Between the click of the mouse of a visitor buying online and its home delivery, the ordered product follows a long path that is not a straight line. Sometimes the object parte batch of the plant or stock of the supplier and pass into the hands of first carrier to reach the warehouse by a logistics provider. It is is then erupted then oriented, via another carrier, the preparation of orders from the cybermarchand site. There, placed in individual packages, it is entrusted to the last link in the chain, the operator of the "last mile".
The route appears to be classic in a distribution scheme, but in reality its characteristics are exacerbated to a traditional path. The first thickened feature is speed. "What changes most in e-commerce to the classic distribution, it is pace requires us to be agile," notes Christophe Dubois, of the SED logistics provider. "The client making his purchase in five minutes is prompt delivery." "Mail order was already aware of this problem but with online purchases acceleration is even stronger," said Pierre Fournet, President Ile-de-France of the French Association for logistics (Aslog). "A command passed to 23 hours in an individual often must be prepared as soon as the next morning to be delivered in the afternoon", said Franck Maso, Director of DHL France messaging operations. The movement is permanent. Jacky Gervis, co-Chair of FM Logistic, stressed that the flow from orders placed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week should be treated in instant water.
Minimize costs
The second strong feature is the splitting of shipments. Christophe Dubois noted that sometimes, there is not more than 1.5 article on average in some areas. This fragmentation imposes traders know-how to consolidate flows and minimize the cost of transport. Products from the same directions must pass through platforms say "cross docking" (passage of the goods of a wharf and one truck to another, without storage). The result is a more complex logistics, an increase in the number of warehouses and an increase in the movement of vehicles.
Another specificity of the electronic trade flows, despite their continuity, is their variability. The buyer, driven by the demands of marketing, is buffeted by impulses that vary with the weather, the seasons, the environment, economic, social or television. Franck Maso of DHL France observed that the orders for high-tech products could generate expeditions ranging from 6 to 12 trailers from one day to the next day, without notice. In Coliposte, volumes doubled in December.
This stealth, capricieux and versatile client is at the same time the most demanding deadlines, information and the security of its purchase. "The commitment on the time becomes the key element of differentiation", note in SED logistics. The position thus taken the bull by the horns. "In four years, we joined market service rates," says Martin Piechowski, Director of the Coliposte network, with a gain of 10 points, more than 90. The rate of theft and theft has been divided by three. Now, the postal group gives one to two years to find solutions for rapid removal of packages to post office counters.
The other investment sector is the tracing of the package ("tracking"). The individual wants to know at any time and in real time where products. To support this constraint and many others, computer tools are mounted in power. For example, those of CRM (customer relationship management") must be connected to those of stocks so that the user can know, even in the middle of the night, if the article he is seeking is available and how long. For Pierre Fournet, of Aslog, this means a solid it infrastructure and thus a high entrance ticket.
The latest manifestation of this new logistics is to be melted with the VAD. Today, major sector melted the preparation of orders in multichannel warehouses. The main difference remaining is that of volumes, more concentrated and important in the traditional VAD, and therefore less expensive than the preparation for the new sites. E-commerce "has now changed the concepts." "Behind the sale, operations must be armoured to meet the requirements," concludes Pierre Fournet.
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