The Rise of Hyperlocal Fulfillment Centers

Summary

在这段视频中，Balmiki Bhattacharya，作为Nelson Worldwide的副总裁和工业实践领域的市场部门领导者，讨论了超本地履行中心的概念。超本地履行中心的目标是将产品尽可能地靠近客户，以实现快速配送。这些中心与微履行中心相似，但具体定义取决于零售商的需求和策略。超本地履行中心通常在一到两小时内或最多一天内将产品送达客户，而更大的区域性配送中心则可能覆盖更广的地区。随着电子商务公司采用不同层级的配送中心，这些中心的大小从不到10万平方英尺到超过百万平方英尺不等。一些零售商已经将部分零售空间转换为本地履行用途，但这带来了挑战，包括如何有效管理交通流量和保持客户体验。此外，技术在超本地履行中心的运作中扮演着关键角色，包括基于商品大小的机器人技术和自动化系统。Bhattacharya还强调了了解客户需求、购物行为和地区特性对于设置超本地履行中心的重要性，并提出了将零售店与配送中心结合的挑战，以及如何平衡效率和客户体验。

Takeaways

• 📦 **超本地配送中心定义**：根据零售商的不同，超本地配送中心的目标是尽可能地将产品靠近顾客。
• 🔍 **与微配送中心的区别**：微配送中心可以是超本地的，具体取决于公司的产品量和配送时间。
• ⏱️ **超本地的“超”**：超本地配送中心通常能在1到2小时内或最多一天内将产品送达顾客。
• 🏢 **配送中心的规模**：配送中心的大小与它们距离顾客的远近成反比，越近的中心规模越小。
• 🚚 **配送中心的层级**：大型电商公司会有不同层级的配送中心，从超本地到区域性甚至州级的大中心。
• 🛒 **零售店内的配送中心**：一些零售商将零售店的一部分转换为本地配送中心以应对实体零售需求的减少。
• 🛍️ **库存管理**：超本地配送中心通常有独立的库存，与消费者在店内选购的商品分开。
• 👥 **员工分工**：配送中心和零售店通常需要不同的员工团队，因为他们的职能完全不同。
• 🤖 **技术需求**：根据商品的大小，配送中心可能需要不同类型的机器人技术和自动化系统。
• 📈 **选址考虑**：零售商需要考虑顾客的购物行为、配送中心的服务范围以及所需的员工配置。
• 🛠️ **长期策略**：将零售店与配送中心结合的做法虽然吸引人，但长期可能会影响顾客体验，需要谨慎考虑。

