The Does LogisticsMatter? Podcast is all about trends and innovations in supply chain and logistics. This episode features Didier Duponselle, Business Unit Director at Ahlers. In Episode 008 I spoke to Didier’s colleague Johan Elzes about the challenges of doing business in Russia. In this Episode, Didier and I go into the challenges and opportunities of e-commerce and e-fulfilment in general and the state of e-commerce and e-fulfilment in Russia and CIS. Thank you, Didier, for sharing your knowledge and insights!
Challenges in e-Commerce Logistics
Whether you operate in Europe, the United States, or in Russia and the CIS region, the challenges in e-commerce and e-fulfilment are the same. Logistics operations worldwide are faced with shortages.
- Drivers: there is a shortage of drivers, which in some countries even leads to empty shelves and products becoming unavailable, like McDonald’s having to temporarily pull the milkshake from the menu in the United Kingdom.
- Logistics Workers: with the rise in e-commerce, there’s a rise in demand for logistics workers as well. It’s getting increasingly hard to find good logistics personnel.
- Warehousing space: the demand in warehousing space is so high, that in many countries it is hard to find good warehousing space. e-Commerce giants like Amazon and Ozone are building huge warehouses themselves.
For companies trying to expand their business in Russia, there are the additional challenges of the need to have a company registered in Russia, the language, and local culture.
Opportunities in e-Commerce Logistics
Companies that are struggling with these challenges can outsource their e-commerce to a logistics service provider. They have multiple sites and a broad experience of running different operations for different customer. Next to leveraging available space across their network, they can also leverage people. If there is a crisis or a peak in demand in one location they can move teams from one site to the other to help out. The right logistics service provider can also help you enter new markets. In the case of Ahlers, these new markets are Russia and the CIS countries.
if you want to hear more about the opportunities for companies to expand their business online in general, and more specifically in Russia and CIS, then click one of the buttons below to listen to the conversation I had with Didier.
This blogpost is sponsored by Ahlers
