What Companies Need To Do To Increase Delivery Efficiency
Last mile delivery is the last stage in the supply chain process—the moment the customer receives their order. Studies reveal that clients find convenience to be the most essential factor in the entire online shopping cycle. And with the rising popularity of e-commerce, it's a must for online retailers to improve convenience while providing multiple delivery options.
Offering a great customer experience means running an efficient delivery operation, which requires making the right investments in both infrastructure and training with efficient delivery protocols. Here are some tips for efficient delivery operations that include delivery improvement ideas, as well as answers on how to optimize your organization's time management.
How Can I Increase My Delivery Efficiency?
If you're looking for ideas to improve on-time delivery, then take a good look at how you track your inventories. There was a time when inventory tracking stopped after the goods were placed on the truck, but methods are different now since technology allows for greater visibility on your goods' entire delivery journey.
Businesses can invest in logistics tracking software that scans and tracks the packages placed on a truck until they reach their final destination. Think of it as having a moving warehouse where you can track all your goods properly until they are delivered to the customers. Investing in this infrastructure allows sellers to know which trucks and drivers have a particular order, and which ones have already been delivered and signed for in real-time.
Speaking of drivers, improving the delivery process also entails having more visibility of them in the field. Having the ability to track where your drivers are anytime and anywhere is a great start to creating a delivery efficiency formula. Having a centralized system that provides information on driver locations lets businesses keep tabs on their drivers' locations and progress in real-time.
How Do You Ensure On-Time Deliveries?
Logistics specialists would say that route optimization plays an essential role in the order fulfillment process. However, in many cases, businesses do not realize the importance of using real-world data in route optimization.
To ensure on-time deliveries, businesses should consider tracking information about the entire delivery process from the time the package is picked up at the warehouse until it is delivered to the customer's residence. Tracking such data offers valuable insights on where the inefficiencies are. Businesses can improve their routes when they use a system that collects automatically data gathered from each day's stops.
This information can also be valuable in assessing staffing requirements. Having the daily and/or weekly data about the order volumes and delivery routes lets businesses identify which hours or days of the week have lower demand. This enables yo to plan how many drivers and warehouse staff are needed at certain times and days throughout the week.
Businesses that engage third parties such as a selection of independent crowdsourced drivers or another company's fleet can also use the same infrastructure to manage all drivers using the same system and dashboard. Managing third-party drivers more efficiently is essential for those who want to scale up their last mile deliveries. The best last mile delivery software can aid in all of this while also being monitoring and measuring quality control for execution and customer service.
If you want to ensure your fleet is on-time with their deliveries, then investing in automation and centralized real-time data gathering is a must. Eliminate inefficiencies in the entire delivery process, and you will see higher delivery efficiency.