Q & A

什么是超本地配送中心？

超本地配送中心是一种物流设施，其目标是将产品尽可能地靠近客户，以便在最短的时间内（如几小时内或最多一天内）将产品送达客户手中。

超本地配送中心和微配送中心有什么区别？

微配送中心可以是超本地的，但具体取决于公司的规模和他们需要在特定时间内（如一周、一天或一个月）将产品送达客户的能力。

超本地配送中心的服务速度有多快？

超本地配送中心的服务速度通常在一到两小时内，最多一天，以尽快将产品送达客户。

超本地配送中心的规模通常有多大？

超本地配送中心的规模通常较小，可能小于100,000平方英尺，而更大型的区域配送中心可能超过百万平方英尺。

超本地配送中心是否可以设在零售店内？

是的，一些大型零售商已经将部分零售店空间转换为本地配送中心。但这种设置取决于零售商的具体策略和商店的地理位置。

在零售店内设置超本地配送中心有哪些挑战？

挑战包括确保配送中心的交通进出不会影响零售店的运营，以及管理两种完全不同的业务活动——零售体验和基于效率的配送。

超本地配送中心是否需要两套不同的员工？

通常情况下，零售店和配送中心的运营是分开的，可能需要两套不同的员工，他们分别接受不同的培训，以完成各自的任务。

超本地配送中心需要哪些技术？

根据商品的大小，可能需要不同的机器人技术，包括地面安装的机器人系统、墙面或天花板安装的系统等，以实现有效的商品搬运。

零售商在决定设置超本地配送中心时应考虑哪些因素？

零售商需要了解其客户群体的购物行为，包括他们所在的地理区域、购物习惯，以及所需的配送中心规模、服务方式和人员配置。

将零售店和配送中心结合在一起的模式有哪些潜在问题？

这种模式可能会影响顾客体验，因为零售购物是以体验为导向的，而配送中心则完全基于效率，两者需要很好地分开以避免冲突。

为什么一些零售商选择在城市中心设置超本地配送中心？

在城市中心找到大型工业空间可能很困难，因此一些零售商选择将配送中心设置在零售店内，但这种方式可能只是权宜之计，长期来看可能会影响客户体验。

零售商和房地产所有者在设置超本地配送中心时有哪些常见的错误？

他们可能会急于填补空置的房地产，有时可能会以一种稍显仓促的方式进行，之后从经验中学习并进行调整。

Outlines

00:00

📦 什么是超本地履行中心？

本段落讨论了超本地履行中心（Hyper Local Fulfillment Center）的概念，其目的是将产品尽可能地靠近客户。Balmiki Bhattacharya解释说，不同零售商对超本地履行中心的定义可能不同，但核心目标是快速将产品送达客户。他还区分了微履行中心（Micro Fulfillment Center）和超本地履行中心，指出微履行中心可以是超本地的，具体取决于公司的规模和产品送达客户的时间。Bhattacharya提到，大型电子商务公司会有不同层级的配送中心，超本地中心通常能在一到两小时内或最多一天内将产品送达客户。他还讨论了配送中心的大小，以及它们如何根据距离客户的远近来变化，从小型的不到10万平方英尺到大型的超过百万平方英尺。

05:00

🛒 超本地履行中心的挑战与策略

在第二段中，讨论了超本地履行中心的挑战和考虑因素。Bhattacharya指出，随着实体零售需求的减少，一些大型零售商开始将零售店的一部分转换为本地履行中心。这取决于零售商的策略、客户的需求以及配送中心的可达性。他还提到，尽管将零售店与配送中心结合在一起的想法很有吸引力，但实现起来非常具有挑战性，因为零售客户追求的是体验，而配送中心则侧重于效率。此外，Bhattacharya还讨论了所需的技术，包括基于商品大小的机器人技术，以及如何根据客户购物行为来设置配送中心。

10:01

🏢 超本地履行中心的未来与影响

最后一段中，Bhattacharya和主持人讨论了超本地履行中心的未来和它们可能带来的影响。他们指出，尽管许多零售商和房地产所有者急于填补空置的房地产，但这种匆忙的行动可能会导致一些问题。Bhattacharya强调，了解客户需求、购物行为和区域特性对于决定超本地履行中心的位置和配置至关重要。他还提醒说，长期来看，将零售体验与基于效率的配送中心结合可能会影响客户体验，因此需要谨慎考虑。

Keywords

💡超本地配送中心

超本地配送中心是一种物流设施，其核心目标是将产品尽可能地靠近顾客，以实现快速配送。在视频中，这种中心被描述为能在一到两小时内或最多一天内将产品送达顾客，是电子商务公司多层级配送中心中的一种。它们通常规模较小，面积可能不足100,000平方英尺，而更大的区域配送中心则可能超过百万平方英尺。

💡微配送中心

微配送中心是超本地配送中心的一个子集，它也可以是超本地的，具体取决于公司的规模和产品配送需求。在视频中提到，微配送中心可能与超本地配送中心在功能上有所重叠，但关键在于它们都旨在提高配送效率和速度。

💡配送策略

配送策略涉及如何有效地将产品从仓库配送到顾客手中。在视频中，讨论了不同层级的配送中心如何协同工作，以及如何根据顾客的位置和需求来确定配送中心的最佳位置和规模。

💡零售空间

零售空间指的是实体零售店的物理位置。视频中提到，随着实体零售需求的减少，一些大型零售商开始将部分零售空间转换为本地配送中心，以此来适应新的市场需求和提高配送效率。

💡库存管理

库存管理是零售和物流中的一个重要组成部分，涉及到如何预测顾客需求并相应地保持库存。在视频中，提到了全渠道零售商如何通过了解顾客的购买习惯来优化库存，确保热门商品靠近顾客。

💡顾客体验

顾客体验指的是顾客与品牌互动的整体感觉和满意度。视频中讨论了如何平衡零售体验和配送效率，以及如何在不牺牲顾客体验的前提下，实现超本地配送中心的运营。

💡技术应用

技术应用在超本地配送中心的运营中扮演着关键角色，包括硬件和软件系统。视频中提到了根据不同商品大小采用的机器人技术，如地面安装、墙面安装或天花板安装的系统，以提高拣选和配送的效率。

💡空间需求

空间需求涉及到配送中心所需的物理空间大小。视频中提到，配送中心的大小可以根据服务的顾客数量和配送速度的要求来确定，从不到100,000平方英尺的小型配送中心到超过百万平方英尺的大型区域配送中心。

