AI/ML : Steroid of choice for smart warehouses

A SURGE in online orders during the stay-at-home restrictions due to Covid-19 may have marked the dawn of a new era on e-commerce, but it has also sparked two intensive logistics "foot races" - within the warehouse and in the last mile of delivery.

All data points to record online orders in the first half of 2020, propelled by the pandemic that forced much of the world's urban population to stay at home.

South-east Asia's leading e-commerce platform Lazada's grocery arm Redmart reported "unprecedented demand" during the pandemic, as orders of food staples surged between four and ten times. Orders on Singapore-based e-commerce platform Shopee more than doubled to 429.8 million in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 203.5 million a year ago.