Day: June 5, 2023

Last mile delivery is defined as the movement of goods from a transportation hub to the final delivery destination. The final delivery destination is typically a personal residence. The focus of last mile logistics is to deliver items to the end user as fast as possible. Last mile logistics has become a popular area of interest for retailers due to the growing demand for fully integrated omnichannel retailing. Evolving omnichannel needs have forced retailers to evaluate current transportation network capabilities and make adjustments accordingly.

Focus has been placed on last mile logistics because, in many cases, this is a key differentiator for retailers. Because consumers can easily shop for product alternatives retailers and their supply chain partners must provide exceptional service to gain market share and build brand loyalty.

Last mile delivery is becoming more important than ever due to the surge of online orders. E-commerce sales are expected to reach $1.35 billion by 2018, an increase of 28.8% from 2013. These expected increases span across a variety of product types including apparel, entertainment, food, health & beauty, electronics and more.

Retailers must begin to prepare their transportation networks for traffic fluctuations caused by the expected growth in online sales. Traditional transportation methods such as UPS, FedEx and USPS are not successful in all regions and retailers are beginning to search for alternatives to satisfy their needs. In order to accommodate faster shipping times, changing regulation and infrastructure limitations retailers and their transportation partners have started to research delivery alternatives including click-to-collect locations, local regional carriers, drones and much more.

The order fulfillment industry is continuously facing new obstacles, one challenge is providing a timely delivery service to customers. Customers expect to receive their order as soon as possible. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure timely delivery service to customers, regardless of the sort of eCommerce business you run.

According to Havard Business Review, in 2021, just 20% of customers were prepared to forgive eCommerce businesses for delivery delays caused by supply chain concerns. As a result, consumers are not willing to tolerate delivery delays. Timely delivery services are critical to meeting customer expectations many eCommerce firms struggle to meet customer demands on time to provide accurate and timely delivery of goods

The Impact of Poor Delivery Services:

Providing poor delivery service to customers can have a damaging impact on businesses. The result of poor delivery services can lead to:

• Negative Customer Reviews

When a customer is unsatisfied with a delivery service, it will trigger them to create a negative review. Poor customer reviews harm the reputation of businesses. Customer reviews influence the purchasing behavior of 68% of customers.

Customers will be unlikely to purchase from an eCommerce business with a negative brand image therefore, it is important to ensure timely delivery services to customers to maintain positive customer service. It is extremely difficult to recover from a poor reputation therefore, it is important to continuously provide timely delivery services to customers and keep regular communication to restore customer trust.

• Lose Loyal Customers

Regular customers are a valuable element to your organization. Loyal customers provide repetitive orders and promote your business via word by mouth. Not meeting customer expectations with timely delivery services to provide accurate and timely delivery of goods results in losing loyal customers.

Consequently, it is important to keep the promise of ensuring a timely delivery service to retain customers and potentially attract potential customers.

How to Improve Timely Delivery Services:

You can relieve strain on your drivers and ensure timely delivery service by providing an on-time delivery improvement strategy and the use of relevant technological solutions:

• Maintain accurate inventory records

Ascertain that your purchasing and receiving operations are reliable and error-free. Before releasing a production order, do stock counts on key product lines to confirm they are in-house.

Accurate inventory counts increase satisfied customers ensuring they will receive their orders on time. Visibility is further enhanced by accurate and reliable inventory data, which allows managers to identify data trends and estimate future demand.

• Create a realistic journey schedule

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to service delivery timescales. These timetables must be created on a case-by-case basis with representatives from each client’s company if you want speedy, high-quality services that meet each client’s individual demands.

Creating a realistic journey schedule can also help with improved communication throughout the service delivery process by defining milestones that may be used to track progress and increase transparency.

• Build relationships with suppliers

Supplier relationship management is extremely important for ensuring timely delivery of services to customers. Regular communication with suppliers is critical to ensure accurate and timely delivery of goods. Any delays can result in providing a poor delivery service to customers.