They say the internet has sped things up. Well, when it comes to shipping, that is very true.
As seen last year, even some of the largest retailers are getting onboard with same-day delivery.
As customer demand for fast delivery grows, retailers and e-tailers from Dollar General to Sephora are upping their same-day delivery game ahead of the holiday peak shipping season. This is forcing others to catch up not only with them but also with the desire of shoppers.
Consumers Want Same-Day Delivery
A study reported in Digital eCommerce360 showed that 27% of consumers abandoned an online purchase while shopping during COVID-19 because their order would not be delivered quickly enough. And that need for speed doesn’t appear to be slowing down for shoppers as the pandemic slowly lifts.
And shipping is a critical component for shoppers when deciding where to spend their dollars online.
According to a GreyOrange study, 49% of the respondents said they consider shipping and delivery when making a purchasing decision. In addition, about 45% claim they expect their order to arrive within two days.
However, for many, a couple of days may not be fast enough.
In fact, two days—once considered the gold standard for fast delivery—is now seen by many as too slow. Almost 90 percent of shoppers today define fast shipping as getting their order the same day it is made, whether at a pickup location, buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS), curbside, or delivered to their home.
And, getting items to consumers on time is vital for the consumer experience and building brand loyalty.
According to the GreyOrange study, more than half of those that responded (57%) said that three late orders would be enough for them to skip that retailer when shopping in the future.
With all this demand, it is no wonder that retailers are scrambling to ramp up their same-day delivery logistics to not only keep up but to gain a competitive advantage.
Retailers Scramble to Add Same-Day Delivery
A recent survey commissioned in December 2021 by Bringg, showed that 99% of retailers worldwide plan to offer same-day delivery by 2025, up from today’s 35% that are delivering same-day. However, a mere 29% feel they’re currently doing a good job hitting meeting the same-day delivery windows.
Offering same-day or faster delivery service requires technology to provide visibility and management of inventory and last-mile services available. However, a Financial Times article said that for “retailers, which are still without a store pickup service, however, launching one can be somewhat costly and surprisingly hard to execute because of labor shortages and the technology systems needed.”
Obstacles Facing Same-Day Final-Mile Delivery
While retailers work to add same-day delivery to the final-mile shipping mix, there are still obstacles to overcome.
According to the Bringg survey, the largest obstacle to delivering on time was found to be a lack of real-time order visibility/tracking (36%), which is more than double what was found in a December 2020 survey. and compared to only 14% in a December 2020 survey.
It also appears that many retailers may still need to catch up on omnichannel shipping to help lower the barriers to entry for same-day delivery.
Travel distance between warehouse, retail location, etc. to the delivery point, was cited second-most often as the biggest issue by 24% of respondents.
While a lack of drivers and small fleets followed closely behind [23%) for many retailers surveyed, expanding a multi-carrier network is yet another challenge.
While more than 80% of those surveyed were working with as many as five carriers, a whopping 41% said that they were challenged when working with a variety of carriers from owned to crowdsourced.
Ways to Overcome Last-Mile, Same Day Obstacles
Even while facing obstacles, for many, same-day delivery may be adding the right multi-carrier parcel management solution of their omnichannel and multi-carrier last-mile shipping logistics already in place.
Here are three tactics to help retailers and eCommerce companies deliver on the same-day desires of customers:
- Omnichannel Logistics—to keep costs in check and delivery times tight, retailers are increasingly adopting an omnichannel shipping strategy. Omnichannel shipping is essential for same-day delivery success, whether drop-shipping from stores or manufacturers or using regional DCs and warehouses.
- Multi-carrier network—to get orders into customers’ hands takes an agile multi-carrier network consisting of national, regional, local and hyper-local carriers. As more dame-day delivery carriers, couriers, and gig economy companies such as Door Dash move into parcel delivery; retailers will have to diversify their carriers and have the technical capacity to manage them all.
- Rate and Route Shopping—shipping from various locations using multiple carriers can bump same-day delivery costs, especially as customers still want free or low-cost shipping. Knowing the costs and services available from all of your carriers in real-time and in a single multi-carrier platform can cut time, prices, and stress.
Thinking of starting or upping your same-day delivery game? Contact us today to see how Transtream can help you streamline managing your omnichannel, multi-carrier shipping.