Post-Pandemic Logistics and the Role of Businesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the relevance of logistics and business structures. With an increase in deliveries of up to 100 times by 4Q for our service, 2020 marked the before and after for logistics and businesses of all kinds. Amid optimism for the future, the new challenges and roles for this sector will be key for society's progress.

With the lockdowns in 2020, the logistics sector adapted to the new world’s rules and focused on becoming the best ally for people who were stuck at home. Logistics went from being a convenience to a necessity for clients and businesses.

Dostavista México increased its on-time deliveries up to 93 percent and although the distance our deliveries had to cover also grew, we still reduced the time to final delivery. Now, as stores are reopening and traffic returns, logistics companies should focus on maintaining and improving their numbers. To this end, Couriers must always be a logistics priority. During the lockdowns, we supported their effort by constantly improving processes and making sure each delivery was safe for them.

Depending on the country and the market we were focused on (e-commerce or food delivery, for example), our delivery numbers increased anywhere from 6 times to 100 times.

The impact of the last year on logistics companies is comparable to that experienced by thousands of businesses. In terms of customers, the pandemic generated an increase of 10 times the number of clients within three months, considering we operate all over the world and the pandemic hit (and still hits) us at different speeds due to different restrictions across countries.

Categories like pharmaceuticals, groceries and food delivery (including for pets) boomed all over the world, with groceries and food delivery the main two categories throughout the pandemic.

The lockdowns also provided businesses with lessons on the importance and relevance of optimizing resources, processes and most of all, raising their e-commerce game. By exploring each new opportunity and channel to grow their business, companies took advantage of adversity, verifying the effectiveness of online campaigns, experiencing the transition of their customers’ preferences and gaining the trust of clients by creating a great customer experience through their e-commerce site and with a good logistics partner.

As businesses of all sizes face the new challenges of recovering from the pandemic, resilience remains a main factor to ensure their survival and prosperity. Now, consumers have more options than ever before and their satisfaction is key to understanding what comes next.

According to AMVO data, 84 percent of Mexicans prefer home delivery of their products, so the courier and parcel service has become a key element for companies, which also need to guarantee the delivery of their products in the shortest possible time.

Can we project the future of logistics? We can try, by taking advantage of our international expertise:

• Logistics is rapidly becoming a commodity all over the world.
• Technology has accelerated development and the pandemic has placed the logistics sector on top of the e-commerce chain. Every company requires a successful logistics partnership.
• Clients will become more demanding regarding the service level logistics companies provide and the ease of ordering, changing, replacing and canceling orders logistics-wise through e-commerce.
• Businesses that are reopening stores are starting to see a reduction in sales due to clients buying through other channels or a re-distribution of the sales volume for those who already had an omnichannel solution before the pandemic or were developing one.

As I said last year, the years to focus on are 2021 and 2022 because these are the years that will decide who wins and who loses in e-commerce.

Due to the pandemic, every company saw their e-commerce sales skyrocket because there were not many other options that clients either knew about or that were available at that moment. Today, you can see who has successfully developed and professionalized their e-commerce teams, offering new services, a great customer experience or, in general, making e-commerce sales a preferred channel for clients.

Companies that were unsuccessful in this enterprise or did nothing at all will eventually vanish from the e-commerce landscape.

The professionalization of e-commerce has become key to winning clients and bolstering a company’s reputation. More importantly, expertise in this massive e-commerce boom will lead us to a new era of consumption. Companies and people learning today will lead this trend tomorrow.