Why deploying the right technology can transform your automated parceling ecosystem?
Published: 2023-05-03 13:27:50

**Summary:**

E-commerce has a vibrant future with opportunities for exponential growth. Online retail has improved steadily over the past few years, but online shopping experienced a huge increase in 2020. The pandemic crippled economies hindered daily life and forced the closure of numerous businesses. Access to food, clothing, medicines, and other basics during those times was only made possible by online shopping. According to Statista, e-commerce will account for 22% of global retail sales by 2023, up from 17.5% in 2021.

Read this blog post to discover why deploying the right technology could transform the automated parceling ecosystem.

**An introduction to automated parceling:**

It’s not easy to keep up with the daily increase in orders. As a result, online businesses must redesign their warehouse and delivery procedures to accelerate high-quality shipments. To fulfill revenue targets, delivery schedules, and customer expectations, warehouse operations must be automated, including [dimensioning](https://vmeasure.ai/dimensioning-systems/), sorting, parceling, storage, and shipping. Particularly parceling is an important process because it acts as your silent salesman. In addition to capturing your customers’ attention, the parceling ecosystem must be handled with great care to maintain product quality. 

This procedure enhances choices about the best packaging material, size, weight, and texture, enabling precise price fixation and secure delivery. However, automating the parceling ecosystem using the appropriate technology is essential to guarantee customer pleasure, cut expenses, and boost profitability. 

**Leveraging warehouse automation to boost e-commerce:**

Consumers can now enjoy seamless omnichannel buying experiences thanks to the expanding e-commerce sector, particularly Direct to Consumer (DTC) businesses. E-tailers must use the best digital infrastructure to provide world-class shopping experiences to maintain the growing momentum and continue acquiring/retaining customers. The days when customers had to wait weeks for their orders to arrive are long gone. Today’s online retailers surprise customers by offering express shipping choices like one-day or same-day shipments, encouraging them to buy more. 

To ship large orders efficiently and quickly, warehouses and shipping departments must use the latest technology. Automated fulfillment, shipping, and packaging are key differentiators for online retailers. They also provide free custom branding packaging and efficient, quick, and sustainable shipping. In addition, key e-commerce trends can benefit from cost-saving automation of warehouse processes.

We can increase eCommerce sales by leveraging automation in the following ways:

**Personalization:**

A personalized e-commerce site increases sales by dynamically displaying customers’ browsing habits, past purchases, and other information based on their preferences. In other words, Personalized marketing can increase sales and recurring business. 77% of online consumers have chosen or even paid more for a brand that offers a personalized experience, according to Forrester.

**Artificial Intelligence:**

The most cutting-edge, game-changing strategy used by e-commerce companies to manage a variety of activities, including customer relationships, inventory control, dimensioning, packaging, and shipping, is artificial intelligence (AI). It improves omnichannel personalization and supports e-tailers with quick, intelligent delivery.

**Social Media:**

Social media has come to dominate how consumers purchase in the modern world. Social media platforms are used by businesses to increase customer acquisition, retention, sales, and profitability. For e-tailers to handle and tailor purchases placed through these networks, they need a solid social media infrastructure.

**Rise of parceling:**

The days when consumers didn’t care about packaging are long gone. The devil is in the details these days. When a brand’s packaging is comfortable, secure, and personalized, customers quickly feel a connection to it. Retailers have been compelled to become more watchful, technologically sophisticated, and inventive when it comes to packages due to the growing social buying boom and the well-liked unboxing videos. As space allocation, price fixation, and shipping costs are all influenced by dimensions like volume and size; parceling is essential to the success of the e-commerce industry. To prevent inaccurate pricing and related charges, warehouses and distribution centers aggressively automate dimensioning and parceling. Online retailers risk losing money and their customers’ trust if they do not offer the right dimensions, pricing, and packaging.

**Automation solutions that transform the parceling ecosystem:**

E-commerce companies must employ technology and innovation to obtain a competitive advantage as customer expectations, competition, and technical breakthroughs rise. Therefore, they must improve their game by delivering speedy same-day delivery, quick customization, superior packaging, and exclusive deals.

The tiresome, labor-intensive parceling system in your warehouse can be replaced with a rapid, efficient, adaptable, and precise packaging ecosystem using AI-led automation technologies.

Below listed are some of the automation technologies we can bring in to transform the parceling ecosystem:

**Volumetric scanner:**

Technology-driven volumetric scanner helps warehouses reduce costs by optimizing operations, including picking, packing, storage, shipping, and distribution. Unfortunately, traditional measurement techniques (using a tape measure and ruler) are incorrect, leading to misallocated space and erroneous price fixing.

Conveyors, vertical lift systems, and autonomous vehicles can all be combined with volumetric scanners to measure, record, and communicate information about a product’s length, width, height, and weight. Additionally, its high-speed printing capacity enables speedy carton label processing, weighing, and scanning. As a result, they assist in lowering human mistake rates and improving price precision and reducing expenses. 

By determining the appropriate material, size, and cost of the parcel, the volumetric scanners increase the efficiency of parcel sortation. It provides the product with the easiest and most accurate recommendations for packaging, shipping, and storage. There is no need for warehouse personnel to waste time and effort experimenting with various box sizes and packaging materials. By selecting the appropriate-sized packaging, dimensioning optimizes air filling and dunnage.

A volumetric scanner also offers a few other benefits, such as:

**Accuracy and error reduction in measurement:**

Inaccuracies and errors can be quite expensive. Numerous warehouses, third-party logistics providers, and freight forwarders bill clients based on volume. Inaccurate data collection can result in money being lost. On the other hand, you might also be overcharging, resulting in chargebacks and irate clients. A volumetric scanner makes and saves you money. Getting things right on the first try is crucial in a high-volume warehouse business.

**Storage and delivery space optimization:**

Though the proverb “time is money” may be true, in the warehouse sector, time and space are what matter. With precise measurements of length, width, height, and weight, you can maximize storage and delivery space by packing more into your warehouse, each departing truck, or each shipping container.

**Providing better customer service:**

You owe your clients accurate, truthful information as a valuable business partner. Additionally, you can picture goods, pallets, and packages if your dimensioning device also has image capabilities, giving your clients a level of visibility they will surely enjoy.

**Sortation system:**

Businesses that can no longer efficiently and effectively manage the distribution, picking, sorting, and handling procedures associated with enormous amounts of inventory might greatly benefit from automated sortation systems. These systems increase throughput, boost productivity and provide improved accuracy by streamlining processes and minimizing the need for human intervention.

Although automated sortation systems are undoubtedly useful and successful tools, how can you tell if they are the best fit for your company? How can you pick the right technology and provider, too? 

Automated sortation systems offer three main advantages:

**Shipping sortation:** What is the average turnaround time for shipments at your warehouse? Your distribution center can benefit from an automatic sortation system if there is a high volume of orders and accuracy is a major concern. Depending on your system, it can sort shipments efficiently based on various criteria.

**Return handling:** Refund procedures are often unreliable in many businesses. For instance, if you ship many items, you’ll need a system for accepting, replacing, or transferring inventory. Automated sortation systems are made to manage returns without human intervention.

**Unloading capabilities:** It is common to use automated sorting systems to quickly unload and organize incoming containers and prepare the stock for the next step. A sortation system might be useful if incoming shipments and containers slow down your firm.

**Embrace the future of parceling:**
The future of parceling depends on digital development. Your business will earn more due to increased automation in the [package dimensioning](https://vmeasure.ai/package-dimensioner/) and sortation processes. However, the return on investment you will yield from installing the correct technology in your warehouse is ultimately what matters the most.