From Click to Curb: Inside the High-Velocity Logistics Engine of Tiki

What is Tiki?

Tiki is a Vietnam-based e-commerce marketplace that grew from a pure online retailer into a technology-driven platform with an integrated logistics capability. Beyond listing sellers and products, Tiki invested heavily in logistics to meet customer expectations for fast delivery, product condition and reliable service—turning order-to-delivery into a competitive strength.

How Tiki’s high-velocity logistics engine works (click to curb)

At its core, Tiki’s logistics model follows a familiar sequence—order capture, inventory allocation, fulfillment, last-mile delivery and reverse logistics—but several design choices make it high-velocity:

• Decentralized inventory and fulfillment: Tiki places inventory closer to demand by operating regional fulfillment centers and city-level micro-hubs. This reduces travel distance and enables same-day or two-hour delivery in dense urban areas.
• Fulfillment orchestration: Orders are routed to the closest suitable fulfillment node based on inventory availability, delivery SLA, and cost. Picking, packing and quality checks are optimized for speed and accuracy.
• Last-mile flexibility: A hybrid delivery network blends Tiki’s in-house couriers, dedicated urban fleets for express promises (e.g., TikiNOW), and partner carriers for broader geographic reach. Real-time dispatch and dynamic routing optimize courier workloads and delivery windows.
• Tech layers: An order management system (OMS) captures orders and enforces SLAs; a warehouse management system (WMS) governs picking and packing; a transportation management system (TMS) handles routing and carrier assignment. Telemetry from drivers, real-time inventory visibility and customer notifications close the loop.
• Customer experience and transparency: Customers see delivery windows, tracking updates, and clear return/exchange options—critical to maintaining trust when promoting fast delivery.

Key components explained

Breaking the engine into parts helps beginners understand how each contributes to speed:

• Fulfillment centers: Larger warehouses hold bulk stock and enable batch processing. These centers focus on stocking assortments, receiving inbound shipments from suppliers, and replenishing smaller hubs.
• Urban micro-fulfillment hubs: Small, strategically located nodes that hold fast-moving SKUs for quick pick-and-pack. They are crucial for two-hour or same-day services.
• Order and inventory management: Live inventory feeds ensure the OMS can promise accurate delivery dates. Backorders, split shipments and multi-origin orders are managed automatically to safeguard SLAs.
• Last-mile operations: Dispatch, route optimization, and driver apps are used to minimize idle time and missed deliveries. Couriers may handle multiple stops in optimized sequences to maximize throughput.
• Returns and reverse logistics: Easy returns policies and streamlined pickup help close the customer experience loop while enabling rapid restocking or returns processing.

Why speed matters and how Tiki balances it

Fast delivery reduces customer churn and increases conversion rates—customers are more likely to buy when they know they’ll get items quickly. Tiki balances speed with cost and reliability by using inventory placement strategies, dynamically selecting delivery modes (express vs. standard), and blending owned and partner capacity to scale without incurring fixed costs for every market.

Typical technologies and data practices

Tiki’s engine relies on data-driven decision making. Demand forecasting identifies which SKUs to place at micro-hubs; continuous monitoring of courier performance informs capacity planning; machine learning may be used to predict delivery times and to pre-route batches. Integration between OMS, WMS and TMS is essential so that an order captured online triggers the correct warehouse workflow and the right courier dispatch.

Real-world example (conceptual)

Imagine a customer in Ho Chi Minh City orders a portable charger at 10:00 AM and selects the TikiNOW two-hour option. The OMS checks nearby hubs, finds stock in a micro-fulfillment center five kilometers away, and routes the order there. The WMS sends a pick-and-pack task to warehouse staff who complete it in 20 minutes while the TMS assigns an available courier and optimizes a route that includes this stop and two others. The courier scans the package, follows the app-guided route, and delivers within the promised window—fulfilling the click-to-curb promise.

Best practices for high-velocity e-commerce logistics

• Decentralize inventory for dense demand centers while keeping safety stock centrally for less predictable items.
• Invest in integrated OMS/WMS/TMS so order promises are grounded in real inventory and carrier capacity.
• Use micro-fulfillment for top-selling SKUs and promotions to protect SLAs during spikes.
• Blend delivery modes—use owned capacity for premium SLAs and partners for geographic scale.
• Make customer communication proactive: accurate ETAs, live tracking, and clear return options reduce delivery-related friction.
• Continuously measure on-time delivery, pick accuracy and return rates to guide improvements.

Common mistakes and pitfalls

• Overcentralizing inventory: Trying to serve a large city from a single distant warehouse increases delivery times and courier costs.
• Overpromising SLAs: Advertising two-hour delivery without sufficient micro-hub inventory or courier capacity causes failures and customer dissatisfaction.
• Poor tech integration: Disconnected systems lead to incorrect stock availability, failed shipments and manual firefighting.
• Ignoring returns: Slow or opaque returns processes can erode customer trust even if outbound delivery is fast.
• Underestimating peak demand: Lack of surge capacity planning for promotions or holidays leads to missed SLAs.

How Tiki’s approach informs other businesses

For other e-commerce players, Tiki demonstrates that investing in both physical infrastructure (fulfillment centers, urban hubs) and software (OMS/WMS/TMS, driver apps, tracking) is necessary to deliver premium fulfillment experiences. Not every seller needs to replicate Tiki’s scale; smaller businesses can emulate the principles by partnering with local fulfillment providers, using marketplace fulfillment options, and focusing inventory on the products that benefit most from faster delivery.

Final takeaway



Tiki’s high-velocity logistics engine is the product of strategic inventory placement, a hybrid delivery network, and technology that keeps inventory and delivery promises aligned. For customers, that translates into faster arrival times and improved trust; for businesses, it proves that speed—when managed with data and operational discipline—can be a sustainable differentiator in competitive e-commerce markets.