The importance and goal of achieving the customer satisfaction has raised challenges in the last mile delivery industry. One of the major challenges is that it uses around fifty three percent of the total supply chain cost which becomes the most expensive part of the supply chain.
Apart from being expensive the last mile delivery industry challenges that can keep up to speed with shifting consumer behavior, delivery inefficiencies, transportation and environmental disruptions making the smooth operation of the industry a difficult task.
Rising Customer Expectation
Consumers expect same day courier solutions with less margin of error. The orders need to be delivered to the right place at the right time. Even if the final mile delivery destination is in the same city and region, you need a reliable carrier partner that can help keep the last mile delivery costs to a minimum while guaranteeing customer satisfaction.
On Time Deliveries
The last mile delivery couriers often face difficulty in planning because of the dynamic nature of logistics. It can impact customer loyalty and satisfaction. From small scale ecommerce sellers to global enterprises, the last mile delivery and operations affect the customer’s experience and business performance. These are the leading challenges that last mile delivery brings and how you can successfully overcome them. Ecommerce businesses must deal with unpredictable demands such as an increase in purchase volumes. There are other costs that you must factor in like fuel costs, vehicle, warehousing, and maintenance costs. In order to get a supportive infrastructure, you must get timely deliveries that can be a bit expensive.
Moreover, logistics companies have to pay more money for failed deliveries, extra stops and complex routes. The costs are doubled over when the first delivery attempt fails and should be rescheduled. One of the best solutions that can minimize the cost is to deploy effective software that can help you track and gauge your organizing and planning. This will help you take on a cost-effective approach that not only increases efficiency but reduces the overall delivery operations cost.
Poor Route Planning
It may become difficult to plan driver delivery routes efficiently because of countless variables. Ineffective route planning leads to operational delays that cause a domino effect which may impact many final mile deliveries.Â
Real Time Tracking
It is a powerful app that tracks your location in real time. It is a tracking method that makes use of GPS and logistics database in order to determine the current location of a person, object or vehicle. When a parcel gets scanned, it is easily assigned to a vehicle and the position is monitored closely.
The main benefit of real time tracking is that when a package gets stuck in traffic or a vehicle takes another route then you should inform the operator.
Obsolete Technology
Failed Deliveries
There are factors that can impact the delivery timings and interrupt the schedule. Irrespective of the reasons for late deliveries, the customers become unsatisfied. Customers want an accepted and prompt timeframe for their deliveries and when you interrupt the expectations it can cause an increase in customer churn rates.
Delays and failed deliveries are inevitable in the last mile delivery industry. You can tackle delivery delays which has been difficult for last mile delivery services for many years. With the demand for faster deliveries increasing, it has become even more challenging.
There are reasons why meeting shorter delivery periods is a challenge.
- Most warehouses are located on the outskirts of the city which makes commuting a lot longer
- There are unpredictable order volumes that can affect the delivery span
- Problems during commute include unforeseen congestion, and road blockages
- There are factors like unforeseen delivery accidents, wrong address verification and traffic conditions which are all reasons why deliveries fail.
Unpredictable Accidents
A controlled environment must be maintained within the facility. Anything can go wrong during transit. The safety of the goods during transportation is quite important as damaged goods are an additional cost for the company. Unfortunately, companies can’t predict bad weather conditions and other conditions like traffic and accidents. It makes it harder for the courier and delivery services to run smoothly.
These are the major challenges of last mile delivery. There is poor route planning that leads to delayed deliveries, fuel inefficiency, increased idle time and decreased driver’s productivity which can create catastrophe in the last mile delivery industry. It is important to manage everything without any problems so that the courier and delivery services run smoothly.
