Two-day, next-day, even same-day delivery. Unrealistic not so long ago, these conveniences are now a matter of course for online shoppers in the world’s leading economies. But when e-commerce gives us access to an endless array of products from an ever-expanding network of sellers, what makes such fast deliveries possible?
It comes down to the cargo companies that move the goods. And it’s not just how many packages they can physically move at one time; it’s also how well they can exchange real-time information about orders, locations and tracking with sellers, pilots, drivers and customers.
MNG Kargo is at the forefront of the transport and delivery sector in Turkey, where e-commerce has exploded. In 2020, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, the already-growing market surged by 60% in just a few months.
Didem Yalcin, MNG’s Enterprise Applications Manager, is one of the people making sure that the company responds to the booming demand with world-class capability. “More than 50% of our orders now come through e-commerce,” says Yalcin. But she explains that even before the pandemic, “MNG had a mindset that e-commerce would grow very fast. We were prepared for it.” She and her colleagues saw the boom as an opportunity to further differentiate MNG from its competitors.
They sought a way to partner with more e-commerce providers to increase MNG’s share of overall cargo movement across Turkey. At the same time, they looked to increase delivery capacity and make sure the growing volume of goods reaches customers at the convenient times they expect.
Explosive market growth
Already growing fast, the e-commerce market in Turkey increased by 60% in the first half of 2020
Same-day delivery
MNG now offers same-day delivery to 700,000 addresses
MNG recognized that the key to growth in the e-commerce market is modern, flexible application integration. The company is using IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration solutions to connect to new sellers and new distribution points, and to incorporate new capabilities for improved services, including faster deliveries.
The IBM Cloud Pak software enables MNG to adopt a hybrid cloud integration model, including the potential for cloud-native development and microservice architectures for maximum flexibility and scalability. “The integration points are increasing,” says Yalcin. “Everyone’s going digital and the demand is increasing as well. But the cargo process is complex, with five or six main steps—it’s difficult to adapt. So as a next step we want to convert to microservices. We are not there yet, but it’s our target.”
Other capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration are already critical to MNG’s transformation. Before, establishing API-based connections with partners was largely a manual process. Service requests needed to be sent via email. For each partner, MNG had to create a unique code and ensure authentication. With 3,000 e-commerce partners, these tasks added up. Now, using the IBM Cloud Pak solution’s API management component, they are automated, and MNG can manage all existing APIs and create new ones from a single platform.
Further, using the solution’s secure gateway technology, MNG launched an API developer portal that it’s using to establish connections to more and more e-commerce providers, including major players like Amazon as well as small and medium businesses.
These connections across the expanding network enable fast, seamless data flow between point of sale and point of delivery. MNG gets order information more quickly, allowing it to rapidly absorb orders into its distribution stream. But with more packages in the distribution stream than ever before, how will the company continue delivering them on time?
That’s where MNG has tapped into integration’s potential for innovation.
According to Yalcin, the company recognized a lot of innovation potential in the wider community of developers across Turkey. So MNG used the API portal to host an API Hackathon, where it had third-party developers generate ideas—and code—for valuable enhancements to service. These developers, of course, are also consumers who have firsthand experience with services from MNG and its competition. “They brought fantastic solutions for improving the customer experience,” says Yalcin. “And now we are more flexible to do such things. We are as fast as we need.”
The Hackathon’s winning entry is a classic example of innovating by repurposing. The developers identified a way to expand MNG’s delivery capacity by tapping into a commonplace aspect of today’s world: ride sharing. They connected MNG’s distribution system with the leading ride-sharing service in Istanbul and Ankara. When this integration goes into production, MNG will instantly expand its delivery capacity in Turkey’s two largest population centers. “We can create a better customer experience in these areas,” says Yalcin.
Now, to maximize the benefit of the ride-sharing integration, MNG is building out 15 new, regional distribution facilities called mini hubs, each supporting approximately 1,700 deliveries per day. These localized hubs will help ride-sharing drivers efficiently pick up parcels for delivery in their area.
Six million API service requests come through MNG’s API developer portal every day. The requests include new e-commerce integrations that open new revenue streams, expand MNG’s presence in the e-commerce market and help ensure that more of the goods moving across Turkey at any moment are being moved by MNG.
The portal also enables convenient access for third-party developers, so MNG is onboarding more talent and cultivating more development that will drive additional service enhancements.
Finally, fast and secure information exchange between MNG and its expanding landscape of e-commerce partners, distribution points and delivery drivers supports faster deliveries. MNG now offers same-day delivery to 700,000 addresses. In general, although delivery volumes have grown exponentially, MNG has maintained a successful rate of on-time delivery.
These achievements, of course, are not end points. “We are at the beginning,” says Yalcin. “It’s my highest priority, and it’s very motivating to me to be able to continue doing these kinds of innovative projects that bring results to the business.”
Established in 2003, MNG (link resides outside of ibm.com) provides end-to-end cargo services throughout Turkey. It runs more than 800 branches across every province in the country, operates 25 transfer centers and 3,000 land transportation vehicles and employs nearly 10,000 people.
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