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In many countries of Western Europe, where the increase in demand for courier services is great, there are delays, but in no case does the delivery time double and triple, explain the industry players to “K”. The main problem in Greece is the absence of organized and technologically modernized sorting centers.
The demand for couriers may have multiplied due to the blockage, but the long delays in deliveries have deeper causes and are not explained by the simultaneous seasonality of holidays and Black Friday. This is stated by industry sources, who have a complete overview of it and the situation in the rest of Europe, identifying 4 main causes of suffering for both senders and recipients of e-commerce packages and plain documents , in the last weeks.
First, Greek courier companies, with few exceptions, have not made significant investments in the necessary infrastructure. And especially in the sorting centers where packages are sent for shipment. And those that have launched such investments (for example, automatic sorting – a sorting system that speeds up the process between picking up packages and shipping them) are still in the process of being rolled out and cannot cope with the current situation.
Second, there is a clear and significant lag by Greek courier companies in high-tech investments, the same sources note. Therefore, even if the company from which a product has been purchased has a state-of-the-art infrastructure to locate, package and ship the item, the mediation of a courier company can significantly slow down the entire process. “The chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” experts say.
Third, the lack of storage space in most of the market is notable, so even under normal conditions, before the pandemic, that is, congestion is observed. “After all, most now know that orders from online stores abroad arrive in Greece in two to three working days, at a time when these times are science fiction for shipments within Greece,” say sources. From the market.
Fourth, the average daily domestic shipments in Greece are estimated to have been around 200,000 before the pandemic, but rose to more than 800,000 in the first weeks of the second blockade, and the latest estimates speak of up to one million domestic shipments. per day.
In many Western European countries, where the increase in demand for courier services is almost equivalent (less, because electronic commerce already had greater penetration there), there are delays, but in no case doubling and tripling the delivery time, they explain the same sources. in “K”.
However, the industry is at a crossroads, with many entrepreneurs skeptical about whether even some of the increased demand will remain on the next day of the pandemic, postponing investments that could improve the largely stale situation in the infrastructure and equipment of courier transport in Greece, emphasize business consultants. “Investments in robotics and artificial intelligence are different, and investments in dexter shelves are different,” they jokingly point out.
The hiring of people and the rental of means of transport, through which many Greek companies have been trying to solve the problem during the last eight months, are nothing more than a solution against fires, according to the same consultants: the main problem is the absence of organized and technologically modernized sorting centers.
A positive development emerging from the data from the second blockade is that Greece’s shipments abroad have started to increase at a very high rate, as Greek e-commerce stores “scale” on international platforms and are selected by foreign consumers. An aspect of the current reality that perhaps has escaped greater attention.
Or won the supermarkets
On March 25, if an Attica consumer were to attempt to order from an online store, the earliest available delivery date would be April 16 and this would be a purely electronic supermarket order.
There were cases where the earliest available delivery date was May 4, essentially denying the existence and purpose of the online supermarket. Many chains did not even have an electronic supermarket or had just acquired it during the first closure, such as the “Masoutis” and “Sklavenitis” chains, while the share of electronic sales in the total turnover of the industry was slightly higher than 0.5%.
Now, supermarket chains deliver products that are ordered electronically largely on the same day, in some cases even within two hours of ordering, as if they know this place better than any other retailer.
Supermarkets have used their extensive network of physical stores to turn them into distribution centers.
How did they win the bet of e-commerce and especially of punctual delivery, although most of them are “neo-enlightened” in this field? They made significant investments in human resources, in collaborations with electronic ordering and distribution platforms, in collaborations with specialized distribution companies of products with minivans and motorcycles, increased their own fleet of vehicles, while investments in new warehouses with automation were very important . . In the first phase, before completing the investments in the supply chain, the supermarkets used the vast network of their physical stores to essentially convert them into distribution centers. According to estimates by the Consumer Goods Research Institute (IELKA) for the delivery of home orders, supermarkets spent 8.1 million euros in the nine months from January to September, while at the end of the year it is estimated that they will amount to 13. million. The sector’s expenditure on the development of electronic commerce is estimated at 8.1 million euros at the end of 2020, with a total of 6,600 hires in the nine months (another 700 are estimated at the end of the year), many of which correspond better processing of electronic orders.
A typical example is “Sklavenitis”, which until the beginning of the year had nothing to do with e-commerce in terms of the retail channel. During the first lockdown, it entered into an agreement with efood, then used the platform to receive orders and used its stores as distribution centers. In 2020, the second e-hub for electronic order management was launched, it has increased its fleet of vehicles and has partnered with specialized companies active in the transport of food, while it has proceeded with more than 2,000 hires.
“AB Vassilopoulos”, which had an online store, invested more than 10 million euros for the creation of the AB Home Shop Center for the electronic ordering service in Attica. It employs 260 people and is expected to reach 400. In addition, the company proceeded in collaboration with delivery.gr for the distribution of its products.
MyMarket has made a total of more than 900 hires, many of which involve carriers, and has partnered with transportation companies to deliver orders. “Kritikos” had already proceeded to the express delivery service since spring, cooperating with a company that has motorcycles, meanwhile said chain and “Masoutis” cooperate with the BOX platform.
