The logistics industry is inevitably shaped by global business trends. With the rise of omni-channel retailing, the rise of specialist logistics companies that focus on omni-channel retailers is inevitable.

 E-fulfillment warehousing specialists are already well established. Shutl, which was purchased by eBay, provides a technology platform that links retailers and local courier companies. But to enable quick home deliveries what we need to start to do is forecasting which consumers will be ordering, what the volumes will be on given days, and where those consumers live.

A higher volume of orders can be more accurately forecasted than intermittent low volumes. To achieve higher volumes, multiparty retailer/courier collaboration would be very helpful. If one courier was delivering orders for several retailers in a metropolitan area, route forecasts would be more accurate while the cost per delivery would go down.

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Keywords: retail supply chain, home delivery, multichannel logistics, e-commerce, online commerce, e-fulfillment