Today, the eCommerce business has entirely revolutionized retail. It has significantly influenced customers' buying behavior across the globe and pushed retailers to sell online due to the tremendously rising competition. According to Statista, 21.8% of the World's population buys online, and in 2021, the number is expected to rise to over 2.14 billion.
Logistics is an indispensable part of the eCommerce business and plays a significant role in how the industry operates. AI-backed logistics solutions in the eCommerce business are evolving with growing business requirements and are acting as an essential lever for business growth.
Let's look at some of the most innovative solutions in logistics fulfillment that are reshaping the future of the eCommerce business supply chain.
Geocoding is converting physical address descriptions into precise geographical coordinates on a map that can be easily identified. Advanced geocoding solutions combine machine learning, natural language processing, and rule-based improvements to gather complete address information and convert even the fuzziest addresses correctly, precisely to door number, lane, and locality. Implementing a geocoder can help eCommerce businesses improve First Attempt Delivery Rates (FADR) and cut down on delivery costs and time significantly.
In a world of one-day, two-day, and same-day fulfillment, delivery agents are loaded with hundreds of parcels to be delivered in a day. Finding the most effective, time-saving route is no longer possible with human intelligence. A route planner or journey planner is a search engine that automatically plans and optimizes deliveries, considering various business parameters, like SLAs, geographical, and traffic constraints. Route planning software helps businesses plan deliveries smartly and assists in effective decision-making.
Logistics management involves several phases, including transportation, packaging, warehousing, materials handling, and condition management. Any deviance at any stage could cause a delay in last-mile fulfillment, increasing logistics costs and impacting customer satisfaction.
eCommerce logistics hubs have to deal with a wide-ranging category of products delivered in different locations daily. Sorting packages based on Zip codes and areas manually is time-taking and error-prone. Intelligent shipment sorting is an automated sorting solution that helps businesses sort bulk delivery orders based on multiple factors, saving time and effort significantly, thereby improving operational efficiencies.
Some AI-logistics solutions also offer intelligent fleet allocation, assisting companies in allocating specific goods in specific vehicles and offering the most optimal mix of owned and rental fleet to drive cost efficiencies to manage your eCommerce business.
A key element of eCommerce logistics is reverse shipment, which includes all the processes associated with product returns, repairs, maintenance, etc. New-age logistics solutions have introduced innovative reverse logistics solutions, helping on-ground agents plan reverse logistics systematically along with forwarding logistics. Nowadays, companies are also AI-assisted on-demand routing and re-routing solutions and scheduled orders, enhancing customer satisfaction.
