The Malaysian Last-Mile Logistics Market, 2020

Benchmarking Future Growth Potential

As the shift from brick-and-mortar outlets to online retail continues, the challenge of managing last-mile logistics grows. Last-mile logistics is no longer just about transporting products to buyers but about fulfilling customer demand and experience. Customer behavior and expectations have changed over the last few years, challenging the way courier providers operate and relate to their customers.

Creating long-lasting, engaging relationships with customers, and addressing their nuanced demands, such as remote deliveries, return orders, failure to deliver due to customers, and payment options, are some of the challenges that carriers in this sector face. When addressed right, these challenges can help a carrier become a customer’s provider of choice in an already ultra-competitive industry.

Customer's delivery expectations have also changed over the years as Malaysia's leading online retail platforms, such as Lazada, Shopee, and Alibaba, have included transparency as part of the shopping experience. Traditional track-and-trace technologies are no longer sufficient to meet industry standards, as customers are demanding real-time last-mile visibility - from shipping fulfillment to location of drivers, and until the estimated time of arrival. Courier providers are adopting more smart technologies, such as GPS systems and postcode algorithms, which offer greater visibility over their operations, thereby increasing the efficiency of their delivery supply chain.

Service providers also need to find a balance and optimize resources, as existing delivery and processing capacity are stretched; spikes in parcel volume are becoming more frequent due to shorter intervals between sales seasons and holiday cycles. Carriers are, therefore, finding alternative methods such as outsourcing, automated delivery options, and retail partnership to increase their delivery touchpoints.

The research radar reveals the market positioning of companies in the last-mile logistic market using their Growth and Innovation scores as highlighted in the research radar methodology. The document presents competitive profiles of each of the companies on the research radar, based on their strengths and opportunities, and a small discussion on their positioning.

The publisher analyzes hundreds of companies in the industry and benchmarks them across 10 criteria on the research radar, where the leading companies in the industry are then positioned. Industry leaders, predominantly in the Innovation index, are recognized as best practice recipients.