The last mile is considered the most important and expensive step in the supply chain for shippers. With every exception or delay, customer satisfaction is on the line. Without a centralized view into the status of packages, or a team of people communicating updates to the customer, it’s tough to know where individual couriers are for accurate expected delivery windows — especially during the peak holiday season.
28% of a product’s total transportation cost happens during the last mile.
Future-proofing your supply chain
Lessons in logistics from forward-thinking distributors
At the peak of the pandemic in 2020, businesses scrambled to make on-time last mile deliveries with a lean operation. Shippers had the Herculean task of digitally transforming their supply chains seemingly overnight, changing E-Commerce forever.
Navigate through to learn how shippers transformed their businesses with the right mix of technology, scaled couriers and exceptional customer service.
2. Last mile delivery logistics drive up costs, inefficiencies
Shippers face new challenges
Amazon changed the game for E-Commerce businesses, drastically shifting customer expectations. Free two-day shipping, which many see as the norm in online retail, is an important factor to 79% of U.S. consumers in their purchase decisions.
And E-Commerce is here to stay; E-Commerce sales hit an all-time high in 2020, encompassing 21.3% of all retail sales, compared to 15.8% the year prior.
1. Customers expect immediacy
Limited visibility into where parcels are at any given moment, making it difficult to manage the customer experience
Disparate transportation management systems that don’t share data, resulting in an incomplete picture of what’s happening in real time
Missed promised delivery windows and the inability to communicate with customers quickly about the status, hurting customer satisfaction
A limited number of couriers to make deliveries faster
3. Common last mile pain points
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How we’re remedying the supply chain
An explosion of innovative technologies have promised to alleviate many of these issues, but technology alone isn’t enough to solve them. It takes a holistic combination of people, process and technology to make omnichannel fulfilment frictionless.
What you’ll need in a software
What you’ll need in a logistics partner network
What you’ll need in a customer experience team
The flexibility to add more couriers seamlessly to fill in last mile gaps across all your delivery markets. No need to rely solely on your own fleet.
Aligning the right-sized vehicle and courier capabilities to ensure successful delivery and unit economics.
Real-time tracking that provides visibility for all deliveries, across all shipping modes, as they are happening. Understand what’s happening in the moment, from anywhere.
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A collaborative logistics management team that works with all sides of the supply chain — shippers, couriers and customers — to create workflow efficiencies for managing exceptions, before the customer even knows.
Skilled customer experience managers who build trust and loyalty by contacting the shipper and their customer with all updates that may impact a timely delivery.
The human touch of a 24/7 USA-based operations team that watches each vehicle, route and delivery to avoid issues before they occur.
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Real-time, detailed visibility into delivery status and location. No more guessing where parcels are.
A centralized view across all your supply chain solutions to understand information in aggregate. No need to log in to multiple platforms again.
Instant (and accurate) quotes for consistent pricing. Know what the cost implications will be from the outset.
Automated matching to couriers who are readily available, using a powerful API that integrates with your TMS. Avoid being limited by your own fleet, and have the ability to find available drivers quickly and easily.
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There’s a lot to consider when it comes to improving how your supply chain operates.
Does your current solution include leading technology, a scalable network of couriers and a skilled team of managers to make supply chain logistics possible?
Contact OneRail to learn more about how our dispatch-to-doorstep solution can improve ROI and your supply chain efficiencies.
Technology alone isn’t enough to avoid last mile failures. People management is often the most important and overlooked element of shipping.
Software
Logistics partner network
Customer experience team
