Executive Summary
We live in a modern digital world where everything is in “instant mode!” And perhaps, among its best examples lie in the modern delivery times that e-commerce giants like Amazon offer these days. Terms like 24-hr Delivery and Next-Day Delivery are all a part of our everyday lives now!
Whether you choose to manage your delivery process or outsource it to a Logistics Partner, you must ensure that your customers have sufficient shipping choices. Using the list of Top 10 tips given below would be a good template to follow.
Modern Logistics: faster, cheaper, more options.
Today’s business world is highly competitive and gets disrupted by new inventions and ideas every day! Under such a scenario, acquiring customers is an increasingly tough task – and converting them into permanent, repeat customers is an even tougher one!
To build a stable business, your business offering has to have its USP, yes – but offering good shipping is also critical to success in today’s times.
Fast and reliable shipping is a factor that all customers weigh before making a purchase decision. The advent of modern e-commerce giants like Amazon with its incredible shipping options like 24-hr delivery, Same-Day delivery, Next-Day delivery (etc.) have now become the “new normal’ and customers expect it from everyone!
Therefore, it is even more important that you offer your customers a convenient choice of shipping so that it doesn’t become the weakest link in your chain.
Top 10 tips to deliver packages more efficiently
1. Automation: Using modern technology to automate your delivery processes is key to streamlining your business, especially with regard to warehousing and shipping. By doing so, you can easily deal with numerous daily dispatches, manage inventory, monitor fleets, and drivers, gather all the shipping documents, and fulfill your orders.
Automation also ensures that it interlinks all your numerous processes (including all sub-processes and workflows) so that it all rolls up to the desired end performance. Automation also clearly defines and constantly monitors your operations against a set of relevant and pre-defined metrics to ensure performance standards are maintained.
2. Offer limited- but popular – shipping choices: While a long list of shipping options for customers may sound like the best option, it can often be confusing and tedious – both, for your customers as well as for you to manage.
Limiting the shipping choices that you offer would mean fast and efficient choices for your customers. Plus, it would be easier for you to receive, manage and dispatch your orders.
3. Quality of staff: The importance of an efficient and well-trained staff cannot be stressed enough. At the end of the day, they are the moving parts of your operation and are responsible for managing it.
You may have modern systems and great resources, but inefficient staff would bring it all to naught whereas a smart and well-trained workforce will achieve wonders. They will be able to process more orders with greater efficiency and thus maintain customer satisfaction.
4. Fulfillment outsourcing: With the advent of highly efficient and modernized services offered by today’s Logistics and Distribution companies, outsourcing has become an extremely sensible and affordable option. Fulfillment centers of Logistics companies are experts at packing and shipping out deliveries professionally. They also maintain all the necessary documents for efficient accounting and tracking.
In-house fulfillment: However, if do you decide to use your own fulfillment process based on your business needs, you must ensure that you have a good handle on all the processes and the necessary resources (e.g. paperwork, packaging materials, warehouse space, automation, etc.). Without all this in place, you would struggle and the results would be disastrous!
5. Instant Fulfillment: As mentioned above, consumers now demand delivery options like Same-Day delivery and 24-hr delivery! Even until recently, such shipping times were not even thought of! But, the cycle of time brings numerous innovations, and with today’s modern technology improvements such as last-mile delivery software, Logistics Companies can now easily manage such delivery fulfillments. Make sure you offer these options as well – if your customer chooses a longer timeframe so be it, but you must not lose out on a customer purely because you didn’t have the “Next-Day delivery option”!
6. Grouping your shipments: Grouping your shipments into common groups will not only help in taking advantage of efficiencies (e.g. cost reductions, easier container bookings) thereby making your shipments cheaper but will also allow for faster fulfillment. Whether shipping internationally or domestically, whether to a logistics company or to the end-consumer, such grouping of parcels has all-around benefits.
7. Work seamlessly with logistics partners: Establishing a well co-ordinated and seamless working pattern with your logistics partners – e.g. your 3PL partner – will help in greatly enhancing your shipping efficiency. Understanding their pickup and drop-off process, and establishing a rapport with their customer representatives will not only help in reducing your shipping costs and improve your process but also fit in seamlessly with theirs. Both will be beneficial for you.
8. Manage resources properly: Running a fulfillment operation is a complex, time-consuming, and resource-heavy operation. Unless you use the correct resources to the extent required it would be impossible to manage. Make sure you plan your entire range of operations in sufficient detail – both, at the macro and at the micro-level. Establish the right work processes, hire the right people, and decentralize and delegate where required.
9. Speed of communication and response: Logistics is a complex business that is dependent on ever-changing dynamic variables. Maintaining real-time communication with all your stakeholders including your drivers, warehouse, and fulfillment partners is critical. This ensures that you stay on top of things and can take necessary actions as quickly as needed, especially during moments of crisis.
10. Advance customs clearance: Wherever custom clearance is required (e.g. international shipping), using online custom facilities is very helpful. Several nations allow you to declare your cargo details in advance on their online portals, thus saving you a lot of time.
Conclusion: as is clear from the above, following the Top 10 tips should help you in offering speedy and economical delivery options to your customers and keep them satisfied. Lastly, using an automated best last mile delivery software to efficiently manage all your logistics and distribution needs is a tool that you must use – without it you would be losing out to your competitors because they already are!
