Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 1INTRODUCTION

Objectives:

o This chapter is a prelude to subject Logistics for Ecommerce that will help us understand the common terms which are related to Ecommerce, Logistics, E-Logistics, E-Supply Chain etc. There are many concepts which are interwoven with logistics and ecommerce; those are brought forth in the chapter. Various building blocks of the logistics for ecommerce are put to study in detail.

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 2

INTRODUCTION TO E-COMMERCE

o Ecommerce (E-Commerce) or electronic commerce , a subset of E-business, is the purchasing, selling, and exchanging of goods and services over computer networks (such as the Internet) through which transactions or terms of sale are performed electronically. Contrary to popular belief, ecommerce is not just on the Web. In fact, ecommerce was alive and well in business to business transactions before the Web back in the 70s via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) through VANs (Value-Added Networks). Ecommerce can be broken into four main categories: B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C

o A term E-Commerce, known and used by billions of people all over the world, but yet no common definition for the term of e - commerce exists yet. Maybe the most popular definition is made by the World Trade Organization (WTO): “E - commerce is understood to mean the production, distribution, marketing, sale or delivery of goods and services by electronic means.” So e-commerce can be seen as a mode of vectoring business through electronic means.

Chapter 1 3INTRODUCTION

TIME LINE FOR ECOMMERCE (1/2 FIG.)

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TIME LINE FOR ECOMMERCE (2/2)

o Year 1991: Introduction of E-Commerceo Circa 2002: IRCTC teaches India to Book ticket onlineo Year 2003: Introduction of Low Cost Airline with AirDeccano Year 2007: The Deep Discounted model of Flipkarto Year 2014: Current Scenario

o The Key drivers of in Indian ecommerce have been:1. Increasing broadband Internet and 3G penetration.2. Growing Living standards3. Availability of much wider product range4. Busy lifestyles and lack of time for offline shopping5. Increased usage of online categorized sites6. Evolution of the online marketplace model with websites like

eBay, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc.

Chapter 1 5INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION TO LOGISTICS

• Logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point-of-origin to the point-of-consumption in order to meet customer’s requirements.

• The key functions are: procurement, production and distribution logistics

1. Procurement: sourcing and purchasing of goods and services for the production

2. Production: planning, managing and monitoring intra-plant material flows relevant for production

3. Distribution: connects production logistics with the inbound logistics of the customer

Chapter 1 6INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION TO E-LOGISTICS (1/2)

E-Logistics can be defined, then, as: a logistics community network consisting of third-party logistics service providers including warehousing and transportation networks with suitable information technologies such as EDI, the Internet, wireless and mobile communication technologies, WWW and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with the objective of providing one-stop value-added services to customers.

Chapter 1 7INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION TO E-LOGISTICS (2/2 Fig.)

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FUNDAMENTS OF E-LOGISTICS (1/2)

o The growth of share of electronic commerce in commerce in general (all over the world and in Poland) has caused a need of an online access to logistic services amid suppliers and recipients on market.

o Experiences achieved up to the present in the area of e-business enable to distinguish the following business models which define relations of market’s partners

1. a business to business model (B2B) — this model embraces main economic contacts, it means their preparation, assessment of partners’ risk, negotiating and realization of order until full payment.

2. a business to customer model (B2C) — it concerns financial services (e.g. electronic banking, insurances, investment funds), non-financial services (e.g. touristic services) and trade centers (the Internet shops).

3. a customer to customer model (C2C) — this model mainly includes hobby contacts or attendance in auctions.

Chapter 1 9INTRODUCTION

FUNDAMENTS OF E-LOGISTICS (2/2)

• Partners in global chains and delivery nets use many present solutions of e-logistics to service business activity. Electronic services of logistic processes run by companies in the supply chain require the use of many electronic tools accessible through the Internet. It has brought about functional separation in the framework of e-economy in many areas of electronic services available through the Internet, e.g. e-purchasing, e-production, e-commerce, elogistics, e-marketing, etc.

• The most often used tools of cooperation in the virtual scope of e-logistics are

1. the Internet portal, & electronic platform,

2. electronic catalogue, & data warehouses,

3. information services, & systems of offers and purchasing,

4. transactions systems, & systems and communication tools,

5. systems and software, e.g. applications of supply chains’ planning, dictionaries, digital maps, e-learning systems, etc.

Chapter 1 10INTRODUCTION

E-SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

With eSCM (electronic Supply Chain Management) it is possible to create dynamic reconfigured supply chains, so called temporary supply chains, which are built for the needs of even simple transactions of individual clients.

eSCM systems configure with the following parts: eCommerce, eProduction, eLogistics, ePlanning, eDelivery and eDesigning.

eSCMlowering of order realization costs, possibility of the use of just in time concept, a lower store in warehouses, restriction of documents’ amount, making shorter of procedures, automatics, fewer mistakes, bigger loyalty of clients, shorter time of orders’ realization, coordination of orders with suppliers and recipients, restriction of agents’ amount and stronger links with trade partners.

Chapter 1 11INTRODUCTION

INFORMATION INTEGRATED SYSTEMS

o Information technology, systems integration is the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole.

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INTRODUCTION

IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY — RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless use of electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information.

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ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (1/3)

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is an electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data via any electronic means.

EDI is independent from the hardware platform and operating system and the software platform (from user application). EDI is based on international standards. Data transmission in EDI is done by electronic links between computers, not by exchangeable data carriers. EDI technique is a definitive manner of using of transmission nets.

Chapter 1 14INTRODUCTION

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (2/3 Fig.)

Chapter 1 15

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (3/3 Fig.)

Chapter 1 16INTODUCTION

DATABASE

o A database is defined as an ordered collection of data holding in computer memory. The system of the data base stands for the data with program means letting simultaneous operating on it and simultaneous searching and updating of included in it information.

A database is characterized by four fundamental features:

1. independence of applications and data,

2. abstractive representation of data,

3. different ways of data perceiving,

4. physical and logical independence of data.

Chapter 1 17INTRODUCTION

CASE EXAMPLES - Going Online for Planned logistics from DTDC Logistics

• Once the booking is registered in the portal, the same is verified by a courtesy call from customer back-office team.

• After confirmation from the guest, the back-office team will confirm the booking on the system and log in the booking in DTDC provided link for distribution, logistics and remittance process.

• DTDC will book all these shipments in 'I' Series. The designated DTDC coordinator will log into the portal and reconcile all the order bookings that are available under the link for processing.

• Once it’s reconciled, the coordinator will book these shipments using DTDC Bulk Booking module and print the provisional bookings from the portal and put it in a DTDC envelop.

• The printed "I" series shipment number will be attached to envelop and dispatched to the destination location.

• After deliveries, cash payment collected is also updated into the system.

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