When it comes to logistics, small and medium-sized e-commerce retailers struggle to achieve the kind of scale that they really need to allow them to compete with the bigger companies in their sector.
In terms of customer satisfaction, the larger companies have the sales to allow them to set the bar pretty high, and the one thing that doesn’t factor into the equation is all too often the price of the products. This is, in fact, the one point where many companies are on a similar footing. The differences can be seen on the logistics side of the equation. Small, and to some extent, medium retailers simply don’t have the volume of sales that will allow them to command the discounts that the bigger companies can.
They can’t take advantage of any of the transportation strategies that might exist, because they simply don’t have the scale to qualify. Unfortunately, they still need to meet the delivery expectations of their customers and match the timescales set by the bigger companies. In some cases, this means paying what they have to, reducing their profit and hoping for the best.
E-commerce saw a tremendous boom during the pandemic, with high-street retailers closed unless they sold essential goods. This saw more and more customers turning to online alternatives – in many cases, for the first time. Whilst the high street shops may have opened up once again since the pandemic, the expected return to shoppers’ in-person spending patterns has not happened. Accustomed to the convenience that e-commerce offers, many shoppers are preferring to shop from the comforts of their own homes. The big difference is that where they may once have been happy to wait a few days for their purchases to arrive, now they want them at a time that suits them – often the same day as they order.
Last-mile deliveries face a myriad of issues, the biggest of which is perhaps traffic. Getting stuck in traffic – both the expected rush hour traffic and the unexpected traffic that is the result of a road accident – can cause big problems. Couriers also face issues with delivery time window options, customer preferences not being relayed correctly and even problems with updating customers.
At DeliveryApp, we have the technology to resolve these last-minute delivery issues. This can be of particular benefit to courier services that are struggling to commit to these constraints and deal with higher volumes of deliveries. The outsourcing solution that we offer means that not only can we help to address the issue, but we can offer a solution that will benefit everyone from the e-commerce business to the customer. DeliveryApp can address the issues and provide solutions as a result of outsourcing to our network of qualified and professional couriers.
Solving the last-mile delivery puzzle no longer has to be a complex issue. We have the solution, and that means that small and medium-sized businesses can access the tools needed to compete with those bigger companies.
Written by Lance Jones
