Covid: bad for humanity, good news for couriers

July 27, 2022

Imagine a future in which your new cell phone is delivered to your home by a courier, who also sets up your new device for you. What about a courier who can deliver a spare part for your washing machine and install it while they are there?

These were some of the scenarios explored by parcel industry experts in an absorbing panel discussion on e-commerce and the last mile at the 2022 SAPICS Conference for supply chain professionals.

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented growth in e-commerce and the courier industry. The challenges and opportunities for the industry were examined by panellists Garry Marshall, CEO of the South African Express Parcel Association (SAEPA) and managing director of BidAir Cargo; Industrial Logistic Systems executive Martin Bailey; Diederick Stopforth, sales and marketing executive at Skynet Worldwide Express South Africa; and Nelson Teixeira, operations director for Courierit SA.

According to Marshall, the technology needed to drive the e-commerce and quick commerce (q-commerce) boom in South Africa was developed virtually overnight as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. “As the saying goes, never waste a good emergency!” he told delegates. “The pandemic propelled us to leap ahead in South Africa and swiftly embrace and implement innovative e-commerce and q-commerce technology and solutions. It has been good for the last mile industry and the public.”

Q-commerce, which entails the super-fast fulfilment of orders for smaller quantities of things like food, groceries, and over-the-counter medicines, has skyrocketed in South Africa since the start of the pandemic. A number of leading South African retailers have now implemented q-commerce solutions.

Teixeira, whose company handles the successful Checkers Sixty 60 delivery service, revealed that the q-commerce grocery market in South Africa has doubled in size since before Covid-19, with further exponential growth expected.

Stopforth told SAPICS Conference attendees that home deliveries of chronic medicines have also shot up since the start of the pandemic, noting: “We have gone from doing 500 to 600 deliveries a day to 5 000 home deliveries a day for some pharmaceutical industry clients.”

Security risks and a lack of consolidation are among the challenges, he pointed out. “Thousands of deliveries to individual homes make parcel and transport consolidation impossible. Locker boxes for deliveries may offer one possible solution. Medicines, especially high-schedule drugs, are a security risk. We are also seeing more hijackings of courier vehicles delivering high-value items like cell phones.”

One of the innovative solutions offered by Skynet is a partnership with security service provider Fidelity ADT. “Who would have thought that a courier company and a security company would partner? It is, however, the ideal arrangement to address the unacceptably high volume of hijackings and robberies in the courier sector,” Stopforth asserted.

With security and last-mile delivery converging, it is plausible that the courier of the future will have the skills to set up a new television, cell phone, or computer that they deliver. “There are vast opportunities to add new skills and services to the last mile industry to meet consumer demand. With the high rate of returns in e-commerce, there are now couriers that iron, fold, and repack clothing returns. They then store these in their own warehouse, ready to go out for delivery again when an appropriate order is received,” Stopforth explained.

E-commerce is usually viewed as a challenge to bricks and mortar retail, but according to Marshall, the future could see the two co-existing harmoniously. “Some innovative retailers are using their bricks and mortar outlets to create orders for e-commerce,” he noted. “If a customer goes into the store and cannot get a particular item or size, they are invited to place an online order for delivery to their home.”

South African producers are also reaping the benefits of the e-commerce boom. “E-commerce has opened up the world for South African producers. Today, it’s not unusual for a customer to tell their courier company to come and collect as they have deliveries for Kempton Park, Lusikisiki, and New York,” said Marshall. “E-commerce growth has also opened up more opportunities for smaller e-commerce companies, as courier companies can offer the small players shared warehousing, technology, and services. Job creation and skills development are among the positive spinoffs.”