E-COMMERCE AND LOGISTICS

One of the interesting definitions describes logistics as “having the right item at the right time at the right place in the right quantity to the right customer” (Susan Mallik, 2010). The all-inclusive definition talks about the holistic nature of the traditional business logistics – right from production, procurement, distribution, inventory management and of course delivery across the entire supply chain. Logistics industry used to rely heavily on individual skill and dexterity of the employees. Efficiency used to be thought as an outcome of practice. However, with advent of technology, especially with information technology, revolution is happening across the business sectors.

Logistics industry also has become equipped with new ways of doing things. In many instances, manual labour has been eliminated or has been reduced significantly. Skill requirement has enhanced as well, in terms of grasp and capability around the new methodology. The new skill set required includes efficiency in using new technologies; the faster one gets hold of the technology and starts using to its full potential, the stronger it makes its presence felt in the industry. IT- Operations integration paved the way for a faster and smoother logistics industry by reducing the frequent errors and glitches.

With the advent of e-commerce, nature of business is undergoing changes. Along with it, the conventional logistics problems are also changing. Earlier the process used to be supplier driven, whereas now the drive comes from the customer. It is more of order fulfillment rather than stocking.  The good old logistics is getting changed. Typically, in Indian e-commerce industry, the back-end operation is often outsourced to some logistics firm who would take care of the physical supply-chain process with the e-commerce sites providing the user-interface with the front end operations. However, there are a few players who do manage their own distribution network partially.
In a conventional supply chain, there are two distinct players in between the manufacturers and the customers.  In the e-commerce business, the middle two layers are becoming more and more overlapping.

FDI IN RETAIL IN INDIA

FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is an investment in a foreign country with an intention to gain managerial interest in a company operating in that country. There are many foreign players who have invested and are investing in this way in India.

The government of the host country may limit the percentage of foreign stake in any company with the intention to avoid foreign control over its country’s economy and people. This percentage varies from industry to industry depending on how crucial the industry is for the country. Even India limits the percentage of foreign stake. The industry-wise limitations are 100% for tourism, hospitality, education, roads and highways, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals; 51% for multi-brand retail; 49% for civil aviation, insurance, D2H, public sector banks; and 26% for print media, defence, etc to name a few.
Retail industry in India is on of the most developing industries and has a huge potential to grow further. It contributes about 15% to GDP and 8% to employment of the country. It can be classified into single-brand and multi-brand retail. Only 4% of the retail in India is organised. The FDI limit for single-brand retail and multi-brand retail in India was increased to 100% and 51% respectively in 2012.

XPLORYZE 2.0- Case Study Competition

XPLORYZE is the flagship event of OPEP club conducted as part of IIM Raipur’s Annual Business  & Cultural Fest 'EQUINOX'. It is a case analysis competition in which teams from premium B-schools of the country compete against each other. The event was organised by Anubhav Sood and Abhijeet Srivastav, members of OPEP club. The case involved entry of a new retail store chain in Raipur. Students were to analyse the case based upon the data & situations given in case and come out with choice of location, format, layout & merchandising strategy.  In the first round, students from all B-schools across the country were invited to send their case analysis. On the basis of the analysis top 5 teams were to be selected for presenting their solution in front of judges and audience at IIM Raipur camps.  This time we had a total of 37 entries in the first round out of which top 5 teams were selected to present their analysis in the on-campus finale.