💡员工培训

员工培训是确保配送中心高效运作的关键。视频中讨论了可能需要两组不同的员工来处理零售和配送的不同需求，以及如何通过培训使员工能够适应不同的工作职能。

💡零售与配送的分离

零售与配送的分离是指将零售体验和配送流程分开，以避免相互干扰。视频中提到，尽管将零售店和配送中心结合在一起的想法很吸引人，但实际操作中存在挑战，需要谨慎处理两者的关系。

💡选址考虑

选址考虑是决定超本地配送中心位置的重要因素。视频中强调了了解顾客群体、购物行为和配送需求的重要性，以及如何根据这些因素来选择配送中心的最佳位置。

Highlights

超本地配送中心的目标是尽可能地将产品靠近顾客

微配送中心可以是超本地的，但具体定义取决于零售商

超本地配送中心通常能在1至2小时内或最多一天内将产品送达顾客

配送中心的大小与它们离顾客的距离成反比，越近的中心面积越小

超本地配送中心可能小于100,000平方英尺，而区域配送中心可能超过百万平方英尺

超本地配送中心不一定非得位于零售商店内，但有些零售商已经将部分零售空间转换为配送中心

配送中心的选址和策略取决于零售商的需求和顾客的购物行为

在零售店内设置配送中心时，通常有专门的库存区域，而不是直接从消费者货架上取货

配送中心和零售店通常需要两套不同的员工，分别负责不同的职能

配送中心所需的技术取决于商品的大小，包括地面安装、墙面安装或天花板安装的机器人系统

零售商在决定超本地配送中心的位置时需要考虑顾客的购物行为和配送中心的规模、服务和人员需求

将零售店和配送中心结合在一起虽然有吸引力，但实现起来非常具有挑战性

零售商和房地产所有者急于填补空置的房地产，这可能导致一些仓促的决策

从经验中学习，适应挑战是零售商和房地产所有者在设置超本地配送中心时的常见做法

超本地配送中心的建立对零售空间的需求减少，促使零售商采取新的方法

长期来看，零售空间与配送中心的结合可能会影响顾客体验，甚至可能赶走零售顾客

零售商需要谨慎考虑，确保配送中心和零售店的顾客体验完全分开

Transcripts

[Music]

