Striking the right e-motion

摘要

While it hasn't yet become the shopping Utopia envisioned by many, e-commerce is definitely having an impact on the distribution landscape. To begin, the fast response and accurate shipment mode that became the cornerstone of e-fulfillment is now expected by customers regardless of how they place an order. "If one item in any order is wrong now, then the customer sees the order as 100% wrong," says Don Derewecki, executive vice president of Gross & Associates (732-636-2666, www.grossassociates.com). "Most companies now have also set a standard of completing fulfillment within 24 hours." At the same time, one of the weak links in e-fulfillment distribution centers―cost control―has become the holy grail for all. Amazon.com, for one, credits much of its latest profitability to improved distribution operations.