Ecommerce Logistics Management: Technologies, Marketing Tools, Supply Chain Analytics, and Digital Transformation Challenges

This report discusses the different e-commerce technologies used in ecommerce logistics management, content marketing tools/strategies, supply chain data analytics, and key reasons for failure of digital business transformation projects in a logistics business. It also provides strategies to overcome such challenges. The report focuses on Tesco, a UK-based retailing company.

E-commerce Logistics
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Question and Answers.................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Logistics management is one of the most effective and essential task for a business where
companies plan, implement and control the supply chain of their goods and services. Here,
companies makes sure that their goods should be stored in warehouses effectively and supply to
customers in case they got demands of their products in market (Yu and et. al., 2017). E-
commerce logistics management is held through internet sources where companies receive
orders through digital mediums and they transport their products where shipping is free of cost
and deliver it to their customers. Tesco is UK based retailing company which deals in e-
commerce logistics and supply chain management. It was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen. The
following report covers different e- commerce technologies and these technologies impact the
optimisation of logistics and supply chain management in a retail business engaged in e-
commerce, different content marketing tools/strategies that can address the needs of emotional
and rational thinking consumers. Beside this, it also covers use of supply chain data analytics in
the context of a logistics business and reasons for failure of digital business transformation
projects in a logistics business and how to overcome with such challenges.
MAIN BODY
Question and Answers
Question 1- Different types of e-commerce and their importance in management of logistics and
supply chain management.
Answer- There are various kind of e-commerce technologies which are used in managing
logistics and supply chain management in retailing business such as Tesco and these
technologies are explained below-
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)- It is the technology which help to transfer amount
from one back account to another bank account in few seconds with the help of digitalization.
This is done through mobile, laptops and few other electronic devices (Giuffrida and et. al.,
2017). This help retailing companies to receive their payments as quick as possible from
customer’s side. Here, customers order their items through Tesco mobile application and make
online payment on the spot. The receipt of payment is received on e-mail by customers. Their
products deliver on time after the company receive and they verify their payment mode.
1

Global Positioning System (GPS)- It plays an important role in managing logistics and
supply chain management of Tesco because it provide the feature of tracking goods and assets
throughout the whole process of managing a inventory (Evans and Mason, 2018). Here, when
customers order their product then they can see the location of their products through their
mobile phone with the help of GPS tracker. This digital technology also help companies to
manage their inventory effectively by analysing which item is kept at which corner in the
warehouse.
Electronic data interchange (EDI)- This is the e-commerce system which helps
companies to interchange their data from one company to another company through digitally
without involving paper documentation (Barenji and et. al., 2019). This e-commerce system
makes sure that the data which is transferring from one company to another will reach to correct
receiver and no one take advantage of misusing the data in any case. It provide full safety of
transferring data for logistics companies.
Robotics warehouse systems- This is expensive system opted by large companies to
manage their logistics and supply chain management. Here, automated system like bagging
machines, carbonization software and many others are used. Such kind of technology helps to
analyse the weight of products and their dimension to calculate carton size for packaging the
products. This technology help companies to faster the process of packaging the items.
Block- chain technology- This is the technology which is used to record the data like
customers personal information, transactions related to payments and logistics management and
many others. The best feature of this technology is that it make sure that the data which is stored
by the companies will be kept safe and secure and help to protect data from hackers or any third
party (Lim, Jin and Srai, 2018). In context to Tesco, they use this technology to protect their data
and such kind of data which is stored here is not allowed to change.
Question 2- Different content of marketing tools/strategies that can address the needs of
emotional and rational thinking consumers.
Answer- Emotional ad rational thinking customers are those customers whose experience are
measured as good or bad after purchase decision (Lin and Peng, 2018). There are various kind of
marketing tools which help to analyse the needs and wants of emotional and rational customers
and these tools are mentioned below-
2

