A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) announced a revolutionary eCommerce fulfilment solution in India with which all elements of an eCommerce fulfilment solution will be available through a single window at a flat rate of INR 80 per order. This solution has primarily been targeted at a typical small or medium eCommerce business in India that relies on multiple logistics partners for different activities. With this solution, Maersk is taking the complexities out of its customers’ supply chains by providing single window access to all required solutions, such as storage in warehouses, last-mile deliveries and executing return orders, all while providing end-to-end visibility at unified pricing.
Vikash Agarwal, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia said, “India’s eCommerce business has great growth potential. But the highly fragmented market and supply chain complexity are hurdles to many businesses’ growth. With our new solution, we want to stay true to our purpose of improving life for all by integrating the world. With our ‘One Country, one Price’ solution, we will take complexities out of our customers’ supply chains and grow with them as they focus on what they do the best.”
Boosting trade in a digital Bharat
The recent India e-Conomy Report 2023 shows that in India, the average hours spent per day per user are 6.5 as compared to 5.5 in China and 7 in the USA. However, when it comes to digital payments, the number of real-time transactions per capita per year is 65 in India as compared to 12 in China and 8 in the USA. India had 220 million online shoppers between May 2022 and May 2023. Further, the report shows there are 700 million internet users in the country, of which 350 million use digital payments. These staggering statistics prove the potential the eCommerce sector holds in India.
The Integrated Solution
In a typical fulfilment solution for an eCommerce business, multiple interfaces are involved that take care of different elements of logistics. It all starts with picking up finished goods from a manufacturing facility or origin and moving them to a warehouse. Then comes the element of receiving orders through an online eCommerce platform and connecting that order for further processing at a warehouse before it is delivered to the end consumer. All these solutions are managed by more than one logistics partner in India. With the new eCommerce fulfilment solution, all these logistics requirements will be available to the eCommerce business through Maersk as a single partner. The enablers for Maersk to deploy such a solution include multiple warehousing facilities in multiple cities.
One Country, One Price
The prevalent fragmented logistics solutions are also responsible for fragmented billing. ECommerce businesses are charged differently and separately for each logistics service rendered, making for extremely complex billing. With its ‘One Country, One Price’ solution, Maersk is bringing all the services under a single charge of INR 80 / USD 1 per order. This will include 60 days of storage, delivery across India covering 18000 pin codes in 48 hours, 20% returns to origin (RTO) and at no fixed monthly costs or no minimum orders.
