Black Friday and Cyber Monday Under the Net-Neutrality Lens! Last Mile Optimization Maybe The Only Savior!
Along the heavily one-sided debate around Net Neutrality, we are once again amid the new age retail tradition of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Consumerism has driven multiple shopping trends in the past decade. This has become a lifestyle with the entire generations falling under this craze. This is how we now live. It started with the Baby Boomers who strolled into the quintessential American Dream and became the backbone of the industrial age. The Millennials took it forward by making luxury a necessity. Now the Generation Z is surrounded by a world driven by consumption and fulfillment. Good or bad, this is how the world works now.
If you were pushed to think about this for a min, consider this. You may be now at the cusp of a new wave of consumerism as Net Neutrality is being kicked off by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States and the world is sure to follow.
How Does the FCC-Net Neutrality Battle Affect Retail and E-Commerce?
Consider the Singles’ Day event which reset all historic shopping season standards. $25 billion in a day is a big pie for any shopping event. Consumerism is good for the economy, but excessive consumerism puts the whole thing under doubt. With people buying things they don’t need, their satisfaction from them becomes momentary, bringing down the utility of the product. This product would either be stashed away, replaced, or thrown out.
Each situation is not good for the economy as this leads to wastage of resources without a consistent increase in value generated. A clear case of a bubble. And what’s more, the drive for product upgrade at the manufacturer’s end changes from innovation to quick satisfaction. It’s a vicious circle.
Net Neutrality would bring this vicious circle within the Internet. In the near future, small business would find it difficult to compete based on innovation and disruption in the digital space. Their drives would turn towards consolidation and immediate benefit services to generate quick and fleeting value.
Is There No Positive to Events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Singles’ Day?
There is positivity. The drive towards this immediate satiation has boosted the logistics optimization industry. Innovation and disruption have become a necessity in logistics management and last mile delivery optimization to keep pace with consumerism.
Singles’ Day already has seen inspiring technological innovation that has become the talk of the world. Deep-learning on the level of consumer behavior and demographics have boosted targeted marketing. This targeted marketing, again powered by comprehensive analytics collected at the ground-level, leads to accurate sales projections for such large-scale shopping events, especially after Thanksgiving and up to Christmas and the New Year.
Effective logistics management helps structure all distribution and supply chain networks to eliminate all possible bottlenecks in an otherwise streamlined operations plan. Such level of strategy proves that consumerism is just one end of the matrix. Innovation and development still lie at the heart of the shopping bubble. Even if the consumerism bubble were to burst, there will be some great takeaways.
How Can Last Mile Delivery Optimization and Innovation Save the Economy?
Last mile delivery solutions are a hotbed for innovation. Right from drone deliveries to automated order and resource allocation, last mile deliveries have caught the imagination of all consumers. Last mile delivery solutions have become a part of the overall shopping experience. People driven by impulse buying are more inclined to be satisfied if they receive their deliveries in quick time. Last mile delivery optimization is the omnichannel version of the check-out counter rack of impulse buy goods, things that hold value if you consume them right then. Things that you might decide against buying if you had time to think about them.
One-hour deliveries are now a staple for all shopping events, whether by Walmart, Alibaba, or Amazon. Millions of dollars are spent on technology powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence to better track the demand and order fulfillment of all last mile deliveries.
Last mile delivery and overall logistics and distribution optimization is the silver lining on consumerism which is sure to inspire further innovation and development among industries, thus fulfilling the need for progress in a stable and consistent economy.
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