Following the launch and success of the India Fulfilment Network in Bengaluru, DHL Supply Chain, the global market leader in contract logistics, has expanded its India Fulfilment Network (IFN) to Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad, in line with the company’s focus to support growth of the Indian e-commerce ecosystem by expanding its infrastructure and services for the sector. Till date, DHL Supply Chain has invested over INR 25 crores in capacity building through the IFN.
The eCommerce market in India is expected to be US$74.8 billion by the end of 2022 and projected to grow at ~35% to USD 188 billion by 2025.[i] This shift has been facilitated by the movement of both buyers and sellers on to online channels. Relatedly, the expansion of e-commerce and 3PL sectors is also fuelling demand for new warehousing space, which is expected to increase by 160% over last year.
In line with the above, IFN is designed to be a launch pad curated for easing the B2C fulfilment process. It is a 360-degree supply chain solution for enterprises across sectors, allowing them to manage their fulfilment operations seamlessly in a fully online marketplace scenario. In addition to this, IFN also offers carrier agnostic transportation network linkages to brands and companies desiring to sell online, providing them with last mile delivery services to further bolster their independent dot.com models.
DHL Supply Chain’s strategically located sites, in proximity to major urban centers, will cater to sectors like fashion, apparel, accessories, cosmetics, consumer electronics etc. IFN is an omni-channel offering which will enable pan-India e-commerce order fulfilment with use-cases ranging from a single warehouse setup to dynamically linked multiple micro-fulfilment centers allowing brands to choose a suitable strategy for fulfiling orders from their online shoppers. Companies have experienced 20% increase in business gained online, due to quicker fulfilment and deliveries. IFN’s model enables merchants to directly sell their products across the whole country and be closer to online buyers, leveraging DHL Supply Chain’s network without having to make large investments in infrastructure and IT while providing end-to-end visibility of the operations.
Commenting on this expansion, Vikas Anand, Managing Director, DHL Supply Chain – India said, “Building on the success of the India Fulfilment Network in Bangalore, brands and organisations can utilise our footprint across India to empower their omni-channel sales via a state-of-the-art plug and play model, that will perform a vital role in boosting their overall business.”
“Using IFN not only reduces delivery times, but also helps avoid long distance shipments across the country, thus reducing CO2 emissions occurring from transport,” he added.
Presently, DHL Supply Chain fulfils over 100,000 orders every day from its e-commerce operations in India. DHL’s innovative approach will level the playing field between SMEs and multinational e-commerce conglomerates who can afford to operate in multiple markets and commit to next-day deliveries.
With DHL’s radio frequency enabled infrastructure along with a robust IT platform linked to the eCommerce marketplaces and delivery partners, organisations can also tailor the service to specific regions within the country, as well as scale up to match order volumes.
