A Process-Oriented Warehouse Postponement Strategy for E-Commerce Order Fulfillment in Warehouses and Distribution Centers in Asia

Abstract

The retail and logistics industry has been revolutionized by the emerging trend of e- commerce business. End-consumers are able to purchase items from online shops from any corner of the world. However, logistics service providers (LSPs) have been facing fundamental challenges in complying with the ever increasing needs of providing proper supply chain solutions. In view of the increasing concern over the order fulfillment performance of LSPs, this article theoretically and practically extends the conventional supply chain postponement strategy into an order fulfillment strategy, namely Warehouse Postponement Strategy (WPS), which is a process-oriented tactic addressing logistics process postponement. A case example is provided to introduce an intelligent knowledge-based wave put-away decision support system (IKWPS), which practically realizes the concept of warehouse postponement strategy. With IKWPS and the embedded concept of WPS, logistics practitioners are enabled to gain the competitive advantage of “last-mile” delivery through enhancing end customer loyalty.