Shopping, yayy!! The mere thought of it fills one with ecstasy and joy. After all, who doesn’t like shopping and getting new things for oneself, friends and family?

Okay, now think of these two practical situations:

• *Have you ever ordered a gorgeous pair of high-end, high-heeled shoes to be worn with your rosewood pink dress on your college prom, and to your dismay, ended up wearing the same rugged low-profile wedges that you have been wearing since your day 1 at the college?
• *Or have you tried sending your choicest ‘rakhi’ to a dear brother living in some other city, only to discover later that it reached days after the festival, or even worse, did not reach at all?

Late deliveries are a common scene these days, and blame it entirely on the poor supply chain management and inefficient logistics on the part of the suppliers, for the large shipping consignments they take and end up in disappointing the customers.
For all those people working in a strict 10-6 schedule, six days a week, it gets a little topsy-turvy to go mall hopping and picking up the desired goods, and hence the concept of online shopping is ruling people’s mind these days. The recent trends have also shown an unprecedented inclination towards online shopping as opposed to the traditional shopping set up.

The electronic receipt makes record-keeping much easier and so is the system of returns and exchanges: the choices one gets are so varied and diversified and can be sorted by price, popularity, and ratings, that too at the comfort of one’s home. Yes, you guessed it right, we are here talking about the perks of shopping done via various online portals and teleshopping companies.

As for consumers, everything nowadays is a click away, but there is an altogether different story when it comes to the supply chain manager’s end. Logistics comprises warehousing, inventory management, packaging, billing, shipping and many other transportation-related practices. There are a large number of stakeholders involved at each stage of the delivery process; each of them equally accountable for the transportation of the right good to the right customer in the right amount of time in the most optimized way.

Effective logistics boosts consumer base, and this is how a one-time consumer ends up in being a long-term customer. It increases the credibility of the portal, and hence the popularity of the company rises.

Here is a list of various things an e-commerce company can do to avoid delays in delivery:

• *A proper knowledge of the basics of supply chain management must be imparted among the employees before they start working with the company
• *A training in warehouse management will enable the employees to maintain the flow of goods from manufacturers to the warehouses efficiently
• *The candidate must be thorough with the basic skill set required to start a career in logistics and related corporate sphere
• *The employees must have a knowhow of the fundamentals of e-commerce and operations developing fulfillment systems for handling the business that e-marketing and e- commerce generate.

Moreover, people working in logistics and supply chain management should realize the importance of the power of feedbacks. The feedbacks and reviews posted about goods or services are detrimental when it comes to people exercising their right to choice. People these days are largely moved by the reviews as they do not necessarily want to go through the pain a fellow customer might have suffered.

The consumer is the king, and the e-commerce companies should work on satisfying their customers to a 100 percent. People in large numbers are switching to various online shopping portals as attractive pricing and hassle-free deliveries are all they are looking for. So, why wait?? Engage in an efficient logistics and rule people’s mind.