Logistics Software in UAE: Key Growth Drivers and Challenges

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Logistics Software in UAE: Key Growth Drivers and Challenges

Driven by the growth in the e-commerce industry and intensifying global trade activities, the UAE freight and logistics market is projected to reach USD 31.41 billion by 2026. This growth demands logistics service companies to stop using obsolete logistics management solutions and adopt AI-based logistics software in the UAE to attain granular level supply chain visibility, accelerate deliveries, minimize overall logistics costs, and improve business profitability. However, choosing the right logistics software is still a challenge for many. Before we discuss how you can get the best logistics management software in the UAE, let’s look at the key growth drivers and challenges of the UAE logistics sector.

Logistics Software in UAE: Key Growth Drivers

Over the past few years, The United Arab Emirates has transformed itself from a logistics hub into a supply chain nerve center. Dubai’s strategic geographical location in the middle of Europe and Asia caters to both the East and West and hence, provides ideal trading conditions for the United Arab of Emirates.

Here are some more reasons behind the growth of the logistics software market in the UAE.

Growing E-commerce Industry

The UAE’s e-commerce industry is growing at an unprecedented rate due to the rising demand for e-shopping. As per reports, the value of e-commerce sales is expected to reach $27.08 billion in 2022. It was $9.68 billion in 2017. The growth in the e-commerce industry and changing shopping trends are making businesses invest in technology and implement logistics management software.

Automation in Omnichannel Warehouse

Adoption of automation is playing an integral role in boosting the UAE’s warehousing industry and scaling omnichannel networks, and ultimately, the growth of the logistics market. The automation in omnichannel warehouses is the result of many factors, including the ease of government policies such as Dubai IoT strategy, Dubai Blockchain strategy, use of drones for last mile deliveries, and more.

Moving Towards Multimodal Logistics Industry

Dubai is an epicenter for multimodal logistics constituting maritime, air, and land shipping. Logistics automation implementation is required to regulate integrated growth of multimodal logistics.

Intensifying Global Trade Activities

Dubai’s strategic geographical location is benefiting the emirates to connect with other countries for trading. Increasing trade activities demand businesses to have smart and integrated logistics solutions that can streamline processes, bring operational transparency, speed up the movement of goods, and enhance customer experience.

Growth of The Pharmaceutical Industry

The approval of the Dubai Silk road strategy and investment in logistics infrastructure is making UAE the source market for manufacturing and exporting pharmaceuticals to Africa and Asia. The UAE government has also implemented various long-term plans to ensure sustainable growth for the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. The growth of these two sectors is mandating logistics services providers to implement advanced logistics management solutions in the UAE.

Logistics Challenges In The UAE

Traffic Congestion

Road transportation is one of the prime modes of transportation in the UAE. But the increasing population and number of expatriates in the country is leading to an increase in traffic. Traffic congestion increases fuel consumption, carbon footprints, delayed deliveries, and other issues that add to the overall logistics costs.

Warehouse Challenges

UAE lacks in modern warehousing infrastructure, which makes it difficult to cope with the increasing demand for facilities by online retailers. Besides, lack of skilled labor, dearth of fulfillment centers in small towns and villages, and inefficient workflow management due to reliance on human resources are some of the warehouse challenges.  

Inability to Achieve Logistics Sustainability

UAE’s logistics and transportation sector alone contributes 22% to the UAE’s total CO2 emissions. Major reliance on road freight and lack of automation makes it difficult to achieve logistics sustainability.

Shortage of Truck Drivers

Shortage of truck drivers causes logistics service disruptions and thereby causing delayed deliveries and reduced logistics efficiency. The challenge can be overcome by implementing smart logistics solutions that can ensure optimal usage of resources and facilitate intelligent route optimization.

Vague Delivery Addresses

Inaccurate or incomplete delivery addresses directly impact the speed of delivery and cause delivery failures. UAE doesn’t have a universal address system; moreover, there are no street addresses for residential and commercial units, which makes it difficult for the couriers to locate the address.

COD Culture

Most shoppers in UAE follow the “cash on delivery” culture, which is inconvenient for the retailers and vendors. It entails complex processes and makes the payment cycle longer. The prime reason behind this culture is the lack of trust in the digital payment channels.

Longer Delivery Distances

As stated above, the UAE region lacks micro fulfillment centers or distribution hubs in small towns and villages, which increases the delivery distance, delivery time, and the fuel consumption.

