这份新白皮书的见解表明，盈利能力仍然是许多电子商务公司面临的主要挑战，——或者实际上是因为——该行业的动态增长。它还让我们的客户全面了解该挑战*普遍的特定领域，以及目前哪些技术*有可能为他们提供支持，DHL电子商务解决方案执行官 Ken Allen 说。DHL的创新方法旨在在我们的全球网络中识别、试验和部署这些领域中*有效的技术和解决方案。例如，我们将继续在我们运营的许多部分积极扩展机器人和自动化，我们认为人工智能将成为我们未来整个业务的推动力。没有银弹，
承认创新本身可能是一项盈利挑战，特别是如果以错误的速度进行或资本支出过多，该研究还详细介绍了成功创新的三个步骤：专注于提供差异化的创新；对创新采取长期、战略性的观点；并架起人、软件和机器的孤岛。
鉴于全球物流业的复杂性、市场和监管环境之间的巨大差异，以及来自客户供应链关系和深入了解的竞争差异化，我们仍然看到人们在该行业中发挥着关键作用。可预见的未来，艾伦说。能够在未来成功的竞赛中获胜的公司是那些能够*有效地将员工的知识与软件和机器相结合的公司。
DHL, the world’s leading logistics company, has identifieddigitalization and automation in the supply chain as an imperativefor online retailers looking to grow and compete over thelong-term. In its latest white paper, the company, which this yearannounced an investment of at least USD 2.2 billion indigitalization through 2025, provides new insights on how specificchallenges within the e-commerce supply chain can be overcome withthe support of new technologies.
Change at the Speed of the Consumer: How E-Commerce isAccelerating Logistics Innovations was authored by Professor LisaHarrington, President and CEO of lharrington group llc. It looks atsix principal areas where e-commerce is challenging the supplychains of merchants and logistics companies: customer expectationsfor a perfect buying experience; consumers’ desire to buy andreceive goods ‘anywhere, anytime’; exploding demand for urbandelivery; competition for labor and wage inflation; the emergenceof new online sales models and unexpected surges in demand; andenvironmental concerns. The impact of these challenges is mostkeenly felt in the areas of fulfilment and last mile delivery.Labor in the U.S for example, which is the world’s second largeste-commerce market accounts for 40-60% of warehousing operatingcosts. With real estate company CBRE predicting in 2018 that anadditional 450,000 warehouse workers will be needed in the U.S. bythe end of 20191 and unemployment at a consistently low rate, thispresents a risk in terms of both cost and recruitment, particularlyduring peak periods. Increased urbanization, combined withheightened pressure – from both socially conscious consumers andmunicipal authorities, in particular – to reduce the environmentalimpact of transport operations is forcing retailers to seek outcreative ways of balancing delivery convenience with reducedmileage for diesel-powered vehicles over the last mile.
Across each of the profitability challenges, technologiesalready exist that allow companies to reduce unit costs, betterforecast needed inventory or increase productivity to absorbadditional growth. Robotics and automated sorting systems, forexample, allow companies to process higher order volumes withoutthe need to engage large numbers of temporary workers. AdvancedWarehouse Execution Systems, combining Internet of Thingscapabilities, machine learning, business intelligence and datamining agents can increase performance and responsiveness to meetrising customer expectations. While autonomous vehicles forlast-mile delivery still await regulatory approval in many markets,digitalization can already support better demand forecasting toallow inventory to be placed closer to the end customer and tooptimize transport routings, reducing time on the road. As many ofthese technologies evolve further and new innovations come to themarket, companies that are able to deploy them effectively withintheir supply chain will be best positioned to address the costlyinefficiencies, volatile order trends and demanding customerexpectations that characterize the fiercely competitive e-commercemarket.
“The insights from this new white paper show thatprofitability is still a major challenge for many e-commercecompanies, despite – or often actually because of – the dynamicgrowth of the sector. It also gives our customers a comprehensiveoverview of the specific areas where that challenge is mostprevalent, and which technologies currently offer the mostpotential to support them,” said Ken Allen, CEO, DHL eCommerceSolutions. “DHL’s innovation approach is targeted at identifying,piloting and deploying across our global network the most effectivetechnologies and solutions in each of these areas. We will continueto actively expand robotics and automation across many parts of ouroperations, for example, and we see artificial intelligencebecoming an enabler throughout our business in the future. There isno ‘silver bullet’, but companies must embrace new technologies andinnovate to thrive.”
Acknowledging that innovation can itself be a profitabilitychallenge, particularly if approached at the wrong pace or withexcessive outlays of capital, the research also detailed athree-step approach to innovating successfully: focusing oninnovations that provide differentiation; adopting a long-term,strategic view of innovation; and bridging the silos of people,software and machines.
“Given the complexity of the global logistics industry, thehuge variance across markets and regulatory environments, and thecompetitive differentiation that comes from relationships andin-depth knowledge of customers’ supply chains, we still see peopleplaying a critical role in the industry for the foreseeablefuture,” said Allen. “The companies that will win the race tofuture success are those that are able to combine the expertise oftheir people with software and machines most effectively.”