My Experience of eCommerce During Lockdown

Before the COVID-19 lockdown, there had been a steady rise in the level of eCommerce, both domestic and Imported.

Suddenly the country went into level 4 lockdown which basically meant a complete shutdown of "non-essential" businesses.

Businesses scrambled to get online, initially with and restricted range of products and then ultimately everything was available online with contactless delivery.

Then the stories started.

1. 2000% increase in orders. A food company overwhelmed, went daily sales went from 50 orders to 1000 orders. That firm ceased online orders to focus on core business.

1. One $120 order required eight deliveries, including a duplicate. Obvious multiple stores involved to fulfil the order.

1. Mother’s day order promised delivery in 9 days, Notified of supply issue but still be delivered on the original schedule. The tracker still says nine days, but it is day 22 and no order. I have had eight newsletters and one request for a reference. Marketing is great, fulfilment not great.

With the lockdown behind us, we may have missed an opportunity to grow the eCommerce business. Now we have time to review our process, is there a role for logistics robots.

Any new system needs to be

1. Scalable to meet the unexpected.

2. Flexible to handle new product opportunities,

3. Efficient to compete with the global players.

For more information call me John Biggs, 021 763 522

John Biggs. has spent the last 20 years selling and installing ERP systems. Logistics robots are a logical extension to provide improved efficiency and accuracy. For more information www.hikrobot.co.nz.Or email john.biggs@hikrobot.co.nz, LinkedIn