Product Delivery in E-Commerce How Fast? How Technological?

The issue of fast delivery to the customer has turned into a very different shape with the latest technological developments. New technologies are constantly being introduced in the field of product storage, collection and distribution. Even if the investment processes are expensive, using tools and vehicles such as robots, driverless forklifts, jets, etc. in warehouses is becoming more and more common.

The star of e-commerce is continuing to shine. The effect of the pandemic, which has been on an incredible rise for the last two years, is indisputable, but similar figures were expected even if there had been no pandemic. There is a striking figure associated with this growth. It is calculated that the e-commerce increase on a global scale will be 1.5 trillion dollars in the next five years and for each 1 billion dollar increase, 93 thousand square meters of new e-commerce warehouse space will be needed.

This means that we will need approximately 140 million square meters of new e-commerce warehouse space for the next five years. Let’s make a striking evaluation of this calculation. A classical size football field covers an area of approximately 7 thousand square meters. As a result, if we say that there is a need for warehouses the size of approximately 20 thousand football fields for the next five years, the scale of the issue will become more clear.

As e-commerce thrives in this sea of crazy figures, so does competition. We all know that there is no such thing as “I have opened the website, my customers are awaiting now”. Classical areas of competition in e-commerce are already clear: good price, quality content, advertising, fast site, mobile content and fast delivery. In particular, the issue of fast delivery of products to customers has turned into a very different shape with technological developments.

New technologies are constantly being introduced in the field of product storage, collection and distribution. Even if the investment processes are expensive, using tools and vehicles like robots, driverless forklifts, jets, etc. in warehouses is becoming more and more common. Supply chain management is getting much more efficient with driverless vehicles on site. These vehicles can be programmed for several different roles, including loading and unloading and bring significant efficiency in processing times.

In addition, driverless vehicles will start to be seen more on the roads after a short time and will take an active role in many places. Dominos has been trying pizza delivery with driverless vehicles in America for three years. There are many examples like this; very new technologies have been put into operation in recent years, especially in the field of delivery to the customer, where the workforce factor is important.

The Future of E-Commerce Delivery is in 3D Printers

The most popular subject, drone delivery, has developed very rapidly in recent years. The investments of the companies like Google, Amazon, Boeing, etc. are continuing, and there are studies on this subject in our country.

Although the commercial application of such systems is still limited, drone delivery will become an ordinary shipping method very soon and will be used widely. In fact, drone delivery is basically the transfer of the delivery by land to the air. That is why it is not seen as a major innovation by many experts on the subject.

With the rapid development of 3D printers, their introduction for home use and the rapid development of technology, it will be possible to obtain almost every product at home or work with a 3D printer.

From a different point of view, there is also the idea that the future of e-commerce deliveries is in three-dimensional (3D) printers. This type of printer is already being widely used in many industries. With the rapid development of 3D printers, their introduction for home use and the rapid development of technology, it will be possible to obtain almost every product at home or work with a 3D printer. For example, it will become an ordinary thing for us to 3D print a pair of sneakers at home. Thus, instead of waiting for the cargo at home, we can pay a design fee to a brand we choose. Or we can even make it our own design. Afterward, we will be able to have this product in front of our eyes at home with the consumables that the printer will use for shoes.

Science Fiction is Turning into Reality Rapidly

If you are one of those who think “Technology needs to develop for all these to happen, we need new delivery alternatives now”, we have not forgotten you. For example, there are those who are thinking about what can be done for delivery while you are not at home.

Walmart has developed a system for products that need to be kept cold, where there is intense competition in the USA. This system enables the product to enter the refrigerator even if the customer is not at home. To benefit from this system, the customer has to fulfill some prerequisites. It requires automatic home entry and camera systems included in the home insurance system. The operation of the system starts with the delivery of customer orders to the door of the house by the courier.

Here, the customer sees the carrier from the camera and allows the carrier to open the door of the house remotely or with the code he sends. After the carrier enters the house, all his movements are monitored by the cameras and he places the products in the refrigerator. He leaves the house, where the system records all the movements of the carrier and assures the customer about theft, security, property damage. Since we do not prefer wearing shoes at home in our beautiful country, we can add a shoe cover to this implementation and launch it immediately.

We can add even more examples; competition and technology will bring us to very different points in this regard. In fact, we will be able to see developments in some subjects that we see only as science fiction much faster. As an example, an old series that I liked very much comes to my mind immediately. You would remember the series ‘Star Trek’. Starship Enterprise, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spark are characters that I still cannot forget. They were using incredible technology in this series.

Maybe it is early for teleportation technology, but the competition in e-commerce will accelerate the developments in this regard, because incredible investment and money are flowing into this field of competition.

Teleport technology was applied to transport people. You could say that it can only happen in movies. But for those who think this way, I would like to remind you of Stanley Kubrick’s legendary movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. You could see many technological innovations such as a video phone, (yes, it was a little big!), different ways of using credit cards, etc. in the movie as a science fiction element. But now, they are all real.

Maybe it is early for teleportation technology, but the competition in e-commerce will accelerate the developments in this regard because incredible investment and money are flowing into this field of competition. We have seen this in studies for the COVID-19 vaccine before. A study that would normally take 5-10 years was completed in only one year. Maybe it was a bit fast and such a fast study aroused different doubts because it is such an important issue as human health, but we have a technological development in our hands.

In conclusion, e-commerce is growing rapidly, and competition is also increasing rapidly. Many different implementations and developments in every field of this subject will enter our lives rapidly. The important thing is to be at a level that can make the technological development that brings about this change. The rest will follow.