E-commerce- the Road Ahead for Logistics Industry - Mumbai

The world has entered the digital age and everything around humans is getting online. The days are long gone for reaching the brick-and-mortar stores for every need in life.

The technological advancements of the internet have changed the course of history. Today, everything a person needs in their life is available online. E-commerce platforms have been growing since their start, especially in the last decade. But the industry that has become the giant has logistics as its backbone.

Logistics maintain the back-end supply chain management. It is crucial for every business in the world.

Logistics as the backbone to a physical distribution network of e-commerce

Till last century, for a layman, logistics was a transport company. It was some truck company working for the transportation of goods from one place to another.

Now things have changed since multinational players have entered the Indian market. It has started evolving into an organized structure.

Logistics include obtaining, storing, and shipping the resources to their end destinations. It incorporates the network of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and online portals.

Indian economy will speed up at 7.3 percent in the next fiscal year. It will rise as the third-largest economy by 2030.

Technology: the bond between e-commerce and logistics

With newer technologies coming into the world, businesses are advancing faster than ever. Tracking facility has become the new high point in the logistics industry. Companies are using GPS technology for the Live Tracking of parcels. They provide the same facilities to their customers for smooth and reliable servicing.


The tracking facility coupled with the Warehouse Management Systems keeps a record of resources. The tech-savvy companies are recording business statistics. They are using the same for the growth of their organizations.

E-commerce hubs Like Amazon have their warehouses in every state. It is a self-fulfillment warehouse for both B2B and B2C models. The company also came up with Amazon fulfillment. It is procuring the product from the manufacturer and keeping it in their warehouse system. They include the delivery amount in the selling price. They also offer privileged services like one-day delivery or two-day delivery.

Such e-commerce giants have their warehouses with a centralized distribution system. It saves time along with cost and failure charges. With their logistics, these companies also succeeded in reducing COD failures.

Third-Party Logistics is a model for companies that don't have any setup at any particular location. These companies enter into a third-party logistics agreement. They provide logistics facilities as per the requirements. In such a scenario, customers also get added benefits of both.

The other part of the story is different from the first half. Blockchain has also entered the market as a new technology in logistics. A supplier using blockchain support gets into the network of online portals with one API integration. It further helps in the smooth functioning of the business.

The blockchain is a distribution technology that can record transactions between partners. It also enables sharing of the database between many partners.

E-commerce will get more popular with increasing mobile apps and services. As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India, internet users will cross 500 million by June 2018. It further clears the view that e-commerce is going to propel soon. From grocery to food and plumbers, everything is online. E-commerce will evolve into the largest industry vertical.

Logistics rocketing the e-commerce growth: the new avenues

Logistics offers three different transaction/transportation models viz. International, Intercity, and Intracity (Hyperlocal). The newly emerged hyperlocal logistics companies provide food delivery to taxi services (Swiggy, Foodpanda, Uber, Ola, Dunzo, etc.).

The needs of modern customers are going to change with time. From a wider perspective, earlier people focused on the international market more. A seller based in India only thought of buying from abroad but importing was less.

In this article, we discussed the inter-dependence of Logistics and E-commerce. Watch out for this space to know more about the current trends in Logistics.

We at Shipyaari try to make the E-commerce process as hassle-free as possible. Take a step towards a more progressive and efficient logistics experience with Shipyaari!