DHL Supply Chain’s latest report on the evolution of e-commerce supply chains has found that despite understanding the vital importance of e-commerce on customer retention and satisfaction, most companies have failed to implement a holistic e-commerce strategy.
The report, which launched today, reveals that 70 percent of B2C companies and 60 percent of B2B companies are still working towards the full implementation of their strategy, even though 70 percent of respondents rate e-commerce as ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ to their business in terms of volume and revenue.
“The e-commerce supply chain: Overcoming growing pains,” report also uncovered the major barriers to full strategy implementation, which includes changing customer expectation, pace of delivery, and limitations in existing infrastructure. The report identifies the flexibility of a 3PL partnership as a solution to a barrier as its adds agility and expertise at a vital time for e-commerce.
Other key findings in the report include:
- 53 percent of B2C and 55 percent of B2B indicate that approximately one half of the total revenue of their business comes from online sales today.
- Expected percent of revenue from online sales will grow in the next 3 to 5 years for both B2B and B2C, and 64 percent of both B2C and B2B companies will reach parity on that revenue percentage.
- Customer Service was one of the top-rated customer requirements and expectations, with 53 percent of B2C and 55 percent of B2B rating it as Extremely Important.
- Approximately 47 percent of respondents opt for adopting a hybrid insource-outsource strategy.
