Strategies To Reduce Your Organization’s Lead Times
As consumers remain cautious of the spread of COVID-19, online shopping continues its mainstay in the retail industry. Even prior to COVID, more and more consumers were reluctant to visiting physical retail locations. This online shift began putting stress onto the fulfillment responsibilities of smaller retail organizations. While these smaller online retailers certainly appreciate the support of these online shoppers, they’re struggling to provide the same quality shipping times that Amazon can. While the quality of the products at Amazon may vary, there’s no denying the impact their shipping speeds have on customers. Competing with the titans of the industry can lead to less business for smaller online retailers.
Therein lies the importance of the order fulfillment process for each organization. Specifically the last phase of the process, last mile delivery. Within this phase, the purchased product(s) moves from its fulfillment center to the final point of sale, or the customer. Compared to Amazon, this phase will cause the most stress for smaller scale businesses. An organization’s last mile delivery is directly related to its online sales, meaning a poor last mile delivery strategy will likely negatively affect sales done online.
Of course, it wasn’t always like this. Last mile delivery wasn’t always as important as it is today. Just prior to the online boom, online shoppers would place their orders and would receive some of the most limited tracking information available. Often times it was simply a range of dates the product should arrive to their home within. These customers were always at the mercy of the shipping capabilities of the business they ordered from. While expectations of these shoppers were certainly lower, they were also more understanding of delays. However, shoppers today are much less understanding, especially as companies like Amazon are capable of providing such expedited shipping speeds to so many customers.
The issue for these smaller retailers extends past their inability to deliver on such expedited shipping speeds. With the number of online orders and shoppers across the industry increasing, retailers are tasked with keeping up with insane levels of order and delivery volume. Retailers lacking a sound last mile delivery solution will continue to struggle. Those that have made adjustments often look to inventory management systems that enable retailers to get ahead of their orders. Retailers struggling with last mile delivery have also looked to improve their available warehouse space in hopes to reduce the distance between product and customer. More space means more delivery options to accommodate to the uptick in customers.
Do you believe your organization could benefit from honing in on its last mile delivery strategy? If so, it might be worth considering how these inventory management systems and a partnership with their providers could improve your online service delivery. For more information on these systems and their providers, take a moment to review the infographic accompanying this post. Courtesy of WAREHOWZ.
