E-Commerce Doing Business in an Online Marketplace
Transportation and Logistics
Still Critical To Any Physical Business
It might seem like in the modern economy that a business can get everything it needs done through the Internet and computers.
While it is absolutely true that things like email and cloud computing have reached like tendrils to impact and connect virtually every aspect of doing business in a digital online marketplace, it has not replaced the need for ‘old school’ elements of business such as transportation and logistics. It’s absolutely true that computers and similar technology have impacted these areas of business operations, but they have not taken away the need for them.
In truth, many businesses that have online operations rely very heavily on the transportation industry for their operations. This is especially true of any business that sells things across the Internet and then ships them to consumers wherever they are. Without transportation options like the postal service, UPS, or FedEx, then their products would simply not arrive, and they would have no business model.
Some E-Commerce Hubs Take it a Step Further.
Consider Amazon, which now does same-day delivery for many items within major cities. It relies on its own transportation services in such matters, so rather than seeing transportation become less of a priority, it is in fact more important than ever.
Even businesses that do not sell directly online still rely on transportation of Internet-ordered goods to stay open and in business. Many physical brick and mortar retail stores place orders for the merchandise they sell. In most cases, they do not keep a ton of overstock in the back or over their shelves, instead waiting until they are low or even out of an item before replenishing it, because they have enough trust in the transportation speed of their deliveries that they know they can order something on Tuesday evening and have it on the shelf Thursday morning.
It’s a New Age in E-Commerce
Computers and the Internet have certainly made logistics a new animal. With custom bar codes and labels, anything can be tracked through a project process, step by step all along the way. Packages for instance can have status updates down to what city, flight, or truck they are on. While this makes it easier than ever to track where things are, the complexity of such systems can also present users with information overload at times. In any case, transportation and logistics have grown with the Internet and new technology, but are still here to stay.