Too often what should be a hassle-free online buying experience is soured because of poor fulfilment, with exasperated customers often having to wait well past the promised time of delivery to receive their purchase. Worse still, customers open their packages to find that what's inside is not what they ordered. Jimmy Mnguni . . . The Council of Logistics Management defines logistics as the part of the supply chain that plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption to meet customers' requirements.
Fulfilment relates only to the ability to meet customer orders.
By these definitions a Website is one cog in the logistics machine, an effective means of providing information to customers and capturing information from them. It's an important cog, but only effective if all other parts of the system are running smoothly. Garin Toren . . . helping customers save Traditional logistics is characterised by the management of the movement of bulk goods. Pay, for instance, deliver a single, large bulk order on a regular basis. Shelf packers then disassemble the order from the warehouse on to store shelves.