How would the Saudi government rank the ecommerce logistics?

This article was written by Khaled Salama and contributed to Momentum Works

According to the results of the second quarter of 2020; CITC classifies postal and logistic service providers according to their service level towards their end customers. 

After a lot of negative news about the e-commerce logistics service level during Ramadan, The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) issued the index of postal and logistic service providers in terms of complaints escalated to the authority during the second quarter of 2020; this is according to the service level of each service provider to their end customers. It is equivalent to saying that an official evaluation of the customer service level of each service provider has been issued.

The index revealed that the total complaints that beneficiaries rose to the authority after it was not resolved by the service provider are 72,096 complaints, noting that 69% of the total complaints related to international shipments.

The results of the index resulted in SMSA Express topping the list of the most complaints companies in the international cargo category, by 1,597 complaints, followed by Aramex company (the veteran in KSA ) with 1,060 complaints, and Aramex company with 529 complaints. Zajil is the best company in the international cargo category. There are only 19 complaints per 100,000 shipments, The Esnad we mentioned before ranked second（good） with 23 complaints.

As for the domestic cargo category; the index revealed that Naqel issued a list of the most complaints companies with 1,559 complaints, followed by FedEx company 693 complaints, and Aramex company 529 complaints. This is for every 100,000 shipments, while UPS is the best company in the domestic cargo category with 44 complaints

Below is an index which shows the number of complaints about Domestic deliveries service providers.

The Authority clarified that the majority of complaints escalated to it revolve around the delay in the delivery of shipments for the agreed time.

Here are some point of views

1. The Saudi Post is a licensed company that is doing the delivery service in KSA, but the report didn’t refer to the service level of the Saudi Post. 
2. This is a Q2 report, so the report didn’t include many companies who officially got the delivery and clearance licenses in KSA last month like SAEE, Fetchr, Jones Transport, Aymakan, Almajdouie Logistics, and Mkhdoom.
3. The index refers to the service level for international and domestic deliveries, but the report didn’t explain the difference between International and domestic services from their point of view.

In another language, if the eCommerce platforms are doing the first and mid mile on their own and the logistics company is doing the last-mile only, is that an international or a domestic shipment from CITC’s point of view?

4. The report shows the best and worst service level of the providers, but still, this is not an accurate standard to measure the level of service of each logistics service in KSA because the lowest level –according to the index– may be the best service level to the eCommerce platforms.

In short, it is not easy to serve Saudi consumers in a highly competitive environment.