E-commerce once described how companies operating in the B2B sector conducted business by sharing information electronically. Nowadays, the term means online shopping and all that comes with it – such as social shopping, multimedia entertainment, immediacy, and, of course, ease.

In this InsightOn: report, DHL examines the ideas of e-commerce and Collaboration and the interaction between the two. We explore how both are changing life and business for consumers, merchants and in the supply chain.

Part one focuses on trends among consumers, such as shopping locally and via smart phone. DHL looks at how the digital and the physical worlds are converging for many consumers and what that means for bricks-and-mortar stores. For instance, a Korean grocer has come up with a way for commuters to shop from the subway as they stand in front of a poster replica of a grocery store, ordering their milk and meat for home delivery.

The report goes on to examine major trends in online retailing: going global and multi-channel marketing. Companies positioning themselves for growth have already acknowledged the shift in buying patterns that is driving these trends, and they are setting up their businesses and supply chains to take advantage of both.

To attract and to properly serve customers outside their home markets, online retailers are beginning to offer cross-border e-commerce services, such as international shipping, currency conversion and customs-clearance. And, as if to usher in the era of Omni-channel buying, it is no longer unheard of that a sales clerk standing in a store will assist a customer with making a purchase - online.

After examining the not-so-glamorous side of e-commerce, such as its impact on communities and worries about privacy, InsightOn: experts take us in depth on collaboration and how it is used as a strategy for businesses to adapt in quickly changing times. Many are looking to partners for fulfillment services; they are revamping their reverse logistics processes; and companies are putting renewed focus on speed to customer. And, as cost pressure mounts, companies are increasingly linking up with their own competitors to share last-mile delivery costs, for instance by co-locating their warehouse operations in a so-called consolidation center.

Once companies have entered collaborative arrangements, they should measure and monitor their projects with shared KPIs that are focused on business results, points out DHL’s own Stuart Whiting. Richard Wilding, a professor of supply chain strategy at Cranfield School of Management, seconds the opinion, saying that some of those KPIs should be about relationship effectiveness.

Another supply chain expert, the author and consultant John Gattorna, takes that idea one step further, arguing that only those companies that exhibit truly collaborative values make suitable partners for collaboration. With the rest, says Gattorna, partners must take a different approach.

Once organizations are aligned for effective partnerships and collaboration, they have the chance to hone the supply chain to very fine degrees in order to beat the competition.

That supply chain refinement will, in the end, benefit consumers and online merchants, since a positive delivery experience brings repeat business – and repeat business is just what keeps the online orders clicking in.

Rhea Wessel

You can find out more about InsightOn: here:
www.dhl.com/insighton