E-Commerce & Supply Chain Management

This assignment delves into the dynamic relationship between e-commerce and supply chain management. It examines emerging trends in both fields, exploring how advancements in technology, such as e-business initiatives and delivery droids, are shaping the future of retail. The assignment analyzes key concepts like value chain analysis, logistics integration, and competitive advantage, highlighting their significance in the modern business landscape.

Running Head: Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Contents
Task A..............................................................................................................................................3
Logistic Management and Competitiveness of organisation.......................................................3
Task B..............................................................................................................................................7
Relationship between e-business and e-commerce and the benefits from their innovations.......7
Task C............................................................................................................................................11
Best Practices and their benefits for Amazon............................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Task A
Logistic Management and Competitiveness of organisation
Amazon.com INC which is doing business with the name of Amazon is an
American electronic commerce and cloud computing enterprise set up by Jeff
Bezos in 1994 and situated in Seattle, Washington. Amazon was initially known for
selling books through their website but as time progressed they started to sell e-
books via its kindle e-reader which helped it to gain much popularity. Besides
selling books Amazon has developed a customer service, inventory and shipping
empire that allows the website of the company to offer everything to the
customer ranging from clothes, furniture, janitorial supplies, fast moving
consumer goods, electronics, household items and various other digital content
such as movies, music and application. Another arm of the company called the
Amazon Web Services is a multi-billion dollar subsidiary of the company which
offers cloud positioned applications to bulk of enterprises all over the globe that
also includes bureaucracy institutions and education academies. Amazon is the
biggest internet vendor worldwide in context of earnings and merchandise
funding and it is second biggest company worldwide in context of overall
transactions after Alibaba. The main basics based upon which Amazon has
received such growth and development is its focus on long term customer loyalty
and short term profits along with diversification of their business by expanding
into various new businesses (Britannica.com 2017).
Logistics management is defined as the practise of decisively administering
the acquirement, displacement and repository of supplies, segments and finished
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
reserve through the enterprise and its commercial channel in such a way that the
ongoing and forthcoming profitableness of the company are enlarged through the
cost adequate attainment of the orders (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
Logistics Management is described as the component of the supply chain
administration which is utilised to achieve the consumer requirements through
the process of outlining, governing and execution of the compelling displacement
and repository of related data, equipments and services right from the place of its
origin to its destination (Singh, Sandhu, Metri and Kaur 2018). The process of
logistics management helps business organizations to enhance customer
satisfaction and reduce the expenses of the company. This process of logistics
management begins with the process of procurement of raw materials and ends
with the delivery of the products to its destination (Prajogo, Oke and Olhager
2016).
Effective logistics management can help Amazon to become more
competitive in the market and therefore it can act as a major origin of competing
dominance for the company. The source of competitive advantage of Amazon is
based around the 3C’s which are customers, competition and company. As the
source of competitive advantage for a business organization is its ability to
differentiate itself in the minds of their customers and to operate at a lower cost
in order to generate more profit (Mangan and Lalwani 2016). Effective logistics
management can help Amazon to be more competitive in the market as by
focusing on logistics management the company can network the market place,
the delivery chain, the assembling systems and the acquirement process which
will help in servicing the customers of the company in a better way yet at a lower
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
cost. Effective logistics management can also help Amazon to become more
competitive in the market as they can focus more on the quality of product by
effective procurement, manufacturing and distribution of the product which will
help the customers to differentiate the products of Amazon with other similar
products (Mellat-Parast and E. Spillan 2014.)
Amazon can become more competitive or can boost ambitious leverage
when it operates various critically paramount actions of the company such as
designing, generating and retailing, distributing and aiding its products and
services more reasonably or in a superior way than their rivals. Effective logistics
management can help Amazon become more competitive as it involves reducing
various expenses of the company regarding procurement and transportation of
raw materials and also finished products to the market such as expenses on
freight. Effective Logistics management can also help Amazon enhance the
visibility of their entire supply chain which makes it easier to control and manage
and implement any new changes in the supply chain of the company. It even
builds competitiveness by improving the warehouse inventory management of
Amazon and thereby reducing the amount of wastage of products by maintaining
a proper inventory in the warehouse of the company and storing the products
according to their nature. Further, effective logistics management is also aimed
towards making Amazon more competitive in nature as it helps in linking every
business units of the company which are related to the procurement, production
and delivery of the product and therefore it becomes helpful in measuring the
efforts put forward by Amazon so that prompt actions can be taken when
necessary and even changes can be implemented which will in turn help them
become more competitive and quick. The below figure helps in understanding the
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
logistics and competitive advantage based on the two vectors of strategic
direction.
