer technological systems to be able to organize and support it in the right way.
Acting on last-mile logistics means, among other things, increasing customers’ margins of freedom in managing deliveries, while at the same time making interactions with couriers, who handle deliveries or returns, a key part of shopping experiences in their own right.
The transformation of shopping patterns: from e-commerce to q-commerce
The demand for accelerating delivery means that logistics innovation is being called upon to keep up with consumer expectations and desires. Here, then, is the shift from e-commerce to quick commerce: delivery times must be reduced to the point of becoming instantaneous, or almost instantaneous.
It follows from all this that warehouse logistics must necessarily become increasingly efficient and high-performing. Shortening lead times becomes a priority that cannot be ignored, beyond whether it is supplying stores or making home deliveries for individuals.
E-commerce: new market challenges
An e-commerce is nothing more than an online store or sales platform through which individuals and businesses have the opportunity to buy and sell online, while suppliers take advantage of the opportunity to benefit of one large store to sell their products.
The meaning and definition of e-commerce is now familiar to everyone, as most of us are now accustomed to shopping online. Now, however, new quality standards must be met, given the steady growth of the phenomenon. Ever-increasing volumes impose new challenges to be faced: in particular, the need to design and bring to life a mobile experience that is not only pleasant and convenient, but also interesting and intriguing.
M-commerce: buy from smartphones and tablets
Today we are also dealing with the most direct evolution of e-commerce: m commerce, or mobile shopping, which means shopping with a tablet or smartphone.
This definition includes all buying and selling processes that are carried out using a mobile device. The challenges faced are more numerous and complex than one might imagine: for example, because smartphones have small screen sizes and e-commerce pages must adapt accordingly, thanks to responsive design solutions. A site that is not optimized for a smartphone can only be inadequate with respect to customers’ needs.
At the same time, then, attention should be paid to security, ensuring that sensitive financial information is protected, all the more so if users connect via wi-fi.
Q-commerce: deliveries in 30 minutes
Q-commerce (quick commerce), becomes indispensable in a society characterized by increasingly frenetic lifestyles. It could be defined as a kind of real-time e-commerce, capable of guaranteeing delivery of products ordered online in as little as 30 minutes, if not less.
What might have seemed like an unbelievable scenario until a few years ago-to see goods bought online delivered within minutes of completing the order-is now not only possible, but corresponds to a widespread reality.
Any business intent on achieving success in the online sales sector cannot fail to pay attention to the speed factor, an aspect demanded by all consumers. Such an e-commerce model is also known by the name of on-demand delivery, which originated for the delivery of groceries (it is also referred to, not surprisingly, as e-grocery) and was later extended to other product categories.
LCS and e-commerce management solutions development
LCS Group is in the business of designing and implementing logistics systems, as well as developing specific software for e-commerce companies. In fact, thanks to such applications called WMS, companies have the opportunity to rise to the new challenges imposed by the market. Contact LCS if you would like to learn more or would like to evaluate a highly customized solution for your business and in line with your needs.