Social media marketing- There are many companies which analyse the needs and wants
of customers through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and many others.
Here, customers share their feedback after using product on social media and they also provide
review to some products or brands (Wang, Xie and Fan, 2021). This kind of information is useful
for companies like Morrison, Asda, Tesco and many others. In context of Morrison, they
promote their brand through Instagram and Twitter by uploading the images and videos of their
products. Their customers comment on the pictures that whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied
by using the product. They also provide suggestions for introducing new product to company.
Google- Most of the customers prefer to search about the products on google which they
prefer to buy and companies track the google searches and analyse their customers’ needs and
wants.
HubSpot- This platform help companies to provide resources which further help them to
create content and ensures that the right content will be reached to right customer. Here,
companies create their accounts on HubSpot and started sharing their content (Browne and et.
al., 2018). It will help company to analyse their overall sales of their different kind of products as
well as their overall performance. With the help of this platform, companies can analyse that
their which product have more sales to identify that customers are having more needs of that
particular product. This also helps them to analyse products having least sale to make changes in
the product to develop their overall sale. For example Accenture, IT Company based in Ireland
uses this marketing strategy to analyse their customers’ needs and preferences.
WordPress- This is the marketing tool which is used to design website of companies and
their blogging contents easily. This platform provides a good opportunity for companies to
design their website in such a way which will attract more customers (Xin and Li, 2020). Here,
companies also supposed to add a feature in their website which consists of customer's
complaints. Here, customers can complain or provide their feedback of using the product. Hence,
this will help the companies to analyse their customers’ needs.
E-mail marketing- Here, companies aware their customers through e-mails by sending
them essential contents and feedback forms. Most of the customers, supposed to use e-mail while
sharing their experience to their companies (Wang and et. al., 2020). Here, companies send them
feedback form and ask them to fill and resend on same e-mail ID. This is the marketing tool
3

which is used by most of the companies like Mark and Spencer and many others to analyse the
needs and wants of their customers.
Question 3- Discuss the use of supply chain data analytics in the context of a logistics business
and how the insights generated through such analytics can improve the business competitiveness
and customer value.
Answer- Supply chain analytics is the process to analyse the movement of their logistics in their
company. It is important for most of the companies because it helps to analyse those items or
stock of goods which are having slow movement for sale. This could be due to wrong prediction
or lower in the demand of products (Yu and et. al., 2020). It includes all the information related
to order management which they receive from customer's side, warehouse management,
transportation management and many others. Supply chain analytics help companies to improve
business competitiveness. Here, companies can achieve competitive advantage by managing
their supply chain effectively and focus on those activities which help them to enhance their
sales. Well managed transportation system also help to gain customers satisfaction because when
the products are delivered on time without any damage then customer will gain good experience.
In context of Tesco, their supply chain manager and logistics manager always focus on
effectiveness of their transportation system because sometimes goods are manufactured in a good
condition without any damage or error but while its transportation from one place to another it
get damaged. Hence, Tesco focuses to opt those trucks and vehicles which help them to transfer
their products from warehouse to their stores and customers easily by keeping the quality of
products safe and secure so that customers will receive the products in the same manner as it is
manufactured. This will also help companies to maintain their customer value by providing them
good quality of products.
On the other hand, Warehouse management is the part of supply chain analytics where
companies manage all the activities of their warehouse effectively. In context of Tesco, they
follow the rule of “First -In and First-Out” where they focus to use those stock first which comes
first in the warehouse. This is done mostly by food and beverages companies where they can
only kept their products for a particular period of time. Hence, this will help them to reduce their
wastage of products due to spoiling (Zasadzień and Žarnovský, 2018). Minimizing wastage of
products will also help companies to gain competitive advantage.
4