Fig: Logistic and Competitive Advantage Matrix
(Source: Differentiateyourbusiness.co.uk 2017)
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Task B
Relationship between e-business and e-commerce and the benefits from their
innovations
E-business or electronic business is described as the procedure of carrying
out commercial processes on the Internet which includes ordering and trading of
product, servicing consumers, stocks and services, administering the
manufacturing regulation process, disposing of cashes, allocation of data and
information and joining together with several business associates and more.
E-commerce or electronic commerce is described as the procedure of
ordering and trading of goods and services or the transpose of capitals and data
over an electronic chain such as the Internet. The business transpose in e-
commerce can be B2B, B2C, C2C or C2B in nature (Chaffey 2015).
Amazon is an example of both e-commerce and e-business as nearly all the
business activities of Amazon are conducted through the internet which includes
the selling of its various products and services through the internet, processing
payments and sharing of data and information.
E-commerce and E-business share a relation among them as e-commerce is
considered as a subset of the e-business as it is only concerned with the ordering
and trading of products by using the internet whereas e-business is concerned
with servicing customers and collaborating with business partners along with
buying and selling of products. E-commerce is also considered as a subset of the
e-business process as e-commerce is primarily concerned with the organization’s
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
customers while e-business is concerned with increasing the connectivity of the
organization not only to its customers but also with its business partners,
organizational suppliers and employees (Strauss 2016).
Fig: Relationship between e-business and e-commerce
(Source: Narimanhb.com 2017)
There are several innovations and development which are seen in the field
of e-commerce which has improved the scope of e- commerce and also helped in
improving the service quality of the e-commerce business organizations. The
newness in the area of e-commerce is as follows:
Drone Delivery- It is considered as one of the major modifications in the
area of e-commerce as it is aimed towards reducing of the delivery times of the
product and it also ensures systematic and efficient distribution of the products to
the consumers with the assistance of drone technology.
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Fig: Drone Delivery
(Source: Amazon.com 2017)
Droid Delivery- It is also considered as an improvement in the area of e-
commerce as it involves the delivery of products to the customers with the help
of robots in order to ensure systematic and timely distribution of products to the
customers with minimum scope of human involvement.
Fig: Droid Delivery
(Source: Telegraph.co.uk 2017)
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Involvement of big data in the retail sector- The involvement of big data in
the retail field will also ensure that the delivery system is organized in nature as
big data will help in the parcel volume prediction which will ensure quick
determination of the volume and cost of shipment than usual (Falk and Hagsten
2015).
Sophisticated automation- Sophisticated automaton is also considered as a
development in e commerce as sophisticated automation in the form of advanced
machines and robots are being utilized in the supply chain management of
various organizations in order to eliminate chances of human error and to
systematically control the entire supply chain process.(Kumar and Vijayalakshmi
2016).
The recent innovations and development in the e-commerce sector could
benefit Amazon in multiple ways as the recent innovations are targeted towards
the increase of efficiency of the e- commerce organizations. Firstly by adopting
these innovations Amazon could improve its supply chain management process
which will help the company in the better procurement, production and delivery
of products. Secondly by adopting these measures Amazon will be able to
improve their delivery system which will help in increasing customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty and lastly adopting these measures will help Amazon to
differentiate itself from its other competitors and gain popularity among their
customers (Shaikh, Rafiq and Iyer2014).
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Task C
Best Practices and their benefits for Amazon
Best Practices are defined as those methods or techniques which have been
generally accepted as superior to various other alternatives in place as it has the
ability to produce results which are superior in nature than other alternatives.
