Is Last-Mile Delivery Profitable?
While consumer expectations for delivery are high, the expenses involved with achieving such expectations are also rising. Aside from escalating complexity and delivery inefficiencies, firms must contend with increasing last-mile delivery prices.
Last-mile delivery is the most costly and time-consuming aspect of the supply chain. According to statistics, the cost of the last mile of your product's delivery accounts for more than 53% of overall delivery expenses. Furthermore, depending on how short the advertised delivery time frames are, the cost of last-mile deliveries might climb by two to four times. All of these high last-mile delivery costs eat into profitability. Inefficiencies in delivery operations might lead to exorbitant costs if not optimized.
Furthermore, e-commerce enterprises and logistics suppliers cannot pass the expense burden onto customers because this would make them disgruntled and dissatisfied. To retain a healthy profit margin, firms must take proactive initiatives to increase the efficiency of their last-mile delivery services and lower delivery costs.
Another survey found that 84% of buyers are unwilling to buy from a firm again if they had a terrible delivery experience. Furthermore, more than 98% of customers believe that last-mile delivery is critical to brand loyalty.
As a result, last-mile delivery efficiency is vital for every e-commerce or logistics company with a delivery component. Now, let's talk about how you may optimize your last-mile delivery operations with the correct tools, methods, and strategies.
How Can You Improve Your Last-Mile Delivery?
The following are five tried-and-true methods for optimizing your last-mile delivery services:
Delivery Drivers Can Be Outsourced
Consumer demand for same-day self-service delivery is skyrocketing.
Suppose you need to get your own fleet. In that case, an outsourced delivery platform can help you identify independent drivers who can pick up orders from your stores or warehouses and deliver them straight to your consumers.
The cost advantages of contracting deliveries to independent drivers are obvious. Because the costs of employee-related taxes, insurance, and benefits are so high, hiring freelance drivers for last-mile deliveries is less expensive than keeping in-house drivers. Furthermore, independent drivers offer their own vehicles and are responsible for vehicle repairs, which saves you a significant amount of money.
Another advantage of outsourcing drivers is that you may adjust to changing consumer demand without incurring continuous fixed expenditures. As a result, you may hire more drivers during high seasons and reduce your workforce when revenue slows.
A unified dashboard that displays real-time truck and order statuses can provide visibility and seamless delivery to your consignees. A unified last-mile delivery software solution provides a consolidated dashboard that assists businesses in managing all drivers, whether owned or outsourced.
Plan the Best Routes (Effective Route Planning)
When a company has thousands of deliveries scheduled every month, the routes that those deliveries take must be considered.
To create the best routes, you must consider numerous factors, including traffic congestion in densely populated regions, construction closures, and the availability of alternative routes.
Monitor Your Vehicles and Drivers
Careless drivers can raise your last-mile delivery expenses by wasting time and fuel. A business GPS tracking system displays your drivers' current location in real-time, allowing you to always validate what they are doing.
Furthermore, it informs you if a vehicle malfunction, an accident, or an emergency occurs during delivery. This visibility can assist you in resolving delivery delays as quickly as possible and minimizing losses.
Some last-mile delivery software systems provide a re-optimization tool that allows you to re-route routes and assign another driver closest to the impacted client to complete the delivery on time.
Customers should have last-mile visibility.
Provide Last Mile Visibility to Customers
Customers increasingly want greater transparency into last-mile deliveries (that is, the visibility a customer has over his delivery). They anticipate a high degree of visibility and experience, such as being able to view a real-time map on their mobile phones, track the driver as he travels, and know exactly when he will arrive. Customers should also be able to follow the progress of their deliveries using a tracking number or their Account ID. Direct connection with the driver, for example, is a significant customer engagement component.
Keep Proof of Delivery
With large delivery volumes, businesses want greater insight and transparency into the last-mile delivery process. An Electronic Proof of Delivery enables businesses to preserve a verifiable record of when deliveries are delivered. Before leaving the last-mile delivery site, the system requires the driver to obtain a signature and scan a bar code. As a result, electronic Proof of Delivery reveals when drivers deliver parcels, who signs them, and where they are deposited. This data is then sent to a centralized system and logged. If a consumer alleges that the item was not delivered, the corporation has documentation of delivery.
To recap, you should invest time and effort in optimising last-mile delivery in order to give a wonderful delivery experience to your clients and assure recurring business. The five methods listed above have been shown to be quite successful in optimising last-mile deliveries. So, are you willing to invest in the best delivery software to improve your last-mile deliveries?
No comments:
Post a Comment