With ecommerce sales expected to reach $43 billion (Rs. 2.6 lakh crore) within the next five years in India, advanced warehouses become the need of the hour. Though this aspect of ecommerce is fairly invisible, it is one of the most crucial elements in deciding whether ecommerce in India can keep up to the explosive growth or not.
Partha Priya Datta, associate professor of operations management at IIM Calcutta explains why warehouses are so important, “They (warehouses) are the backbone of the ecommerce industry. If you trace back its history, Amazon did not do very well without the warehouses. Now, that is their strength.”
Myntra already has warehouse space worth over an impressive five lakh square feet spread across five warehouses. This is also apparently going to double soon. Zivame, which is a niche category player, is also not far behind. It wants to increase its warehouse space form the present 12,000 square feet.
Besides having spacious and well-equipped warehouses, it is also important to have the right technology to improve efficiency of workers and reduce turnaround time of goods to be delivered.
Datta emphasizes the importance management software in warehouses, “In the apparel industry, gauging stocks is tricky and software helps them decide what different people want to wear and which trend will disappear tomorrow.”
Besides software, even some technological hardware could help the warehouses get more efficient. Apparently, some globally renowned ecommerce players have already started using extremely advanced technology to manage warehouses. During the last holiday season, Amazon revealed to the media its secret to managing large orders. It had short 16-inch robots criss-crossing the warehouse, helping employees complete multiple orders at once! This definitely proves that technology is an absolute must for efficient warehousing, which is in turn a must for a successful ecommerce venture.
Will Indian ecommerce also follow suit and soon introduce robots in warehouses? Ashutosh Lawania, cofounder of Myntra says, “If things continue to progress like this, we won’t have an option. Maybe in the next 5 to 7 years!”
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