Now that we have had an overview of the logistics challenges and key growth drivers of the logistics software in UAE, let’s have a quick look at the various logistics software features to choose the best one for your specific business requirements.

Features To Look For In Logistics Software in UAE

Easy API Integration

Smart logistics software in UAE have built-in APIs to facilitate easy integration with existing OMS/WMS/CMS/ERP. Once integrated, the software automatically manages logistics operations to speed up the delivery process, bring operational transparency, and reduce the overall logistics costs.

Automation of First, Middle, and Last Mile Logistics

AI-powered logistics software minimizes manual intervention and streamlines end-to-end logistics (first, middle, and last mile) management. It automates hub pickups, task allocation, vehicle selection, route planning, shipment tracking, and other processes to save time and overall logistics costs.

Intelligent Route Planning

Logistics software in UAE features AI and ML-powered route planning and optimization to plan optimal delivery routes to ensure on-time deliveries at minimal costs. Businesses can define different constraints (delivery time, location, vehicle type, multiple stops, shipment type, real-time traffic, etc.) based on which the software automatically designs the most optimized delivery routes.

Managing Multiple 3PL Partners

Logistics service providers in the UAE often outsource their logistics and supply chain operations to 3PLs to scale operations and expand geographical reach without investing in infrastructure. However, this leads to poor operational control and visibility of the shipments.

The logistics software in UAE enables effortless 3PL management from a single dashboard. Businesses can track shipments, monitor 3PL performance, and communicate and collaborate with 3PLs as well as end-customers from a single dashboard.

Real-time Tracking    

Smart logistics management software in the UAE has a real-time tracking feature to allow stakeholders to check the exact status of their shipments. If the shipment gets stuck due to traffic congestion or delay in customs clearance, or any other reason, the software sends an auto alert along with the reason for delivery and new ETA.

Advanced Geocoding

Advanced logistics management software in UAE have built-in geocoding feature to convert text-based addresses into exact longitude and latitude. It helps in easily locating the addresses and minimize the chances for delivery delays and delivery failures.

Smart Status Standardization

Logistics software standardizes statuses/delivery-related notifications that are communicated to the end-customers from different 3PLs. It means if one 3PL sends delivery-related alerts like “shipment is out for delivery” and the other like “parcel is out for delivery”, a retailer can standardize the same for its customers.  

Effortless and Secure COD Reconciliation

Logistics software solutions in UAE enables seamless and secure COD reconciliation and petty cash management to ensure secure transactions. After collecting the cash against COD orders, drivers can reconcile them at the hub without any hassle.

Automated NDR and RTO Management

Intelligent logistics software in the UAE ensures efficient returns management by automating the process and clubbing return pickups with already planned deliveries. For instance, if a driver is making a delivery at the XYZ location, and the logistics system software receives a return request from the same or nearby location, the software will assign the pickup to that particular driver. It not only saves time and costs but also improves customer experience.

The software also facilitates NDR management by allowing delivery drivers to select non-delivery reasons and validate the same by end-customer. As soon as the driver updates the reason in the app, the software triggers an automated message/call to the end-customer to verify the reason.

Advanced Data Analytics

With the data analytics feature, logistics management solutions in UAE enable businesses to evaluate logistics operational efficiency and look into real-time metrics such as the number of failed/successful deliveries, the number of canceled orders, total distance traveled, etc. It also empowers businesses to pinpoint problems and optimizes logistics operations in a way to maximize business profitability and customer experience. 

Shipsy: Best AI-Powered Logistics Software In The UAE

Shipsy’s AI-powered logistics management software in the UAE enables logistics companies to streamline end-to-end logistics management. The SaaS-based logistics software can be customized to meet the specific needs of any business. It includes top-notch features such as AI and AI/ML-powered route planning to boost on-time deliveries and reduce fuel consumption, automated order allocation to save time and utilize resources efficiently, data analytics to make data-driven decisions, and real-time tracking to have visibility on shipments.

Using Shipsy’s smart logistics management solution in the UAE, businesses can unlock benefits like:

  • 34% reduction in incidental expenses
  • 12% reduction in freight cost 
  • 23% reduction in last-mile delivery cost
  • 28% reduction in customer complaints
  • 32% increase in mid-mile vehicle utilization
  • 37% decrease in ETA SLA breaches
  • 64% increase in positive customer experience

To know more about our logistics management software in UAE, visit our website or request a customized demo session.

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