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Q&A: eFulfillment
Do you think distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores are geared to handle online orders from individual customers? Explain your answer.
No, I do not think distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores have the proper capacity to handle online orders from individual customers. Shipments to a traditional retail store entail pallet-sized orders of products while orders from individual customers include customization of individual products. The customized, small-sized orders from individual customers will require more detail and tracking during fulfillment than bulk orders from traditional retail stores.
No, distribution centers that supply retail stores are managed in a way to take advantage of economies of scale. Individual orders would be costly to fulfill, and would create unprofitable distractions for distribution centers.
No. Distribution centers would not be able to come up with a costly way to fulfill individual orders since they usually use pallet-sized shipments to fulfill orders.
No, their inventory is not split up in a way that the distribution centers could handle this. It is difficult to organize and then locate an individual product for a single order when all of your inventory is stored on huge pallets that usually get split up at the retail location.
No, I believe that to deliver individual packages to individual customers would provide a whole new set of problems for a company used to delivering bulk packages to a few stores. The individual customer’s would call into a entirely new set of logistics that the company would have to follow in order to deliver there packages in a timely and cost efficient fashion.
Distribution centers that have been developed to serve traditional retail stores would not be able to handle to the fluctuations of demand and changes in inventory levels that come with being a distributor that caters to online retails. Retail stores are able to order their products in bulk from the distribution centers with ample time. Online stores request a product immediately and must be able to have that product shipped out a specific destination within 24-48 hours.
No, I do not think these distribution centers would be able to handle online orders. Most distribution centers know how much inventory they need to supply retail stores with on a regular basis. Online orders are often much smaller and do not occur in regular intervals, making them a lot more difficult to forecast. Online orders also need to be fulfilled almost immediately, which makes it even more difficult for distribution centers to keep up with.
Do you think distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores are geared to handle online orders from individual customers? Explain your answer.
I agree with other students in claiming that distribution centers that supply traditional retail stores are NOT geared to handle online orders from individual customers. Larger distribution centers are designed to utilize economies of scale, not designed to accommodate individual orders while still remaining profitable.
No, I do not think that distribution centers that supply traditional retail stores can handle individual customers. I think this because these distribution centers deal mostly with large quantity pallets which is completely different from the individual customer needs.
I do not think that distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores can handle online orders from individual customers. These types of distribution centers simply do not have the capacity to handle online orders. Typically retail store orders are pallet size where as individuals might only order one product. That one product will also need to by shipped out ASAP, whereas retail stores are able to forecast and place orders that might not be as urgent. Online ordering also reaches many more customers, whereas a traditional retail store only reaches a certain amount of customers.
No. Distribution centers that supply traditional retail stores are not geared to handle online orders from individual customers. Larger distribution centers are designed to use economies of scale, not individual orders.
Distribution centers that supplies traditional retail stores are not designed to handle individual online orders, however, I have seen websites where you can have specific products ship to the store. Walmart has a site to store feature that I used in the past. I supposed that this works for them because they can ship these orders along with its regular store shipments.
No I don’t think distribution centers will be able to handle individual customer orders because they are designed to ship large quantities of a product to a store. Shipping to individual customers is a completely different logistic that would require more detail to separate products and delivered to different locations.
I don’t think distrbution centers that supply to traditional retail centers are well equipped to distribute to individual customers. It’s a whole different system having to cater to large retail stores that don’t involve as much customer specific services then delivering to individual customers online. The logistics of dealing with individual customers compared to an entire store is very different and would be difficult for the distribution center to do.
No, distribution centers are able to deliver large pallet sized deliveries, but not on a individual customer level.
No, distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores are not geared to handle online orders from individual customers. Distribution centers are to handle large inventory and orders, not small, individual orders.
No, distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores are geared to deliver in bulk, not in small individual orders.
No, distribution centers are not prepared to ship small, customized orders to meet the needs of individuals since they are designed to ship products to retailers in bulk on a pallet sized level.
Distribution centers that supply to traditional retail stores are not geared to handle online orders from individual customers because there is a major difference in order sizes between retail store orders and individual orders. Items are shipped in bulk/pallet size for retail store orders, whereas individual orders often contain only 1-5 items. The demand is also different, as retail stores have a more stable forecast, whereas individual orders are harder to predict. Thus, the distribution center would have a hard time readjusting to a new forecast model.