What is Last Mile Delivery?

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Post Covid19 pandemic has made e-commerce a necessity of life. Clearly Covid19 has made a positive impact on this business sector. Secondly, e-commerce has positively given push to the world economy. Most organizations have the ability to give a preferred experience to consumers of brands manufactured and serviced by them. Organizations strive to give their consumers an unforgettable experience. Today’s customers desire instant gratification. They don’t like a long waiting period to receive their ordered products. A positive and well-designed delivery experience is therefore most important which improves customer retention and does wonder the marketing function. The traditional delivery methods could last from a couple of weeks to even a few months, whereas today, the delivery system needs to be instant. This is where last mile delivery concept gains significance.

Consumers and businesses are becoming more aware of the environment. Because of this consumers are being more mindful about where they shop and the impact it has on the environment and related effects. Quick delivery is one of the criteria. The impact of e- commerce on macroeconomic growth and productivity growth cannot be ignored. In previous technological revolutions increased productivity gained popularity which in the long run helped to improve living standards. One of the main areas of development of E-commerce development are usage of artificial intelligence, onsite personalization, chatbots, more options to pay and big data for offering more personalized services.  E-commerce has boomed due to mobile phones.

One of the most important and the final step of E-commerce is “last-mile delivery” which involves dispatching the products to the end customers; it is the last-mile delivery that makes sure whether the product reaches the customer safely and on time. Organizations need to realise that once the customer places order, each moment matters. E-Commerce handles everything from luxury goods and services to everyday necessities. The US, which leads the world in IT and E-commerce, has had an impressive economic performance, particularly in terms of productivity growth, since 1995. According to few research outcomes, much of the acceleration in productivity grew because of structural and attributable changes induced by ICT and the Internet.

In 2020, last mile delivery became chaotic owing to the pandemic. At a time when businesses were struggling to cope up with the changing customer needs like faster and same-day delivery, challenges like contactless delivery, zero cash payments, health updates and more started rising like never before. Savvy customers want end-to-end transparency of fulfilment progress. They want to know where their order is, who is bringing it and when they will receive it. Customers want brands to ensure flexible delivery. Loyal consumers ensured that organizations gave them a flexible online buying experience with lot of discounts and convenience.

To deliver the goods at fastest speed, supply chain leaders required to revisit their last mile delivery strategy. Digitalization of core retail last mile delivery processes became a key in shaping the future of retailers, e-commerce companies, grocery chains, restaurants and manufacturing companies. Increasing consumer demand led to businesses strategizing the critical step for a quick and efficient shipment. Be it at personal residence, hotel, hospital, neighbour’s residence or retail store, the final destination of the supply chain must be covered at lightning fast speed, in order to churn out more and more satisfied customers.

Final mile is the most expensive leg of the journey of goods from the transportation hub to its ultimate destination thereby it requires resource optimization. And, it should be the key focus area.

Some usual problems faced in last mile delivery

There are a plethora of challenges that pull down overall supply chain and last mile delivery operations, thus making it most expensive.

Executing same day delivery

According to a research, more than 80% of customers today are willing to pay more for faster delivery, and keeping up with this expectation itself is the biggest challenge with last mile deliveries. Poor management of third-party logistics providers (service that enables enterprises to outsource or make use of third -party businesses to carry out tasks to completion in its supply chain) make it extremely difficult to shrink delivery turn-around-time and pose a threat to the entire shipping process.

Traditional routing models

Without having highly efficient routing tools and strategies it is difficult if not impossible to ensure timely and cost-effective execution of last mile deliveries. Traditional routing models are highly dependent on manual processes making it challenging to consider all the factors that influence chalking out highly productive routes. The idea behind modern and upgraded route planning and modelling is to maximize the efficiency of delivery routes in order to enhance the entire supply chain. Route optimization focuses on finding the most cost-efficient route for every delivery scenario.

The Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted existing logistics models and had a worse impact on the last mile shipping. Social distancing regulations have changed the way parcels are picked up, delivered and received. Contactless delivery had become an elementary expectation as it ensured greater adherence to social distancing compliance. Even today, some housing societies prefer contactless deliveries.

Designing delivery operations

During the Covid19 pandemic the increasing volumes of online buying and a surge in the number of shipments pressurised faster delivery time. Many businesses were struggling to find executives during peak business days when their own resources are exhausted.

Control on carbon emissions

Road transportation accounts for highest carbon emission most of it comes from passenger vehicles such as cars, vans, three wheelers and buses which contribute 45.1%. The other 29.4% comes from trucks carrying freight. As environmentalism has gained major agenda of the world, more consumers are willing to pay extra for products that are organic in nature and packaged using recyclable materials. Already few enlightened customers demand carbon-neutral deliveries. DHL Express uses electric-assist e-Cargo Cycles for deliveries in US. The international shipping services company practices using the lower-power cargo bikes for cutting 101,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide annually.

Some prominent last mile delivery carriers

Last Mile carriers are the shipping logistics companies who transport the packages from the nearest hub to an end customer at a relatively lower cost and less time. Some of the last mile carrier companies are FedEx, DHL, USPS and other local courier companies operating in specific geographic destinations.

FedEX

Fedex is one of the largest e-commerce shipping giants with a vast network of warehouses and carrier vehicles across the globe. In 2020, FedEx doubled up as the last mile delivery company by opening up last mile delivery solutions for E-commerce companies. FedEx is equipped to carry items weighing up to 68 kgs. It is also authorised for cold chain supply chain management and transportation of dangerous goods like lithium batteries and other electronic parts. FedEx can handle customs on arrival and provide expedited express shipping for urgent orders.

AWL India

AWL India has a wide network that connects multiple locations seamlessly with their logistics, supply chain management, and transportation services. AWL India was responsible for supporting vaclogix (which is a cold chain logistics service in India) during the peak of the Covid pandemic in India. Thousands of lives were benefited from their on-time, fast-paced services.

Delhivery

Delhivery is a leading e-commerce logistics and Delhivery Company helping many businesses to deliver seamlessly in areas across the country. The company has 21 automated sort centres for the goods and 2200+ self-operated delivery centres. The company was established in 2011, and is among the fastest-growing logistics companies in India, offering promising logistics solutions to businesses from various industries.

ClickPost

Clickpost is an intelligent logistics SaaS (software as a service) platform that automates last-mile delivery shipping processes for e-commerce stores. ClickPost has pre-integrated with 150+ carriers so that the deliveries can reach anywhere across the globe. It offers warehouse management, inventory management, and shipment tracking for online businesses. Like a last-mile delivery company, it sends order updates to customers and gets feedback from customers after the completion of the order fulfilment process.

USPS

USPS (United States Postal Service) is the official government-led postal service system of the United States. It offers last-mile delivery solutions to e-commerce businesses primarily in US and some other nations. It works through its massive connection of post offices across the country and also makes doorstep deliveries.

DHL

DHL is a multinational logistics and parcel delivery company that has started upgrading and enhancing its last-mile delivery game. DHL has numerous warehouses and distribution centres all over the world which allows them to push out orders faster. DHL acts as a last-mile delivery company by expediting the order fulfilment process, providing expected delivery dates, and allocating vehicles and drivers for making the drop. It also has a shipping rate calculator on its website. Most international DHL orders reach customers within 1 – 3 days. All shipping and delivery options include live order tracking. Customers are even notified on their emails and phones. DHL delivers to over 220 countries worldwide.