Dark Store: A New Face
Dark stores may be a rather sinister term, but in reality, it represents one of the many bright ideas of this decade. It allows customers to get products online from a hyper-localized brick-and-mortar store without entering it and as quickly as possible. Not open to the public, these mini warehouses are dedicated to rapid online order fulfilment located in areas with massive demand. These microfulfilment centres are not open to shoppers; instead, online orders are placed and fulfilled by customer delivery assistants or CDAs, who will deliver them to the consumer’s address or to a convenient collection point specified by the customer in less than an hour and in some cases within few minutes.
The Benefits
Quick delivery: “Deliveries are just getting faster and faster”. Serving an area within the radius of 2-3 km, these stores offer the convenience of online shopping with the benefit of instant deliveries. As new players are entering the market, the race to deliver ultra-fast has just begun. Fulfill the ever- increasing needs of online shopping by providing a fully compliant solution meeting location needs for your dark store with SS Supply Chain Solutions.
Better SKU Management: Stock keeping unit is an alphanumeric code, which includes both numbers and alphabets to uniquely identify, track and categorize saleable inventory. They can easily pull out SKU details to ensure that they have the right product or item. Since inventory is constantly moving, proper SKU management allows pickers to accurately pick, pack and ship as orders are placed online. Dark stores focus on capabilities such as storage and click-and-connect for seamless movement of delivery agents to fulfill commitments.
24/7 Operations with increased Capacity: These stores operate 365 days a year around the clock to deliver orders at the most convenient times possible for customers, which gives them an additional advantage over regular grocery stores. Dark stores generate more income opportunities as compared to in-person retail stores because of a clearer view of stock levels and improved storage capacity to cater a more extensive range of products.
Better inventory control and management: These customer-free zone storage facilities can support retail fulfillment of many other stores in the same geographical area. The dark stores model allows retailers visibility of their stock levels, to make better & informed inventory decisions. These stores have excellent stock rotation management and cold storage facilities to store perishable foods fresh for longer periods. These stores operate using advanced technologies at the load, store, and pick stages which enables them to drive a more efficient operation.
Moving towards a Digital World:
There
are almost 750 million internet users in India, making it the second-largest
online market worldwide and it is still increasing. As per Bain and Flipkart’s
report, the Indian e-retail market witnessed a 25% growth in FY21 and is pegged
to grow at a CAGR of 25-30% over the next 5 years. There is huge potential in
the sector as the country is pushing towards a digital environment.