The logistics industry in India is evolving rapidly and is considered the backbone of the economy for moving goods across the country. However, the constant evolutionary changes, such as technological innovations, changing consumer demands, and new regulations, often bring challenges to this sector. Over the years, the definition of logistics services has evolved, particularly with the growth of eCommerce businesses, presenting new challenges such as managing timely deliveries, reducing costs, handling returns and refunds, and more.
These are a few challenges that logistics companies faced in India:
Transportation cost: One of the biggest expenses for any logistics company is transportation cost, and unstable fuel prices and maintenance can further increase it. To save on transportation costs, an Indian logistics company can adopt alternatives like combining shipments, installing routing software, and reducing carriers. Many businesses today switch between partial-truckload, less-than-truckload, and full-truckload shipments (FTL vs PTL vs LTL) to manage costs based on cargo.
Manpower management: Manpower plays a significant role in logistics, and communicating with drivers and staff who are mostly on the road can be difficult. The logistics sector needs skilled manpower, and the shortage of drivers is a never-ending challenge. Moreover, there is a lack of training institutions as well.
Handling customer experience: The logistics industry is fiercely competitive, and customers have a plethora of options to choose from. Therefore, logistics companies must strive to provide exceptional service to create customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business. However, delivering assistance at every touchpoint can be challenging for service providers and can potentially impact the overall customer experience.
Visibility: Supply chain visibility can be a challenge for logistics companies as they may not have full control or visibility of the entire supply chain network. It is important to have complete visibility of the supply chain at all stages to ensure that shipments are transported through the correct route and delivered on time.
Regulations: Logistics rules and regulations in India that are enforced by national, regional, and local authorities keep changing at times and need constant monitoring. If not handled in a timely manner, they can impact logistics and delivery timelines, and efficiency can be compromised.
Technology adaptation: It is a must to adopt technology in logistics, and the inability to implement tools like shipment tracking systems, automation systems, data analytics, etc., often proves to be a deterrent for logistics companies.