HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Flexible warehousing models that can helpbusinesses optimise their storage are required amid the developmentof e-commerce, experts have suggested.

"AirBnB forlogistics" is an ideal solution, real-estate service firm, JonesLang LaSalle (JLL), said, explaining that it is a shared economicmodel that allows businesses to optimise storage space that is not in useduring the low season.

Itcited the examples of a company selling Christmas trees that only needs spacein winter and a pool accessories maker that needs it in summer.

“Thegrowth of e-commerce has driven demand for industrial real estate in the last10 years, and the sudden spike in online activity since the crisis has acceleratedthat demand,” Trang Bui, senior director of markets, JLL Vietnam, said. 

In2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the sudden increase of e-commerceadoption, particularly for food, fast-moving consumer goods, health andpharmaceutical products.

Thetrend is happening globally, especially in the Asia Pacific, America andEurope.

Vietnam hasa young and tech-savvy population to support the rise of e-commerce, which isexpected to carry the industrial property industry through the currentuncertain time.

Duringthe social-distancing period, almost every industry was affected, and themobility restriction gave e-commerce more customers, meaning the pandemic’seffect on it was less severe than some other industries like tourism andtraditional commerce. 

AJLL report said the sudden increase in demand is forcing producers of staplegoods to scramble for additional warehouse capacity and companies to rethinksupply chains. 

“Thisshift in customer behaviour has increased both short- and long-term demand forindustrial real estate properties that allow companies to deliver orders fasterby being closer to their customer base,” she said.

Accordingto JLL, the surges in online demand for goods during the pandemic highlight theneed to rethink aspects of supply chain management. The skyrocketing ordervolume has forced e-commerce companies to keep more stocks in locations nearcustomers, fuelling demand for flexible warehouses. 

Itsaid it has been receiving requests from major e-commerce customers to rentwarehouses of 10-15ha near the city centre, as demand increases strongly duringthe year-end shopping season.

Tomitigate the risk of disruption, many occupiers will seek to invest indistribution centres closer to parcel hubs to ensure there is minimaldisruption the next time a major global catastrophe happens.

Increasingtransportation options, including inter-modal rail, so that that there is lessreliance on trucks, and more automated facilities, can also reduce the impactduring major events. 

Giante-commerce platform Shopee told VietnamNews the company has set up a third fulfilment warehouse at TanPhu Trung Industrial Park in HCM City’s Cu Chi district, its largest. Theothers are in the city’s district 7 and Long Bien district, Hanoi.

Shopeepicked a strategic location for the new warehouse that enables ShopeeExpress service and the company’s other shipping partners to operate moreefficiently. The location is also convenient for delivery to central provincesand the Mekong Delta.

Shopeesaid it could now completely meet the growing demand in the vicinity of HCM City and in the central provinces.

Tuan Anh,managing director of Shopee Vietnam, said e-commerce has a lot of potential in Vietnam,making industrial real estate the “darling” of the commercial real estateindustry./.