the rise of hyper local fulfillment

centers my guest today is balmiki

bhattacharya he is vice president and

market sector leader of the industrial

practice at nelson worldwide hello

balmiki

hi robert

thanks very much for joining me i

appreciate it

what is it

here yeah

what is a hyper local fulfillment center

well i think the definition would differ

based on

the retailer company you asked but the

goal is to basically get the product as

close to the customer as possible

okay is it the same as a micro

fulfillment center or do you make a

distinction between those two terms um i

i would say a micro can be hyper local

no

um i think it all depends on a

particular company and a retailer and

how much product they have to get to

their customer

in a given amount of time let's say

within a week or a day or a month no

okay um

could you help me to understand just

what hyper local how hyper is is the

locality in terms of like how quickly do

you want to be able to serve a customer

with one of these centers is hours is it

a day is it what is it exactly

sure so most large e-commerce companies

will have different tiers of

distribution center you know um

and you can kind of think of it in in

terms of trade areas so let's say a

hyper local would be something that can

get the product to the customer let's

say within one to two hours or at the

most a day

now multiple hyper local

uh centers may be served by a more kind

of like a regional metro center and then

at a broader level

level it could be you know like at a

state level or like a regional level

um so

um the closer the center is to the

customer they tend to be smaller in

square footage and as you get far

farther away

those tend to get like really large so

the smallest

the smallest distribution center could

be anywhere

under 100 000 square feet and the larger

regional distribution centers could be

up to like million square feet plus oh

well if it's a million square feet plus

would you still is it still possible

that it could be called a hyper local

center uh provided that's close enough

to the customer or does that get too far

away to fall under that category i well

i i would say it's the latter

you know uh it it it doesn't fall in the

hyperlocal category but they all kind of

feed each other now

okay

so where are these located i mean in

some cases i'm sure in the larger

facilities that we're referring to they

would be dedicated entirely to the

process of fulfillment but we're also

hearing that hyperlocal or micro

fulfillment centers are actually

showing up within the footprint of

retail stores to what extent is that the

case and what are the challenges and the

considerations involved in locating them

there

yeah so again you know the the goal is

to get it as close to the customer as

possible i think it the the fulfillment

center location and strategy and square

footage really depends on the retailer

of the company

in some cases we have seen over the last

few years as the

as the demand for

regular retail real estate has

diminished many large

retailers have converted a portion of

their retail store

for local fulfillment you know some of

some of the larger department store

chains are doing this now you know

but some of it also depends on

um

ease of access traffic getting in and

out you know because sometimes a

conventional department store

location may not be ideal to serve as a

fulfillment center just given the amount

of traffic a fulfillment center

generates no yeah and essentially in

such cases you have two different

completely different activities going on

within the same store

are we talking about a center that's

within a retail store picking directly

from the same shelves that consumers

would be picking from or do you have a

dedicated separate inventory behind a

wall so to speak

from which they're actually getting the

product

i would say it's the latter again

and

most of the

uh

well-oiled omni-channel retailers know

their customer very well and if somebody

buys product a chances are that their

next purchase is going to be product b

or c and those products are usually all

uh are already closed to the customer so

it may be in in in a hyper local

distribution center or it may be let's

say like a day away in a regional

distribution center

um

so

yeah you know i think the um

uh the the the customer shops

differently like the actual retail

customer walking into the store shops

differently and the fulfillment piece is

done differently you know so a

customer's not fighting for you know

fighting with a store associate over a

item on a shelf one

as to who gets it or anything like that

it's now okay well that that that makes

sense what is required though does that

mean you have to have two sets of staff

two two different sets of associates

trained to do two different things or

can you draw from the same pool of

associates within a store some of them

doing one thing some of them doing the

other

typically it tends to be

it tends to be separate so think of like

a starbucks drive-through store uh the

larger starbucks drive-through stores

where they have a full engine facing the

customer that walks into the store and

then there's a separate engine that kind

of serves the

uh serves the drive through you know

um so they're served differently

sometimes the staff you know like a

staff may work one day on this side and

one day on the other side

but they're entirely different functions

okay what's into required in terms of

technology i know that there are

hardware and software applications that

are required to make something work on

site and of course that can be the

consideration that you don't want to get

it get in the way of existing operations

when it isn't a retail footprint so what

type of technology is required

so it really comes down to the size of

goods

um

and

uh there are different kind of like

robotic tech technologies available

based on the average size of goods that

have to be moved you know uh some of

them are uh floor mounted robotic

systems uh some of them are floor slash

wall mounted meaning these robots can

actually go up the rack and pick things

and uh sometimes these are ceiling

mounted system uh which is more of like

a picking system and and and they're

like you know it's like a cubicle uh

it's like a cube system which uh which

is picked from top

um so it it really comes down to size of

goods that needs to be moved

i see

so give us some tips on what retailers

should take into account the

considerations they need to be thinking

about when deciding where to put a hyper

local fulfillment center what it should

contain who should be in it

just just what what are some of the

criteria they need to be thinking about

well i think it it really comes down to

knowing your customer in a certain

region

and and you can think of like a five

mile

uh radius or a ten mile radius

that this particular distribution center

will serve

what are the shopping

shopping behaviors of those customers

and

um that that dictates how the

distribution center is set up both in

terms of

square footage

uh how it is serviced

and

and also staffing needs you know uh

the

the um

the idea of

combining a retail store with the

distribution center is appealing but

it's very challenging to make it work

because

a retail customer is essentially

experience driven

and uh when you

uh try to combine it experiential

uh shopping with a with a shopping that

is purely based on efficiency which is

what uh what the distribution center

model is

it's it's very hard to make that

work and

uh co-exist in a

in a fashion that works well for both

both customers now and yeah some really

retailers are doing it so i guess just

out of necessity it's hard to find

large industrial space within urban

centers i would think so maybe this is

their only only option

uh well you know that's that's uh

that's one way of looking at it i would

say that

as demand for retail spaces have reduced

many retailers have rushed to adopt this

approach

but long term this could have an impact

on the customer experience and this

could drive away retail customers you

know um

so i think one has to be mindful and and

the separation of traffic and the

experiences uh to be completely separate

are are are very important you know

interesting so they're learning

uh from experience thinking that maybe

this sort of thing can work and then

find out maybe that there are challenges

that they didn't anticipate

yes yes and you know i i think many many

retailers and

and real estate owners are in a rush to

fill the real estate that is lying

vacant so sometimes

uh certain

um things may be

done in a slightly haphazard

manner and you kind of learn from that

and then you adapt you know

well valmiki about acharya of nelson

worldwide thank you so much for

explaining to us just what is a hyper

local fulfillment center what form they

might take what are some of the

benefits and indeed the challenges that

come with building them so thank you

very much for being with me i really

appreciate it

thank you robert thanks for having me

you