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Delivery Partners Earning Benefiting Of Online Shopping Boom

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Akash Dwivedi
Delivery Partners Earning Benefiting Of Online Shopping Boom

Online shopping has increased a lot in the last few years, and it is expected to keep growing at a vast pace. Better infrastructure, better connectivity, and more awareness about e-commerce in the people have increased the reach of online shopping websites to the even remotest parts. With so many varieties of products available at such attractive prices, everyone would love to get their shopping done from the comfort of their home. And with covid 19 pandemic still present and fuel prices sky-rocketing, even more, people are turning towards online shopping.

 

Online shopping patterns aren't the same as a few years ago. They have changed, and along with that, many other things have changed. Initially, people would not spend more money on online shopping due to trust issues. Products like large appliances etc. were not usually purchased online as people were afraid of the product getting damaged during shipping and putting a lot of money at risk. But now, online shopping sites have earned people's trust, and people are willing to make more significant purchases online. 

 

People weren't thrilled to shop fashion initially, but with advantages like replacement and full refund options, people are buying more and more apparel every day. Also, people are willing to buy beauty products online and expensive items as they can get their money back quickly if the product is not as per the spec sheet or has any problem - be it manufacturing defects or damages during shipping, the customer is refunded in full. This was not the case a few years ago when people couldn't trust e-commerce companies.

 

With all this good change, the allied industries have also grown tremendously. The delivery partners have strengthened their logistics, improved their reach, and worked a lot on efficiency. Delivery times have reduced tremendously - what used to take weeks to reach hardly takes a few days these days. Companies have even started introducing same-day deliveries at specific (mainly metropolitan) locations. All these take money, and delivery partners and shipping companies have made tremendous investments in the past few years. This is because growth is not possible without innovation and proper strategy.  The companies made such investments looking at the scope of growth due to the boom in online shopping. The biggest of the shipping and logistic giants like FedEx and BlueDart have made sure to put in the best efforts and suitable investments to take complete advantage of the impressive growth that online shopping is supposed to show.

 

Now, the companies are smart enough not to make investments unless they see growth opportunities. So the question remains, have they earned the profits they expected to achieve?

 

Well, the answer is yes, the shipping companies and delivery partners have made massive profits. With innovative thinking and proper planning, delivery partners made the best of the opportunity they got. Many last-mile delivery partners started using EVs (Electric Vehicles) for delivering parcels, which turned out to be a brilliant decision considering the rising fuel prices and tax and other benefits of electric vehicles. This has reduced the cost hugely to the already low asset business model. Less operating costs and more volumes mean just one thing - profits. All these are significant factors to the phenomenal growth of the shipping and delivery industry that we see today.

 

The covid 19 pandemics have impacted almost all sectors. And this sector is no different. As lockdowns and shutdowns came into existence, online shopping and e-commerce came to a halt, and with that, the shipping and delivery companies also had to reduce their operations at a colossal scale. But as soon as usually started coming up, lockdowns were removed, the shipping industry started showing a tremendous boom. The boom was because of one primary reason, i.e., people were not very willing to get out of their houses to shop and hence turned to online shopping. Another important reason was although deliveries were allowed, markets weren't open yet, leaving the customers with no choice but to shop online.  

 

Delivery services have made huge profits in the past few years because of the rapid expansion in their network. With more locations added every day and better transportation and logistic infrastructure, the e-commerce and shipping industry has shown massive profits, reach, and volumes. With so many millions of phones and thousands of appliances sold every month, delivery companies do fantastic business. 

 

Last-mile delivery startups have earned maximum profits as they don't have to invest in long-distance transportation and logistics. Along with that, they are the instruments through which e-commerce companies can reach remote locations. So an increased dependency on last-mile delivery partners is seen. The semi-urban and rural areas, which have considerably lower connectivity, are entirely served by these last-mile delivery companies. And as there is a massive scope of sales from these locations for the online shopping portals, they have given complete co-operation and support to these delivery partners, allowing them to earn huge profits. 

 

Online shopping of appliances and furniture are considerably large and need more extensive transportation arrangements, even for the last mile delivery. Now, furniture and appliances sales are significantly lower than others, and investing in a truck can be costly and not very useful, as significant products aren't prevalent. So most of the delivery partners don't take such orders, considering there is not much scope to earn. Few of those who take prefer renting a local truck temporarily to get the product delivered.


It is pretty evident that apart from the customers and the sellers, another party that has benefited hugely from the growth in online shopping is the shipping and delivery industry. Not just by profits but also in terms of development. The companies have expanded at an alarming rate. Even the remotest of the part is accessed, and the network is strengthened. The logistics and transportation part has improved, allowing the companies to be more efficient in their business. The companies are still looking forward to earning more, maybe even more than before, thanks to the ever-increasing growth of e-commerce.

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Akash Dwivedi
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