E-commerce logistics strategies

The retail sector is constantly evolving, with the development of department stores, super- and hypermarkets, hard discounters and more. The birth and development of the Internet has led to the emergence of a new form of distribution: e-commerce, which has grown steadily and significantly since the late 1990s. Whether it's a genuine revolution in consumer habits and distribution methods, or a simple evolution of mail-order sales thanks to the right technologies, e-commerce today offers great freedom: you can buy products and services from the comfort of your own home, from almost anywhere in the world.

The ATAWADAC phenomenon (anytime, anywhere, any device, any content), first described by consultant Xavier Dalloz, or Mobiquité (mobility and ubiquity), depicts the widespread use of the Internet everywhere and by everyone, thanks in particular to the multiplication of media (mobile, tablet, computer, etc.) . E-commerce also crystallizes numerous debates: economic, ecological, social and societal . For example, in February 2022, the president of the Belgian Socialist Party told a Flemish newspaper that, to revitalize commerce and city centers, he wanted Belgium to be able to move away from e-commerce.

In a mature sector such as retail, the arrival of the Internet and e-commerce has forced traditional retailers to transform. E-commerce has also contributed significantly to the growth and importance of logistics, making the efficiency of order processing, inventory management and delivery - particularly last-mile delivery - a key factor in the commercial success of the offer. Following the development of multi-channel, and then omni-channel, strategies, retailers have clearly understood the commercial benefits of collaboration between channels to optimize consumer satisfaction, provided that the organization of flows makes this collaboration possible.

The aim of this article is to take stock of the evolution of commerce thanks to technological progress, and in particular the digital innovations that have led to the development of e-commerce. The success of e-commerce is based on a value chain in which the logistics function plays a very special role, all the more so since the advent of omnichannel sales. This will be the subject of the second part of this article.