Whether you’re the owner of a business that has an ecommerce platform, or you are considering starting one, knowing the latest trends in last mile delivery can help give your business a competitive edge. Supply chains already have their business-to-business delivery down to an exact science, but ecommerce trends, same-day delivery, and other crowdsourcing apps have disrupted the last mile delivery segment. This means that supply chains have to figure out new and cost-efficient ways to perfect their fulfillment processes, and effectively deliver their products to customers.
So, what is last mile delivery anyway? If you don’t already work in the industry, you may not be aware of this term. It’s the stage in the delivery cycle that is defined as the movement of products from a transportation hub to the final delivery location. That final delivery location could be a retail store, or directly to the customer. Often, last mile logistics is a focus for businesses because it’s a key differentiator for retailers. Think about Amazon and their same-day delivery option. It’s what sets them apart from other retailers, and is definitely a selling point for some customers.
If you want to make sure your business stays competitive, you should know about these three trends in last mile delivery.
- Faster fulfillment and delivery
Thanks to Amazon and their same-day delivery service, there’s a huge demand for other retailers to provide faster fulfillment and faster delivery. There’s a massive push on the retail side, and an enormous amount of pressure for businesses to get orders turned around much quicker, despite the limit of current technology capabilities.
This is especially true for pharmaceutical deliveries and food deliveries. It’s typical for a customer to want their order to be delivered within a few hours, or in a very specific delivery window. This poses some planning issues for retailers, as they have to act immediately and process an order as soon as it comes in, so that they can meet that narrow window.
- Crowdsourcing and gig economy apps
The rise of the gig economy and increased popularity of crowdsourcing apps is demonstrated by looking at venture capital that’s flowing directly into the last mile delivery and logistics sectors. There are a growing number of companies that provide spot-market deliveries by independent drivers (either by car or by bike). How is this accomplished? These companies post individual delivery jobs on their apps so that drivers can be alerted to new gigs.
While delivering ad hoc isn’t nearly as efficient as making deliveries through strong route management, it’s becoming more popular as smaller companies struggle to keep up with the quick delivery turnaround, and more people are looking for extra income.
- Insourcing deliveries
Instead of outsourcing the delivery side of business, more companies are turning to their own internal solutions: using their own vehicles or sharing vehicles for last mile delivery. Some third-party logistics companies are offering vehicles and drivers for local deliveries, who spend their days shuttling product pickups and deliveries based on customer requests. Other companies have invested in their own fleet of delivery vehicles rather than outsourcing, and keep a team of drivers out on the road all day.