Order management of customers is also the part of analytics supply chain management.
Companies related to logistic management receive many orders everyday where it might be
possible that due to lots of orders they can deliver wrong order to their customers. Hence,
effective supply chain management analytics help companies to manage their customers order
effectively and deliver them right products which they ordered from the company. This will
further help the company to gain high customer value and high customer value will further help
to gain competitive advantage of companies (Zeng, 2018).
Question 4- key reasons for failure of digital business transformation projects in a logistics
business? Discuss the key stages of digital business transformation and the strategies to
overcome such challenges.
Key reasons for failure of digital business transformation projects:
Digital transformation is defined as the process of creating as well as modifies new
business activities through using digital technologies. Digital transformation consumer
experience and culture of business. Digital transformation includes various activities such as
automating process; enhance efficiency of business through cutting down cost, changing
business culture, executing new technologies to improve user experience. Some reasons of
digital transformation failure are mentioned below:
Unclear goals of digital transformation: Before taking decision regarding digital
transformation, it is necessary to develop effective business goals, strategies that enable business
to reach determined goals and objectives (Wu, 2019). If business does not have proper
knowledge and understanding regarding goals, objectives and strategies than it can impact
overall effectiveness of business to efficiency and effectiveness of business transformation
projects of Tesco.
Lack of expertise: Lack of expertise is the reason of digital transformation failure. It can
raises by various reasons such as incorrectly establishes goals, inefficient and unclear strategies
as well as inadequate resources that can impacts business process of digital transformation. All
this mistakes are the cause of digitalisation strategy failure. Lack of expertise in the field of
digital transformation process affect Tesco so, it provide training to its employees to run all
operations in efficient manner.
Ignoring customer experience: Ignorance of customer experience is the reason that
impact overall business process to transform digital technology. As customers are the support of
5

business and they play important role in leading business towards success. Tesco includes
aspects of customers in digital transformation strategy in order to keep business on eight track. If
customers are neglected than other competitors may get advantages on organisational market
share.
Not changing internal culture of business: It is quite easy to adopt and implement
digital technologies as well as methodologies in business but if internal culture of business is
modified in proper way than it can be the cause of digital transformation failure in Tesco.
Respective organisation makes sure that all its co-workers properly understand all strategies to
adopt these changes in efficient manner.
Key stages of digital business transformation
There are various stages of digital business transformation that are adopted by
organisations in order to sustain in competitive business environment and gain competitive
advantages. Stages of digital business transformation are mentioned below:
Business as usual: In this stage business performs regular operations with having no
insight into customer's desires or perceptive (Qin, Liu and Tian, 2021). Tesco concentrates on its
operations to attain various sustainable competitive advantages.
Present and active: In this stage business recognised needs and requirements of digital
business transformation and adopt different latest technologies to being changes in business. If
all efforts of business are not organised than it create problem at all hierarchical level of
business. Tesco works in more organised manner and lead efforts towards successful digital
transformation.
Formalised: In this stage, business starts intentional experimentation of latest
technologies in business operations. Tesco formulates strategies and create various changes in
business culture to attain success in digital transformation.
Strategic: This is the stage where companies implement their planned strategies within
their existing business.
Converged: This is the stage where companies measure their performance which they
opted that whether the strategies of digital transformation is working effectively or not.
Innovative and adoptive: This is the stage where companies adopt innovative ideas and
practices of developing more digitalization systems within their business. Here, companies seek
6

