E-commerce is the new marketplace that everyone wants to go for, leaving behind the brick & mortar retail model far behind in term of growth. And the fuel that injects to the growth of an ecommerce into a hybrid one is Logistics.
Managing the flow of things between a point of origin and point of consumption can be defined as Logistics. Production, inventory, warehousing, transportation, security, information flow, packaging, and security together come to form logistic services.
Problems with Last-Mile Delivery:
Whenever a business is started the pros and cons comes along with it and in case of logistics, they are many. Distribution Centers Location, Average Delivery Time & Congested Traffic are the major hindrances in the success of a Logistics business if not implemented properly.
With last-mile deliveries being the crucial part of the supply chain, timely delivery is the first concern that needs to be worked on to attain a satisfactory delivery experience for the consumer.
Distribution Centers Location: Distribution Centers increases the proximity of improved delivery speed and saves money. An insufficient number of transportation amenities will increase travel time and is a sure concern for the company. Having these centres located where a company’s customers are found is a great plus to save on considerable expense and delay during the last mile.
Average Delivery Time: If deliveries are taking more than 45 minutes, then it indicates a need for distribution centers closer to customers. Long delivery time incurs loss of productivity while shorter delivery time offers opportunity to deliver more goods within the same time frame increasing the profitability of the company.
Congested Traffic: Traffic conditions make a great impact on the delivery time and generally results in extra transportation cost. The issue can be resolved with additional distribution centers but it is also a decision to make looking out the frequency of the deliveries in the region.
Clear Communication is also an important aspect for logistics players as an unhappy consumer can have a negative impact on online retailers with delayed deliveries and on the other hand clear helpful communication can contributes in timely delivery expectation meeting which the logistic player can retain that consumer for long.
Companies that don’t recognize these challenges of local delivery will find it extremely difficult to provide the high level of service expected by consumers nowadays.