There are various practices and measures adopted by Amazon which can be
considered as best practices as it have yielded fruitful results for the company and
have helped the company to accomplish its objectives and goals. One of the best
measures adopted by Amazon is emphasizing platforms which serve its own
customers in the best and quickest possible ways rather than developing a tightly
designed ecosystem with various interlocking applications and services
(Fastcompany.com 2017). Another best measure adopted by Amazon is the
continuous effort of the company to experiment into adjacent areas and later
develop them into their own franchises. Furthermore best practice adopted by
Amazon is its transformation into physical stores along with online stores and the
other measure adopted by the company is the introduction of “Prime”, the
rapidly proliferating membership program of the company. The best example of
the best measure adopted by the company is its ever evolving logistics strength of
the company in order to cope up with the demands of the customers (Miraz,
Habib and Saleheen 2016).
There are several benefits associated with the best measures of Amazon
which have helped the company to cope up with the demands of their customers
and enhance their shopping experience. The main benefit which is associated
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
with the best measure of the company regarding emphasizing on platforms which
serve their own customer is the increase in the loyalty of the customers and being
the first choice of the customers. The benefit which is associated with
experimentation of the company by investing into various sectors has helped in
the diversification of the business of the company and increase in the customer
base of the company. Whereas the main benefit which is associated with the
focus on setting up physical stores of Amazon will help in enhancing the customer
experience while the other benefit which is associated with the continuous
development of the logistics infrastructure of the company have helped them to
become more competitive in nature and also improved the development of the
quality of product.
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
References
Amazon.com., 2017. Prime air. Available at- https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-
Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011 Accessed as on 16/12/2017
Britannica.com., 2017. Amazon. Available
at-https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazoncom Accessed as on 16/12/2017
Chaffey, D., 2015. Digital business and E-commerce management. Pearson
Education Limited.
Differentiateyourbusiness.co.uk., 2017. Logistics management.
http://www.differentiateyourbusiness.co.uk/using-value-chain-analysis-to-create-
competitive-advantage Accessed as on 16/12/2017
Falk, M. and Hagsten, E., 2015. E-commerce trends and impacts across
Europe. International Journal of Production Economics, 170, pp.357-369.
Fastcompany.com., 2017. Innovative companies. Available at-
https://www.fastcompany.com/3067455/why-amazon-is-the-worlds-most-
innovative-company-of-2017 Accessed as on 16/12/2017
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues
and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Kumar, V.S. and Vijayalakshmi, N., 2016. Emerging Trends in E-Commerce. ITIHAS-
The Journal of Indian Management, 6(2).
Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management.
John Wiley & Sons.
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Mellat-Parast, M. and E. Spillan, J., 2014. Logistics and supply chain process
integration as a source of competitive advantage: An empirical analysis. The
International Journal of Logistics Management, 25(2), pp.289-314.
Miraz, M.H., Habib, M. and Saleheen, F., 2016. ICT-Based Business Initiatives for
Women: An Outline of Best Practices in E-Commerce/E-Retailing Ventures.
Narimanhb.com., 2017. ecommerce and e business. Available at-
https://narimanhb.com/tag/relationship-between-e-commerce-and-e-business/
Accessed as on 16/12/2017
Prajogo, D., Oke, A. and Olhager, J., 2016. Supply chain processes: Linking supply
logistics integration, supply performance, lean processes and competitive
performance. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 36(2), pp.220-238.
Shaikh, A., Rafiq, M. and Iyer, R.K., 2014.Exploring e-Business Trends with Supply
Chain Management Perspective. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business,
e-Management and e-Learning, 4(3), p.211.
Singh, R., Sandhu, H.S., Metri, B.A. and Kaur, R., 2018. Supply Chain Management
Practices, Competitive Advantage and Organizational Performance: A
Confirmatory Factor Model. In Operations and Service Management: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1181-1207). IGI Global.
Strauss, J., 2016. E-marketing. Routledge.
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Telegraph.co.uk., 2017. Delivery droids. Available at-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/26/delivery-droids-coming-to-
london-pavements-as-soon-as-next-month/Accessed as on 16/12/2017
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