The huge rise in Internet based purchasing is forcing brands into growing reliance on the third party delivery marketplace. However, current research suggests that approximately 12% of deliveries* fail to attain the ‘1st time, on-time’ delivery mark, and that the cost of this reaches £851m per annum in the UK alone**. This level of performance is clearly inadequate and is also unsustainable. The industry needs to make some serious changes: aim for the ‘perfect order’ success rates of 99.99% and best practice, provide transparent communication at every stage of the delivery process and proactively manage exceptions to transform the customer experience.
Weak Operational Control Damages Brand Experience
For any consumer or business waiting for an online order to be fulfilled, the quality, timeliness and completeness of the delivery has a fundamental impact on customer perception. For a brand entrusting its customer experience to a third party delivery company, there is little point competing on price or product quality if a bad experience caused by the delivery process deters the customer from buying on its site again.
Today,research indicates most parcel delivery companies are achieving at best 90% successful first time deliveries. That means a huge number of parcels each day are undelivered as expected, damaged or, even worse, result in the dreaded ‘collect at your nearest depot’ card. In no way can this performance be described as world class. In reality it is not even acceptable.
However, despite the recognised inadequacy in the last mile of the parcel delivery process, brands are more than ever reliant on parcel companies as consumers, and businesses, increasingly purchase online.
Dated Process
So why the bad experience? The reality is that while the market has expanded dramatically over the past decade, the vast majority of parcel companies are still using the same dated technology and paper based processes that were introduced in the early 2000s. Can it really be efficient and smart to have each individual driver manually map out his own route each morning; make his assessment of the best way to deliver all of these ‘brand crucial’ deliveries to many different locations; then attempt to match his preferred delivery path with the arrival time expectations of the end consumer?
And it is all based on paper.Despite an investment in handheld devices to record customer signatures and the availability of an excellent 3G network, organisations and drivers are still heavily reliant on paper.
Those parcel delivery companies who recognise that delivering a higher quality experience, who can offer reliable delivery slots with exceptional, transparent communication, and who can track the entire process seamlessly are set to steal a march on the competition – fast.
Quality Experience
Accuracy and traceability at every stage of the supply chain are essential – from validating the initial arrival of goods all the way through to capturing not only the name & signature of the individual that received the goods; but also a picture and a timed GPS co-ordinate to provide full proof of delivery.
Operational efficiency and effectiveness is not only a delight for the parcel delivery company, it is a blessing for the end customer, and therefore becomes a USP for the brand.
Conclusion
Those companies that can make the path between brand and customer as smooth as possible; can deliver best practice; and upwards of 99.99% perfect order deliveries will reap the rewards of a vastly more efficient and effective organisation and, even more important, significantly boost the market’s perception of their quality, timeliness and professionalism.
Parcel companies are doing far more than just delivering a parcel – they are representing the brands that are paying for the delivery service. Parcel companies of every size need to proactively take control over the last and every, mile of delivery.
Pol Sweeney, CTO and Managing Director Europe, Airclic.
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18709348
