E-fulfilment: the next big thing(s)

Following last week's article on the future of E-fulfilment according to Active Ants, this time we will take a closer look at 'the next big thing(s) in E-fulfilment'. Managing Partner, Jeroen Dekker (on the right in the picture), is talking to Value Chain Management Magazine again and, just like during his presentation at Supply Chain Innovations 2022, he lists the upcoming e-fulfilment trends:

1. Social commerce

More and more web shops sell (also) via social media. As a logistics player, you must be ready to respond to the rapid growth of social commerce.

2. Autonomous deliveries

For the time being, self-driving serving or delivery robots are mainly found on a campus, in a laboratory, in other words, in a test environment. But in time, these unmanned delivery services will also become a mainstream logistics application.

3. Customer loyalty with BasketPic

Before Active Ants packages a picked order, it can have the contents of the shipment automatically photographed from above. The web shops can then send this photo to their (end) customers. This extra contact moment with the consumer improves the 'customer journey'.

4. Cross-border e-commerce

Webshops which are well established in their own country are increasingly expanding their business activities abroad. Research by PostEurop shows that cross-border e-commerce in most European countries is growing almost twice as fast as local e-commerce.

5. Robotics - Goods to Man

Goods-to-man systems, such as AutoStore, provide more efficient and sustainable storage and order picking in the warehouse.

6. Print to box

Active Ants no longer sticks labels with, for example, logistical information on the shipping boxes. It now prints this information directly onto the box itself and can do this on demand, tailored to the customer. In addition to logistical information, the boxes are often printed with sales or marketing messages.

Print-to-box technology at Active Ants

7. Autonomous mobile robots (AMR)

Static conveyor belts are more frequently replaced by flexible mobile robots.

8. Logistics integrated into the customer journey.

Whereas logistics used to be separate from the customer journey, in e-commerce it is now very closely related to it or has even become an integral part of it. Thus, logistics is also increasingly becoming a marketing tool.

9. Paying more for a parcel

To combat malpractice in the logistics sector, the pressure on prices must be reduced. The price of shipping will inevitably rise in the future, experts predict.