The more prevalent that online shopping and online retail becomes, the harder it is to keep up with consumers’ shipment expectations. Seeing as how frequently consumers are defaulting to purchasing from Amazon as a result of their prime shipping options and avoiding smaller retailers’ products, it’s sufficed to say shipping plays a large role in a consumer’s buying decisions. However, as more and more customers come to expect order fulfillment times to decrease, companies are having a hard time keeping up with these demands.
The phase of order fulfillment that this post will focus on is known as Last Mile Delivery. Throughout this stage, a product moves from its fulfillment center or hub where it’s been stored, to the final point of sale, known as the customer. Remember, though, that smaller online retailers don’t have nearly as polished an order fulfillment process as Amazon does. Meaning this stage isn’t as fluent or effective at delivering products in a timely manner. This can lead to a decrease in online sales over time.
It wasn’t until recently that this stage of order fulfillment even mattered to consumers though. Decades ago, online shoppers would place an order and have little to no expectations regarding any information of the shipment process. There was no tracking numbers to keep up with your products every minute of the day. Instead, companies would do their best to have these orders delivered to their customers in the most timely manner they could, which didn’t bother customers at all. It wasn’t until recently, namely because of Amazon’s impact on the space, that shipment times became one of the premier factors in driving online business.
Unfortunately, for many online retailers today, matching delivery speeds is only one half of the issue. As a result of pandemic restrictions, online shopping has become the default method for consumers to purchase their products of choice. As order and delivery volume increases, these last mile delivery issues are made much worse. In order to keep up with this increase in demand, most organizations require an inventory management system that can work alongside a business and simplify the processes. These systems are meant to ensure little to no backorders existing on the books. While they may require ample warehouse space spread out throughout the country, they allow for the most robust delivery options for your customers. These systems also allow for some considerations to be made for customers as well, such as things like tracking numbers for their orders.
If you believe that your organization’s Last Mile Delivery processes are underperforming, it might be worth taking a deep dive into how that can change. Failure to do so could result in your regular customers looking to other suppliers to service their needs in addition to other competitive disadvantages in your industry. For more information on how your organization can polish your Last Mile Delivery strategies, be sure to check out the infographic accompanying this post. Courtesy of WAREHOWZ.
