Smart urban fulfillment: one step ahead
Empty shelves? Long shopping queues? News about spreading pandemics met people rushing to shops, stockpiling groceries and hoarding necessary goods, while cutting back on other expenditures. Demand on canned food soared rapidly and unpredictably, shifting shopping patterns in terms of category, values and frequencies.
Even before the pandemic, urban fulfillment was marked by radical change: industries, retailers and consumers want their orders within a few hours. For logistics providers, this means delivering orders to customers in urban areas quickly, efficiently, and within the specified time frame. An unsolvable conflict? Swisslog understands the requirements of the future and is working on new solutions.
Typically people live where the jobs are. That’s why more than 50 percent of the world’s population has settled in urban centres. Megacities are sprouting up all over the world. Online ordering allows customers to avoid being in traffic jams and long wait times at the cash register, especially in urban areas. Adding to this, coronavirus did not leave shoppers with much of a choice than continuing their purchases online. As a result, e-commerce is growing not only in customer but also in B2B field.
E.g. service technicians use the Internet to procure spare parts. Industrial companies prosper when production needs a less specialised supply part. But speed is of the essence. Only same-day or next-hour delivery offers a competitive edge. Logistics providers have to find the right solutions to the challenges associated with goods delivery in big cities. Swisslog's Head of Sales for Greater Europe, Alessandro Benzoni, says: “To boost efficiency along the entire supply chain means rethinking business models and switching to innovative, data-based technologies and solutions.”
To read the full smart urban fulfilment blog post, visit swisslog.com/Smart-Urban-Fulfillment
