How can ecommerce logistics industry improve? Insights from 15+ years of Ajay’s experience in logistics

(L-R) Vaibhav, Ajay Rao and Leena Patil

Cultivating 15+ years of experience in the logistics sector into his own logistics venture was a natural progression for Ajay Rao. Despite the increasing focus on express and effective ecommerce logistics, Ajay felt that:

• There were very few organized players answering to the demand for improved logistics.

• Although many companies were trying to solve last-mile delivery issues, there didn’t seem to be a high quality and technologically advanced warehousing and fulfilment solution for SMEs in India.

• Aggregating the volumes of these SMEs would translate into a significant opportunity for an end-to-end fulfilment solution.

Thus was born Emiza, to address this gap and create a solid multi-channel fulfilment solution for SMEs. With operations in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, Emiza empowers SMEs to grow their business by using new age solutions to manage and distribute their inventory.

We decided to chat up with Ajay and gather his thoughts on logistics, fulfilment and more.

IOS: What is the role of warehousing in the online retail process?

Ajay: The business of online selling is buying and receiving products with ease from or to any location using mobile or web and in order to achieve this, intelligent supply chain and warehousing is the only enabler. It is a key determinant in meeting the service level agreement between the marketplace and the end customers (order to dispatch time), packaging quality, inventory accuracy and costs associated with order fulfilment.

What are the problems faced by logistics players? They receive a lot of flak for their many drawbacks and faults.

• Ability to meet faster delivery time due to lack of proper supply chain, rail-road architecture and lack of traceability of the product in the entire supply chain from vendor to customer.

• Cash on delivery- Many logistics companies lose a lot of money due to COD since they have to incur cost of logistics even if the end customer rejects the product.

• Tough competition resulting in fewer profit margins

• Infrastructure limitations

• Widely distributed customer base

What are the challenges in the logistics industry now?

• Optimisation of resources, availability of skilled resources at the operator and mid-management levels

• General apathy towards use of technology to automate processes and reduce dependence on labour