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By CHARAN LALWANI Unlocking Success in E-Commerce Delivery
E-commerce has never been more popular. What amounted to just 2% of total retail spend just a few years ago now accounts for 15% - and growing - of total retail spend. Growing demand has led to an explosion of start-ups created to solve the complex challenges that exist in the last mile space. Over the last two decades, traditional retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Target have built out their last mile capabilities to enhance their online offerings by providing better visibility, higher reliability and faster speeds. That said, the breadth of the last mile space is much wider now and filled with new entrants such as DoorDash, Instacart and UberEats. These companies are re-inventing the last mile operational model, with sophisticated technologies that offer consumers everything
from fresh food to in-store selection from physical retailers with the click of a button. In just the past few years, more than 120 new start-ups have been launched to solve the last mile challenge, capturing more than 28 billion dollars in funding worldwide. That accounts for an estimated 30% of total funding across early stage-startups, according to a study conducted by McKinsey. Clearly, the world sees an immense opportunity to power the future growth of e-commerce. The question is: Has all this funding and hype resulted in sustainable businesses capable of satisfying today’s consumer expectations while meeting the profit expectations of investors?
So far, the answer is no.
29 The Acumen
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