The most crucial link in the supply chain is last-mile logistics. It is also the section that interacts with your customers and is the most expensive, difficult, and sensitive to a variety of constantly changing variables.
You would therefore fall short of client expectations if your systems are unable to optimize and track it for maximum efficiency.
What is carrier tracking for the last mile?
The practice of giving "last-mile tracking" updates on an order's status in real-time. It gives clients to control, visibility, and transparency, and it also benefits the delivery teams who are really carrying out the orders. In other words, it offers "actionable visibility" in the appropriate time frame for order placement and execution.
In recent years, there has been a significant change in how real-time monitoring and order visibility is defined. To keep the customer informed of the progress of his package as it passes through the zones, a succession of real-time updates are now delivered to him via pop-ups, SMS notifications, and other means in addition to the ETA. To attain and maintain a high degree of efficiency and transparency throughout the whole supply chain, last mile tracking heavily utilizes data analytics, ML, and AI capabilities.
What do last-mile tracking's goals entail?
In order to preserve complete, end-to-end visibility and transparency of the movement of raw materials, stock, and completed items as they move through the supply chain and on to their final destination, last-mile tracking was developed.
Why is last-mile tracking crucial for both consumers and businesses?
Let's examine the top four explanations:
1) Increased transparency through efficient communication: Your last-mile delivery can serve as an excellent resource for both your teams and your customers by communicating in a clear, precise, and timely manner. Additionally, it gives your customers more faith in you as a reliable delivery partner.
2) Avoiding botched deliveries: Failed deliveries have terrible repercussions! In addition to raising your operating costs and lowering your profit, they also turn away clients who will probably never do business with you again. This damages a company's reputation, which could be detrimental to a business's ability to continue operating.
The delivery logistics are flexible, visible, and manageable thanks to last-mile tracking. This lessens unsuccessful (or delayed) deliveries, thereby managing a major source of frustration for delivery operations.
3) Exact ETAs: As a continuation of the previous point, modern consumers want an accurate ETA for their packages. Furthermore, customers insist on being informed while their shipment travels through the delivery network. They also demand flexibility in case they have to alter the delivery specifics (address, delivery periods), or if there are delays on your end. It would be hard to manage consumer expectations without contemporary dispatch software that can trace package movement throughout the whole supply-chain network, particularly across the last mile.
4) Creating a good Client Experience: Your firm won't expand or build brand equity unless your order-fulfillment procedure produces a positive customer experience that encourages repeat business. You must plan and monitor last-mile delivery for efficiency because it is not only the most expensive, difficult, and crucially, the part that "touches" your end-customer. You are doomed to failure without it.
Case Study: Increasing client visibility with last-mile tracking
The website Sports.com, which was just founded, offers a huge selection of sporting equipment and products. For consumers at various price points, they provide a wide range of sports and athleisure products.
They have done a fantastic job thus far of determining the ideal product blend. Their goods are well-made, sufficiently varied, and affordably priced for both value-conscious and upscale customers.
Because of this, their company has recently experienced rapid growth in terms of order value and margins.
However, the organization has been experiencing an increasing issue with its ability to fulfill orders. Additionally, as their business has expanded, so too have the issues with their deliveries. Due to delayed delivery, incomplete purchases, or damaged goods, there have been an increasing number of returns.
The business has just finished analyzing its success from a unique two-day campaign a few weeks ago. At that point, they understood that despite the fact that their top line exceeded their projections, the performance was subpar due to the high amount of missed deliveries.
A local sportsman requested a customized sports kit for his son's first day of football practice; however, not only was the package not delivered within the promised two days, but Sports.com provided no information regarding the delay. This situation caused significant shame. When he independently inquired about it with the corporation, he received no response. To talk about this issue, a special meeting has been called.
In response, the Management decided to take action after realizing that its order-fulfillment partner, or 3PL, was struggling to keep up with their rapid development. This was a result of the fact that they weren't utilizing the newest technology-driven methods that were now on the market.
As a result, they were unable to alert clients on delivery delays (or modifications) or provide real-time tracking information. Sports.com discovered after further inquiry that a significant portion of their order returns was made by irate customers who continually complained that they "could not track their orders once they had been submitted" or "had no visibility regarding their order once they had placed it."
Sports.com requested urgent proposals from a number of fresh 3PLs as a result, and then carefully chose a new partner. They were careful to examine the last-mile capabilities of these 3PLs, particularly their capacities for providing customers with last-mile order tracking, visibility, and transparency after the order had been placed, after it was marked as "out for delivery," and all the way up until the point it was delivered at their doorstep.
In the weeks following the new 3PL's assumption of order-fulfillment responsibilities, Sports.com noticed a noticeable improvement in this area. The trick is to reduce reverse logistics to the point where it doesn't negatively impact business profitability and performance, even though it is an unavoidable component of all e-commerce enterprises.
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