As online economies and the growing popularity of internet-based shopping and transactions increase, so too does the need for more efficient supply chain logistics all around the world. This is perhaps no truer anywhere than in Dubai, which has become a burgeoning hub for ecommerce-driven business.

Why Dubai?

Indeed, while discussing the future of Ecommerce in Dubai, Julia Jackle spoke with our VL OMNI team about the idea of individualized customer experiences, giving some indication of just how advanced ecommerce in the region may yet become. This will only be possible, though, if the supply chains at the core of Dubai’s ecommerce businesses continue to improve, and put data and logistics to use in a sweeping manner.

In fact, actually, supply chains tend to be just about the opposite of personal or individualized, particularly when they’re treated as overarching systems rather than intricate networks with customizable potential. Between the chain of people, organizations, and action items that have to happen for an online customer to receive a product he or she has ordered, a lot has to happen. And when this is all done in a standardized manner, a customer can be left feeling anything but catered to personally. A slow delivery, a late notice about a lack of inventory, or anything of the sort isn’t just a mild inconvenience. Psychologically, it tends to feel almost like a personal slight – which is a problem businesses will always be looking to address via greater supply chain optimization, particularly in a place like Dubai where the growth in ecommerce businesses is so noteworthy.

The growing demand for ecommerce services in Dubai is thanks at least in part to direct efforts by the government. Kasun Illankoon of Construction Business News covered Dubai’s efforts to boost ecommerce.  Plus, place the Emirate at the top of the global market, and this has coincided with the opening of “free zones.” These are areas where many businesses can obtain licenses to operate with fewer penalties (such as taxes) than in the past, and they have naturally led to expanded innovation. There has also been some relaxation of various rules and stipulations regarding banking and business ownership, with only further assists businesses looking to launch in this category.

Image courtesy of Flickr

These efforts, combined with Dubai’s favorable location (some two-thirds of the world’s population lives within an eight-hour plane ride from the city), properly convey just why the area is now looked upon as such of a hub or budding ecommerce businesses. However, if the idea is for this industry to “boom,” it will continue to require ever more vast supply chains, and increasing efforts to make those supply chains as efficient – and therefore as personally satisfying – as possible.

The Importance of the Supply Chain

The modern supply chain, with its emphasis on individualized attention in a flourishing outpour of ecommerce, is indeed beginning to look different, using every available tool to leverage logistics to deliver better customer experiences. To this point, writing about Christmas season logistics for Verizon Connect in the UK, Sergio Barat speaks to the idea of mobile resource management, or MRM. Barat points out that during rushes of activity along a supply chain, MRM can provide business managers with live analytics, allowing them to plan shipping routes, assign workers, and even track individual products according to the needs a specific situation presents. Putting it more simply, a logistics-driven modern supply chain can adjust at a moment’s notice, with performance data becoming immediately available to managers, and decisions being implemented nearly instantaneously.

Clearly, this is a more complex effort than it sounds like in writing, but ultimately it is how a growing network of ecommerce businesses in Dubai will accomplish the goal of providing satisfying, personalized experiences for customers. The importance of supply chain logistics in Dubai, ultimately, is that they’ll help these ecommerce businesses to be as satisfying as they will be convenient.

Exclusively written for VL OMNI by Rhianne Jade

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