E-COMMERCE ASSIGNMENT

Introduction
E-commerce denotes to the buying and selling of goods and services, in addition to
the transmission of payments or records, through an electronic network, furthermost
remarkably the internet (or electronic commerce). These communications might
transpire amongst businesses (B2B), customers (C2C), or businesses (C2B) (C2B).

A supply chain is the complete process of manufacturing and distributing commercial

goods, commencement with the endowment of raw materials and ending with
delivery and sale (Batarfi, Jaber, & Aljazzar, 2017). Supply chain management
accomplishment is precarious for every organization endeavouring to compete.

E-commerce supply chain management encompasses managing the flow of

information, resources, and money throughout the numerous organizations and
stages of the e-commerce supply chain, from the attainment of raw materials through
the distribution of the finished product to the customer (Nageswaran, Cho, &
Scheller-Wolf, 2020). The supply chain is made up of contractors, fabricators,
salespersons, warehouses, logistics and transportation businesses, distribution and
execution centers, and the final consumer. Each business is accountable for a
definite supply chain link, which has an influence on whether the business ultimately
encounter consumer anticipations.

Stages in e-commerce supply chain

Supply and demand: The quantity of goods that consumers are keen and able to
buy at numerous prices is acknowledged as demand. Supply is the quantity of goods
and services that firms are prepared to deal at different rates. The price will alleviate
when supply and demand are equivalent, which is the deceptive equilibrium point.

Warehousing: Before products are equipped for distribution, they are retained in a
safe and protected atmosphere during the process of warehousing. As products
reach, warehouses keep trail of where they are in the building and how long they
requisite to bestowed by taking an inventory.

Inventory Tracking: The systems and actions that a business uses to display the
flow of raw resources or finished goods through the supply chain are denoted to as
inventory tracking. Essential to making money is the objective of having the
appropriate amount of inventory to gratify customer demand.

Order Entry: The procedures desirable to enter a customer's order into a business'
order handling system are denoted to as order entry. Once this data has been input,
it is typically reclassified internally as a sales order.

Order Management: Order management in a supply chain denotes to the

monitoring, recording, fulfilment, and management of customer orders. Order entry
actions can be monitored and administered using an Order Management System
(OMS).

Distribution, delivery and returns: Order fulfilment across distribution channels is

the key focus of the logistics management system recognized as distribution. The
network of persons and organizations that a good or service travels through to reach
a customer is acknowledged as a distribution channel. Delivering effectively is
defined as reliably giving your customers what they prerequisite—in the suitable
quantity, at the appropriate time. Delivery is now thought of as a manufacturing or
Distribution Company’s most important requirement. The process of handling
returns, reverse logistics, gatekeeping, and evasion within the company and
amongst important supply chain contributors is identified as returns management.

Key metrics to track in e-commerce supply chain

Diagnostic metrics: Diagnostic metrics are to scrutinize e-commerce supply chain
issues and "diagnose" their fundamental grounds. Moreover, they document supply
chain calamities to regulate what happened, where variations may be made, and
why. Diagnostic metrics are commonly implemented using data mining and/or data
discovery methods (Huang, & Jin, 2020).

Predictive metrics: Predictive metrics assist the organizations in predicting

upcoming events that are prospective to influence the e-commerce supply chain.
They gather historical data and feed it into a machine learning model to determine
foremost outlines and customer conduct. This data is then associated to data on
prevailing inventories to help forestall what will ensue next, such as an upsurge in
sales subsequent a new-fangled marketing campaign.
Prescriptive metrics: Prescriptive metrics bid comprehensive propositions for how
the predicted performance of the business should be developed. Prescriptive metrics
can offer endorsements for a plan of accomplishment to efficaciously negotiate these
incidences after companies have an understanding of what will arise in the e-
commerce supply chain in the future.

Effective e-commerce supply chain

Make the Inbound e-commerce Supply Chain More Efficient: Reception of goods
that can be reserved or cross-docked to complete orders should be the aim. Finding
out the existing complications and costs of rewriting non-compliant earnings in the
back office and the fulfilment center.

Multiple FCs to Lower Shipping Charges, Delivery Time: Market front-runners

have an influence on customers' prospects concerning fulfilment times and delivery
values (Xu, Gui, Zhang, & Wei, 2019). What do the present and potential customers
want in terms of earlier delivery and less exclusive shipping? Deliberate whether
using numerous FCs is the greatest course of action. Identify the costs and agenda
desirable to launch the commercial, comprising additional amenities, inventory,
workers, and administrative requirements.

Upsurge Paperwork Correctness, Decline Processing Time: One of the most

imperative technologies for automated warehouse systems is the custom of
barcodes. Using barcodes, company can regulate who, what, and when actions
occur within the walls.

Manage Labour More Professionally: The bulk of FCs necessitate corporeal effort,
which is expensive. If assimilating technology does not stretch a sustaining return on
investment, more effective labour management should be a principal planned goal.
Make attractive staff efficiency a major priority.

Escalate the Number of Picked Orders per Day: Order picking is one of the
labour-intensive developments, and opportune and accurate order fulfilment are
indispensable to a constructive customer knowledge (Chen, Liang, Yao, & Sun,
2017). For a number of submissions involving larger FCs, voice assortment, pick-to-
light and put-to-light, indicating modules, and robots can all deliver a return on
investment. They must, nevertheless, be intended to fit the structure, the products,
and the material handling.

References
Batarfi, R., Jaber, M. Y., & Aljazzar, S. M. (2017). A profit maximization for a reverse
logistics dual-channel supply chain with a return policy. Computers & Industrial
Engineering, 106, 58–82.

Chen, J., & Chen, B. (2019). When should the offline retailer implement price
matching? European Journal of Operational Research, 277(3), 996–1009.

Chen, J., Liang, L., Yao, D. Q., & Sun, S. (2017). Price and quality decisions in dual-
channel supply chains. European Journal of Operational Research, 259(3), 935–948.

Huang, M., & Jin, D. (2020). Impact of buy-online-and-return-in-store service on

omnichannel retailing: A supply chain competitive perspective. Electronic Commerce
Research and Applications, 41(4), 100977.

Li, K. J. (2020). Behavior-based quality discrimination. Manufacturing & Service

Operations Management, 23(2), 425–436.

Nageswaran, L., Cho, S. H., & Scheller-Wolf, A. A. (2020). Consumer return policy in
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Xu, Y., Gui, H., Zhang, J., & Wei, Y. (2019). Supply chain analysis of cross border
importing e-commerce considering with bonded warehouse and direct mailing.
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