DHL eCommerce Solutions, a division of the world’s leading logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL Group, recently launched the 2021 E-tailers’ Almanac which identified four market trends: the need for need for a multi-carrier approach, continued capacity constraints, rising concern over cybersecurity and data privacy, and the reinvention of brick-and-mortar.
The E-tailers’ Almanac aims to help online merchants plan their shipments and identify overarching trends and current factors that impact the e-commerce sector in the United States.DHL eCommerce Solutions, a division of the world's leading logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL Group, recently launched the 2021 E-tailers' Almanac which identified four market trends: the need for need for a multi-carrier approach, continued capacity constraints, rising concern over cybersecurity and data privacy, and the reinvention of brick-and-mortar.#
The multi-carrier approach is gaining popularity, but more so after the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020, a few online merchants found themselves without a logistics partner. Some logistics operators could not take on excess volume due to capacity constraints in their network, and many placed caps on volume and added surcharges.
Logistics operators’ volume caps and surcharges are expected to remain throughout the year. With a multi-carrier approach and an established shipping strategy before the second half of the year, online merchants can better mitigate unexpected interruptions and shifts in market conditions, DHL said in a press release.
Capacity was a topic of concern for logistics operators in 2020, and it should be a topic on e-tailers’ radars this year. Due to the expected continuation of business-to-consumer (B2C) growth, the capacity crunch of 2020 is anticipated to remain in 2021 and it is unlikely for logistics operators to have extra secured space in the fourth quarter of the year.
Thus, 2021 may witness online shippers take a different approach by paying a premium to secure peak holiday season capacity.
For brick-and-mortar stores with an online presence, the speed to advance or accelerate their digital transformation meant many had to invest in real-time cyber threat intelligence with centralised monitoring and risk analysis. The most agile and resilient merchants are also employing unconventional tactics to identify their company’s vulnerabilities through Bounty programmes.
With brick-and-mortar retail stores shut down due to stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic, many shifted their fulfillment strategies. For some, this meant a permanent shift to a ‘dark store’ model, in which traditional retail stores are converted to local fulfillment centres. These dark stores provide customers the option for pickup or delivery while reducing the strain on retailers’ main fulfillment hubs.
With the advent of buy online and pick up in-store, parcel locker footprint and technology are growing worldwide. For e-tailers, parcel lockers get products into consumers’ hands at a reduced cost, conveniently and securely, the almanac said.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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