Drones are the future of the logistics industry.Drones seem unstoppableIt all started in 2013 with Jeff Bezos' idea of parcel drones. Initially ridiculed as a PR stunt, the concept of air delivery by drone now seems unstoppable - even if not all approval hurdles have been overcome. After all, almost all logistics companies and even the internet giant Google are now working on this topic. DHL, for example, has already sent medicines to the North Sea island of Juist by parcel drone in a pilot project. Together with project partner Atechsys, DPD has developed a special delivery terminal designed to improve the safety and maintenance of drones. French subsidiary La Poste and Finnish postal service provider Posti Group also want to use drones to deliver parcels to hard-to-reach areas.The last mile by robotThe latest idea in the industry is parcel robots. The company Starship Technologies wants to carry out initial pilot tests in the UK and the USA in 2016 and deliver parcels and packages over the last mile using robots. The small, approximately knee-high vehicles on six wheels move at walking speed and are designed to significantly reduce the cost of last-mile delivery, as well as being environmentally friendly and fast.

Parcel pipelines against congested roadsThe vision of a parcel pipeline in the UK is even more spectacular. In collaboration with DHL and funded by the British Department of the Environment, the Cambridge-based company Mole Solutions is developing an underground tunnel system through which capsules filled with parcels will float along on a magnetic field. The first parcel tube pipelines are to be installed in Northampton. If the pilot project is successful, a nationwide underground pipe system could run through the whole of the UK in just a few years. According to Mole Solutions, China and India are also said to have already expressed an interest.

Big data links e-commerce with logisticsHowever, things get really futuristic when you look at one of Amazon's latest patent applications. With Anticipatory Shipping, goods are loaded onto a truck without a specific order and placed in a moving warehouse in the region where these goods are expected to be ordered soon. Thanks to big data, it should then be possible to deliver products to customers before they have ordered them.Saskia Müller, Director of the Internet World trade fair, comments: "The United Nations predicts that around 84% of Germans will live in cities by 2050. The resulting increase in traffic will present the logistics industry with a challenge, as alternative delivery methods will become unavoidable. The topic of logistics will therefore also be an important point of discussion at the Internet World trade fair. "Visitors can find out about the latest trends in e-commerce at the Internet World trade fair and the parallel congress from March 1 - 2, 2016 in Munich. Find out more at www.internetworld-messe.deVisiting the trade fair is free of charge after pre-registration, but readers of MK Marketing & Kommunikation benefit from special conditions when entering the code IW16muk and attend the congress for the price of € 950,- plus VAT (2 days) or € 650,- plus VAT (1 day).

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