In today's ultra-connected world, everything and everyone is tethered to the internet.
With internet subscriptions and smartphone penetration at an all-time high, consumers are now shopping across borders. This has driven the growth of various e-commerce platforms, with Asia Pacific's e-commerce market poised to reach US$360 billion in 2025.
Despite e-commerce blossoming, research revealed that 34% of consumers in Southeast Asia are not satisfied with their e-commerce delivery experience. About 90% of customer complaints are related to late deliveries and poor communication on delivery status. Such episodes impact businesses negatively and erode consumer confidence.
The ubiquity of e-commerce platforms also provides consumers more options to shop elsewhere and open their wallets to the one they find the best for their shopping needs. Clearly, businesses need to prioritise transitioning to more customer-centric logistics operations.
Why embrace logistics management tools
The way forward then is to embrace a smart logistics management platform. Such platforms enable businesses to digitally manage their operations and improve delivery experiences. They also empower businesses to ensure the resilience and sustainability of operations.
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Let’s see the difference such platforms can make in facilitating seamless international shipping operations.
1. Intelligent freight procurement
Intelligent freight procurement helps shippers get the best freight rates across the global carrier ecosystem, every time.
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A shipper can float the request for quotes with multiple freight forwarders at the same time. It automates freight rate negotiations through smart bidding and dynamic deadlines that save up to 10% in freight costs and reduce 56% person-hours in shipment handling.
2. Drive supply chain sustainability
Such tools help cross-border logistics stakeholders gain visibility of a shipment's carbon emissions even before it commences its shipping journey by gaining critical knowledge of tank-to-wheel and well-to-wheel CO2 emissions.
AI-powered sustainability dashboards help monitor emissions across a shipment's lifecycle and unearth areas that need immediate attention. It makes logistics operations sustainable, reducing miles travelled, shrinking returns, eliminating empty miles and vehicle idling, and enabling greater rider productivity.
For instance, such platforms help increase deliveries per driver by 14% in the last mile. It curbs the distance travelled by 5% and decreases trip volumes by 6%. All these factors help businesses expedite their sustainability goals.
3. Extend air cargo visibility
Air cargo visibility is a huge challenge. Usually, tracking air cargo means businesses have to be on a call and visit the websites of multiple freight forwarders. Using a unified international logistics dashboard, businesses can now track air cargo in real-time using just the HAWB (House Air Waybill) number.
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4. Reducing incidental charges
Supply chains are an intricately woven ecosystem, wherein a loose cog can tumble down subsequent processes. In such a case, losing sight of freight movement is a shortcut to cost leakages. Supply chain stakeholders at all points must know where the goods are in the shipment journey to avoid penalties.
Smart international logistics management platform empowers retailers and eCommerce brands to shrink incidental costs by gaining high levels of visibility of detention and demurrage charges. The platform can help reduce incidental charges by 80%.
5. Optimised routing operations
Advanced algorithm-driven route planning and optimisation engines can put the logistics journey on an optimal path. Predictive and accurate pickup estimated time of arrival (ETA) helps businesses enhance trucking operations.
With this, retailers/eCommerce providers can save 18% in route planning and optimisation operations and ensure 12% lesser overall transportation costs. It also empowers retailers to reduce last-mile costs by 12%, boost on-time dispatch by 28% and shrink order-to-ship time by another 12%.
6. Optimising capacity planning
Underutilised fleet capacity means more vehicles on road, an increase in trip volumes, and more cost leakages.
Smart logistics management platform helps optimise vehicle utilisation by 31% by automatically considering multiple constraints like delivery location, weight, volume, service type, delivery time slots, storage type, and more. All these factors help businesses reduce fuel costs and increase fleet capacity.
7. Greater customer experience
Such tools help logistics service providers that retailers and e-commerce brands work with to provide end customers with real-time delivery visibility, accurate ETAs, payment flexibility, smoother returns, and more.
A notification gets triggered to the end customer once the shipment is out for delivery, which can be used to track delivery progress in real-time. We are empowering retailers to enhance customer experience by 64%.
8. Enhancing management of logistics service providers
Executing cross-border deliveries can be a complex affair. Hence, e-commerce businesses tend to rely on logistics service providers or express parcel delivery providers for their shipping needs. Research shows that outsourcing delivery services to the right partner can have a massive impact on customer experience.
Using logistics management solutions, retailers, and eCommerce brands can gain greater control and visibility of logistics partners. The solution helps validate and consolidate non-delivery reasons, select the right third-party logistics for the right job based on historical KPIs, accurately arrest fake delivery attempts, drive greater service-level agreement adherence, and more. With this, businesses can reduce shipment returns by 18%.
The modern-day business landscape necessitates brands to find ways to stay agile and resilient or risk sustenance. Supply chain digitisation not only solves such operational complexities but provides numerous benefits to the bottom line. At the end of the day, businesses are empowered to compete globally, without the complications that come with it. They empower businesses to stay nimble in the face of changing consumer behaviours.
Soham Chokshi is the CEO and co-founder of Shipsy
