In recent years, the surge in e-commerce orders has driven ever-increasing logistics demand. “Smart warehousing” is no longer just a “slogan” – the entire industry must actually implement it to remain competitive.

Recent data from Goldman Sachs shows global e-commerce sales reached $3.6 trillion in 2023, indicating a huge spike in express delivery orders. There are also diverse market demands that are difficult to satisfy, such as in specialized logistics like frozen storage and cold chain.

Integrated, comprehensive logistics solutions:
To address these challenges, logistics supply chain solutions are becoming more comprehensive and integrated. Traditional “point-to-point” express delivery services can no longer meet diverse market needs. So providers like Domain are launching “end-to-end solutions” that integrate advanced technologies like automation, big data, and IoT, as well as unified smart logistics services.

The goal is to comprehensively solve customers’ pain points and improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain ecosystem.

“Intelligent warehousing-as-a-service” model:
In the 3PL sector, traditional companies also face challenges like high capital investment and demand fluctuations. The emerging “smart warehousing-as-a-service” (iWaaS) model has become a solution.

This model uses innovative equipment investment and flexible billing to shorten the adoption cycle of new logistics technologies. The asset-light approach allows 3PLs to focus on improving operational efficiency to better meet customer needs.

Smart logistics ecosystems:
At the same time, the collaboration model among logistics players is upgrading, and the concept of a smart logistics ecosystem is taking shape. Achieving “end-to-end solutions” requires deep integration of capital, technology, and real-world applications – something a single company can’t do alone.

The smart logistics ecosystem provides an integrated solution by combining logistics real estate, technology, and operations. Providers like Domain are building these ecosystems to integrate various logistics stakeholders.

Shift to asset-light, ecosystem models:
These trends reflect the logistics industry’s transformation from asset-heavy to asset-light, and from single services to ecosystem-based models.
Going forward, logistics companies will need to digitally transform and collaborate across the value chain to drive greater intelligence and efficiency industry-wide.

This is just the introduction to the “New Generation Smart Logistics Ecosystem” theme. The upcoming series will dive deeper into how to build these integrated solutions.