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The internet has a tremendous effect on Canadian consumers and businesses changing the way business is done. Although it is one aspect of the digital economy, buying and selling online caters to a growing number of people involved in the B2B and B2C market. Infact, the growth of e-commerce has been a positive factor in increasing national productivity and sales.
Logistics has a major impact on businesses and how well they serve their customers. When a website sells a product which has to be distributed to a buyer, Supply Chain Logistics play an indispensable role from sourcing/procurement to transportation and shipping. This also involves the cost of warehousing and effective inventory management.
E-commerce also puts a company in good competition towards its competitors so in cases where free shipping is offered for a certain amount of purchases – this also benefits the customer through logistics services which go hand in hand with order fulfillment and the customer can track their order on the transportation company website.
B2B companies tend to ship larger orders and have lower costs in proportion to the business generated. B2C companies on the other hand have a larger geographical customer base in their web business. B2C companies also offer additional delivery choices than B2B companies like pickup options or Dropship availability. The volume of shipment is an important factor when costs are calculated for transportation where certain logistic companies offer high volume discounts which also depends on the frequency of shipments and not just the volume.
When products are coming in from overseas to Canada, the government can assist businesses in reducing tariffs and duties so that effective international trade can take place. Since the United States is heavily involved in cross border trade with Canada, many companies are resorting to procuring services of US logistics companies for cross border movement of products and in time delivery to customers.
Larger companies can negotiate better transportation and warehousing rates and offer more delivery options to their e-customers. Also, a number of specialized services are available to keep the e-commerce business going like insurance, banking and custom brokers.
Sales have been on the rise in this multi billion dollar industry. From an economic standpoint, e-commerce is a key element in enhancing a company’s competitive advantage and this allows it to capitalize on the market share and of course Logistics is paramount for the company to achieve its goals. With many small players in the market, this has opened avenues for small businesses to flourish.
In the global marketplace, Canadian businesses have to stay on top of things and compete in a smart fashion with international competitors and for this to happen especially in the e-commerce industry, a profoundly smooth logistics network needs to be operational in full swing to make sure customer order processing, pick, pack, ship and transportation management is taken care of keeping in mind other issues as well like returns and damage to products. Automation plays a significant part as well in terms of Billing and shipping of products.
Researched by – Ali Shahrukh