to identify opportunities for growth through innovations and adaptation which include to change
strategies after every few period of time to gain competitive advantage.
There are few challenges faced by companies to transfer their business to digitalization.
These challenges and the way of mitigating these challenges are mentioned below-
 Lack of IT skill employees- Retailing companies are service providing companies which
are having those employees which are having the skills of customer service rather than IT
skills. Hence, when a business transforms its operations from traditional business to e-
business or digitalization then they need more IT skilled employees. Therefore, this issue
can be mitigated by hiring more IT skilled employees which can handle all issue of
digital devices quickly and focus to achieve their organisational goal.
 High investment- When a business transforms to digitalization then they require to
purchase high quality of tools and machines which consist of high amount (Hu and et. al.,
2021). This issue can be mitigated by having proper budget for specific tasks.
 Digital security- When a business transforms their activities digitally then they is
required to save their data on digital platform rather than paper documentation. Hence, it
will increase the chance of security issues and it might be possible that hackers could
hack the system and misuse company's essential data. This issue can be mitigated by
using that software which provide data security guarantee. For example, using Block
chain system is useful which protect data from hacking.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that having digitalization of business will help the companies to grow well
and faster. There are various kind of technologies which help companies to manage their
logistics and supply chain management effectively. There are various kind of digital marketing
tool which can help companies to analyse the needs of their customers such as social media
marketing and many others where customers share their reviews and feedbacks. Supply chain
analytics also help companies to gain competitive advantage and customer value by managing
the orders of their customers, managing transportation activities and many others.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barenji, A.V. and et. al., 2019. Intelligent E-commerce logistics platform using hybrid agent
based approach. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation
Review, 126, pp.15-31.
Browne, M. and et. al., 2018. Urban logistics: Management, policy and innovation in a rapidly
changing environment. Kogan Page Publishers.
Evans, B. and Mason, R., 2018. The lean supply chain: managing the challenge at Tesco. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Giuffrida, M. and et. al., 2017. Cross-border B2C e-commerce to Greater China and the role of
logistics: a literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management.
Hu, L.Q. and et. al., 2021. Analysis of Lemon Company’s Cross-Border E-Commerce Logistics
Distribution Mode Selection. In LISS 2020 (pp. 601-615). Springer, Singapore.
Lim, S.F.W., Jin, X. and Srai, J.S., 2018. Consumer-driven e-commerce: A literature review,
design framework, and research agenda on last-mile logistics models. International
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Lin, C. and Peng, J., 2018. Analysis and Solution of the Problems in the Distribution of Suning
Tesco. Transportation Management, 1(1).
Qin, X., Liu, Z. and Tian, L., 2021. The optimal combination between selling mode and logistics
service strategy in an e-commerce market. European Journal of Operational
Research, 289(2), pp.639-651.
SPARKS, L., 2018. Tesco’s chain management supply 07. Logistics and Retail Management:
Emerging Issues and New Challenges in the Retail Supply Chain, p.183.
Wang, X., Xie, J. and Fan, Z.P., 2021. B2C cross-border E-commerce logistics mode selection
considering product returns. International Journal of Production Research, 59(13),
pp.3841-3860.
Wang, Y. and et. al., 2020. Cross-border e-commerce firms as supply chain integrators: The
management of three flows. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, pp.72-88.
Wu, A., 2019, June. Logistics Cost Control of Jingdong Mall Under E-Commerce Mode.
In International Conference on Applications and Techniques in Cyber Security and
Intelligence (pp. 592-599). Springer, Cham.
Xin, Y. and Li, X., 2020. A Study of Supermarket Industry and Integral Role of Enhanced
Logistics Systems.
Yu, Y. ad et. al., 2017. E-commerce logistics in supply chain management: Implementations and
future perspective in furniture industry. Industrial Management & Data Systems.
Yu, Y. and et. al., 2020. An operation synchronization model for distribution center in E-
commerce logistics service. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 43, p.101014.
Zasadzień, M. and Žarnovský, J., 2018. Improvement of selected logistics processes using
quality engineering tools. Management systems in production engineering.
Zeng, M., 2018. Research on the Last Mile Delivery of Rural E-commerce in China. Advances in
Economics, Business and Management Research, pp.540-545.
8

Online-
Tesco Logistic Operations Analysis, 2017 (online) available through
<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/the-logistic-operations.php>
Tesco Company’s Global Supply Chain Management, 2020 (online) available through
<https://studycorgi.com/tesco-companys-global-supply-chain-management/>
Logistics in Tesco: Past, Present and Future, 2020 (online) available through
<https://flylib.com/books/en/2.405.1/logistics_in_tesco_past_present_and_future.html>
9