Nishith Rastogi, Founder and CEO of Locus, shares some interesting insights on the evolving customized delivery experiences…
Achieving meaningful efficiencies at the last mile while meeting customer expectations has been a challenge for retail and e-commerce businesses. While optimizing the last mile with technology has helped smoothen an otherwise bumpy journey for brands, they still need to cater to customers’ need of the hour: on-time and convenient deliveries.
Offering various products and providing discounts isn’t the only mantra retailers and e-commerce companies must follow. Along with product variety, organizations must provide customers with multiple delivery options, which many online retailers need more.
According to a study by Kearney, 29% of consumers in the Middle East want their orders to be delivered within an hour, and 28% want them within a day. These are steep demands, but retailers and e-commerce companies have to adapt to these changes to ensure customer experiences aren’t taking a hit.
Through advancements in last-mile technology, retailers have implemented various solutions to hit the right spot around customer delight and operational efficiency.
One of the key features is Customized Slot-based delivery. Customized slot-based delivery systems not only help retailers display preferred delivery timelines for customers but also factor in the fleet and cost, assisting retailers in planning their deliveries by optimal utilization of their existing resources cost-effectively to deliver consistent and predictable customer experiences.
Here are a few business benefits retailers can reap by implementing slot based delivery system:
Improve operational excellence
Typically, without the right system, retailers are flying blind since they don’t have much visibility into their operations, increasing costs, empty miles on the road, and the chances of delayed delivery. The result is inevitably a poor customer experience. Slot-based deliveries can help you organize deliveries via capacity-led slot bookings, so you can ace fleet management and first-attempt delivery, ultimately leading to improved operational excellence.
Build loyalty faster
Did you know that 17% of shoppers stop purchasing from a retailer after one late delivery? With slot-based delivery systems, retailers can create precise delivery schedules while determining customers’ availability to minimize reattempts and failed deliveries. Retailers can also prioritize repeat customers by leveraging previous purchase behaviour data and showing them the preferred time slots by asking them to pay a small surcharge.
Churn-free post-fulfilment options
With the right last-mile technology, many retailers can avoid customer churn due to cancellations, address changes, and delivery window changes, among others. Implementing a slot-based delivery system into your last-mile solution can help with effective fleet utilization, making them work at optimal levels so that you can accommodate cancellations or changes in time or date of delivery at any time.
Bring sustainability to your customers.
Implementing a slot-based delivery system can help you improve ROI and customer experience and reduce CO2 emissions. In a study conducted on sustainability, just 23% of shoppers say carbon emissions from deliveries are a concern. However, in five years, that number rises to 51%. Green logistics has been a goal for many retailers, but this is a pipe dream without a proper last-mile logistic solution. Implementing a customized slot-based delivery system to your last mile helps reduce reattempts and empty miles on the road, hence fewer carbon emissions. You can also add a sustainability slot on the checkout page to entice eco-friendly customers to stick with you.
What’s the verdict?
Customers’ top priority is delivery speed, and they aren’t willing to trade that with anything. Retailers in the Middle East need a last-mile logistics solution with a feature that can provide customers with customized delivery slots while operating at optimal capacity and delivering consistent and predictable experiences.
Originally authored by Nishith Rastogi, Founder and CEO of Locus. Edited by Vibha Mehta.