🤷 the most expensive mile

we’ve been hearing “supply chain shock” for almost two years now, ever since the pandemic

i’ve been thinking about software investment opportunities in the supply chain area, specifically “last mile”

🏍️ what is supply chain & last mile?

• here's a serious definition, but in simple terms, it just means the entire physical product delivery process – from harvesting of raw materials to that well packaged amazon box in front of your door

  • that’s a long, complicated, and unique process to each company, product, industry, or even country

• last mile delivery in particular is the final step – getting it to arrive at your door, which is the most expensive, time-consuming, but the most crucial part that determines customer satisfaction

🤔 we have a problem

• inefficiency, that is – don't we all like to see "out for delivery" for three extra days...

  • especially in rural areas, a single delivery vehicle spends an entire afternoon going through miles and miles, only to drop one or two packages at each stop

• to make the problem even harder to solve, since the pandemic, e-commerce is only growing in demand, and these companies are having to survive the competition by having to not only figure out how to deliver fast, but also to do it free

  • these delivery services are struggling to achieve positive profit (they’re really not)

• i learned recently that last mile delivery costs are on average 53% of the entire shipping process!

👀 im keeping my eyes on…

• ^dash and ^uber – not buying, just watching. their earnings have shown no good… lol

• zooming out from last mile and looking at the whole supply chain in general, i feel that digitization hasn’t happened as much in the global supply chain space

  • a good vc investment could be waiting in the supply chain software space

  • it’s a rather fragmented market, and it may be hard to see one dominant player that’d play in every supply chain

  • but, the space would yield multiple good ROIs… (imo)

happy monday!

always always feel free to email me (apeofomaha@substack.com) to ask any questions! :)

💡 something im thinking about…

kinda hard to read, but what an informative tweet! (click on image)

🙏 closing comments

all of this is just one ape’s thoughts, but I would love to hear what you want to know about! happy trading!

as always, just another ape's thoughts and opinions – i am no financial advisor! (i am no substitute for professional financial services)

Ask a Wise Ape is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.