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WHERE IS THE RETAIL LOGISTICS MOVING TOWARDS?

Giving us insights, Sanjay Berry, Managing Director of Reliance Freight Services, walks us through the nittygritties of retail logistics

Reliance Freight Systems is establishing itself as a provider of complete logistics solutions. Reliance began as a basic service provider for road, air, and sea freight operations, and has since developed into a corporation with a depth of knowledge in delivering, offering, and implementing integrated logistics solutions and catering to supply chain demands. Shedding light on retail logistics, Logistics News ME spoke to Sanjay Berry, who gave an in-depth analysis of the industry.

Post-Pandemic Shift We have seen that the pandemic has made the supply chain industry more resilient. During the pandemic, government regulations became stricter regarding permitted vehicles and goods entry. This led to a rise in demand for authorized providers. Even official forwarders had limitations in terms of resources. This raised the need for better planning of resources and more efficient execution in terms of consolidation and route planning to complete the task within the stipulated timeframe. Correspondingly, the biggest challenge in retail logistics is designing. Predicting demand has never been the same since the pandemic. After planning, the next part is ensuring that the supply is delivered on time and per requirements. The biggest challenge has been to meet these requirements to ensure the supply meets demand.

Automation In Retail Logistics And Supply Chain Automation is essential but should be more comprehensive than a single module. The ideal strategy to deploy automation is first to identify repeated operations, create a process, and then include technology to speed up the process. While integrating new technology, the software should be capable of fulfilling future requirements rather than being constrained to present ones.

Last-Mile Delivery The “last mile” of delivery is the final stage of the procedure when the shipment arrives at the buyer’s door. Last-mile delivery is the most expensive and time-consuming shipping process and is critical to customer satisfaction. If you’ve followed a box online in real-time and seen that it was “out for delivery” for what seemed like an eternity, you already know that the final mile problem is inefficiency. This is because the last leg of cargo often comprises many stops with small drop sizes – which has significantly gained momentum in retail logistics. Furthermore, last-mile delivery has increased due to the increase in Quick Commerce (Q-commerce). COVID-19 has pushed for contactless delivery and a faster turnaround time. Among the steps taken to reduce delivery time are, first, the establishment of dark stores and their regional utilization; second, the study of current market and demand patterns; third, the creation of ways and possibilities to store fast-moving goods with easy access; and, finally, the establishment of dynamic delivery paths via technology to ensure better TAT (turnaround time) and efficiency.

Future For Retail Logistics The retail logistics business is here to stay. However, Q-commerce is the way of the future. The need for a large warehouse to keep merchandise will diminish, and individuals will shift to smaller warehouses and store inventory in dark warehouses scattered over the region. Inventory distribution will be complex, necessitating improved demand forecasting technologies. Brick-andmortar businesses will never perish, but they will adapt to be more than simply a store.

Sanjay Berry, Managing Director of Reliance Freight Services

“The ideal strategy to deploy automation is first to identify repeated operations, create a process, and then include technology to speed up the process.”