How does your product get to you when you order something online?

With just a click of a mouse on screen, during this age of marvel, you can get any product of your pick the very next day, or more often not beyond a week. Ordering and obtaining a product with a click of a mouse is the cult of the day. But one hardly knows the stretched route that it takes since a customer places an order until it reaches one’s door. Good to know the elongated process that takes place behind the curtain.  

Automated chain:

A survey conducted by a media organization having consulted many professionals working for logistic companies of global repute such as Flipcart and Amazon has unveiled several startling spin-offs. A gargantuan course of action goes on from the time a customer places an order till the preferred product reaches his / her home. The entire coordination consumes plethora of technical gadgets, human resources, interestingly robot technology as well. A customer’s zeal to receive the product of his choice is inimitable.  The faster a customer receives one’s ordered product, the happier he gets. Needleless to say he sticks to the same site and furthers his orders in future. So, it is evident why giant companies like Amazon, Flipcart and other e-commerce companies are relying on high-end technology to help expedite the good-delivery mechanism. Tactical judgment such as where to locate warehouses as part of distribution center network design a big impact on effective next-day fulfillment, as do downstream issues such as route scheduling.

Let’s look at an example to understand this entire process with a simple example. Say, Ravi bought a Motorola smart phone online in Flipcart. While placing any order, a customer mandatorily provide one’s PIN code in his address for the entire process of delivery gets head started with that PIN code a customer provides. Suppose if an order appears from any PIN code 500001 from Hyderabad, the logistic system automatically investigates the nearest location where that particular product is available. In case if that mobile phone is available near Shamshabad godown or warehouse, then the order is sent to Shamshabad warehouse to transport that product to the desired location. In case if the product is not existing in Shamshabad but sitting in either in Pune or Bangalore storehouses, then the phone is obtained from Bangalore as it easier to get it faster than from Pune. This is the magnificence of ‘LOGISTCAL MECHANISM’.

Speedy delivery:

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses usually spread around one lakh to 3 lakh square feet. Millions of products are stored in these godowns. People who work in these godowns and identify the goods are called ’pickers’. Pickers working in warehouses hold a tiny electronic gadget in their hands. Once a picker gets information from a company, he enters that product information in his handset. Then immediately, within seconds, the technology helps the picker where the specified product is located in that huge warehouse, in which shelf it is placed and how to access it is displayed. Diligently, the desired product gets identified in seconds. Then Pickers scan that item. How excellent!

Then next stage starts. The product is thoroughly checked so as to ensure if the product ordered is the same or not, and also other features – size, hue etc., after this careful scrutiny and when gets okayed by the supply chain experts, the item goes to central hub allied to the warehouse. That’s where the product is weighed and gets packed. Then the product will get aboard to travel based on the PIN code given. Keeping the next day fulfillment demand in mind many companies are employing robots and conveyer belts to meet customers’ perceptions. It is not uncommon for customers to experiencing to get the different shade of the product than what they had ordered. But it is the customer’s responsibility to read between the fine lines to see the instructions that may say that customer must accede to and accept the hue of the item delivered, other than what he had expected, as per the availability at the hub.  

Clear address:

The goods arrived from central hub are being carried by logistic companies.  So, the more the transparent of the addressee, the easier and faster the product reaches the customer. It’s better the customer gives clear address, without any ambiguity, including exact location, pertinent landmarks where the recipient’s house is located. That is the very information is sent to the delivery hub. If there is any ambiguity in the address, then the product goes to the nearest warehouse and gets stuck there undelivered. Based on the distance factor, the product travels by road or air ways. After reaching the specified location, then the delivery boys hand-over the product to the customer. If the product is not available in the supposed storehouse, then the company which has been contacted by the customer goes out of its way and buys it from other company and sends it to the customer.

Same day order fulfillment:

Many reputed e-commerce companies are trying to deliver the product within three to five days since the order has been placed.  Amazon and Flipcart companies are promising the next day delivery if the customer pays an extra charge. Amazon is acknowledged to have provided same day fulfillment. Sunday delivery facility is also available in 200 cities by Amazon. In Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad cities morning delivery facility is pretty much prevalent. These sorts of orders are given high priority delivery by many e-commerce companies. Interestingly, these preferred orders get delivered even at the cost of the delay of other usual orders.

Robotic Services:

The paramount Amazon Company had bought the world famous Robotic Company called Kiva which has made its way in locating and packing the products. Kiva's robots bring the product shelves to a warehouse worker, rather than a worker walking to the shelves. The robots locate the items in a customer's order, move the products around warehouses and help get packed boxes to a final loading dock. The advent of e-commerce business has paved the way for the robotic technology more prominent. Other than many top e-commerce companies - Flipcart, Pepperfry, Jabong many other courier companies just to name a few – Aramex and DTDC are also making use of Robotic technology widely. It has become very prestigious for many companies for the quicker fulfillment of the order and to avoiding delivery-delay much supply chain or logistic companies are employing Robotic technology.