E-commerce shipments are boosting air cargo volumes globally as speed is crucial. Indian air cargo is also seeing more e-commerce traffic, but it faces some hurdles.
E-commerce and fast fashion giants Temu and Shein are dominating the airfreight market from Hong Kong and China, according to Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw. He spoke at the quarterly airfreight webinar on January 31, 2024, about the huge impact of e-commerce on air cargo worldwide. India is also experiencing a surge in e-commerce shipments, especially during the festive season of 2023, when Mumbai International Airport saw an 87 percent increase in e-commerce volumes compared to the previous year.
India’s government is keen to boost exports through e-commerce and has taken several steps to support this goal. For instance, it held a training program on e-commerce exports and related topics in Thane, a major industrial center for MSMEs, in December 2023. It also partnered with Amazon India and Shiprocket to help MSMEs sell their products online across borders. However, e-commerce exporters face many challenges, as Moglix’s founder and CEO Rahil Garg wrote in ITLN, noting that change is the only constant in e-commerce.
E-commerce businesses need to be flexible and resilient in the face of unpredictable events, such as natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, or global pandemics, that can disrupt their operations. That’s why Moglix’s founder and CEO Rahil Garg suggests that they adopt strategies like dual-sourcing, multi-sourcing, and dynamic inventory management to build agile supply chains. HairOriginals’ co-founder and CEO Jitendra Sharma agrees that e-commerce exporters face many challenges, such as compliance, delivery, and payment issues, but he also sees some solutions emerging from specialized logistics companies. India has a lot of potential to grow its cross-border e-commerce and air cargo market, but it needs to overcome some structural barriers first.
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