Same day delivery is becoming the new trend among e-commerce businesses. Brands are stepping into the new era of logistics by offering same day delivery to their customers. Though it’s fairly challenging to deliver the items within the same day of order. Definitely same day delivery attracts more customers but companies have to focus on the pricing and logistics network more to make it profitable.
What is Same Day Parcel Delivery?
Same day delivery is delivering the order within the same day the customer ordered the item. To offer same day delivery businesses need to develop local distribution centers, stores, and transportation units. Though same day delivery can be expected only in cities or well-connected areas.
Biggest Challenges for Same Day Parcel Delivery
Companies are struggling to provide competitive delivery solutions to their customer despite having a great market share to capture in the logistics industry. There are several major factors that make it challenging but to understand this we must know how same day delivery works.
How same-day parcel delivery works –
As soon as a customer purchases online, the backend system check for the inventory at the closest. After checkout, the order is packed and picked up by the courier from the fulfillment location. Finally, it’s delivered to the customer on the same day.
That’s the basic concept behind same day delivery. Though the systems function more complexly.
Now, what can be the challenges while offering same day parcel delivery to the customers.
- Delivery distance from the customer
- Limited staff in the team including drivers, vehicles, and in the inventory
- Delivery cost
- Having old dispatching method
Delivery distance from the customer
If the distance of the delivery is not in the range, then shipping it on the same day might not be possible because of the high time traveling. Also shipping to a long distance on the same day might affect other parcels to delivery. It would be better to mention clearly till what distance it can be delivered on the same day.
Inventory should be as much close as possible to the location. This is where the businesses fail. Inaccurate inventory management systems can not guarantee on-time shipping.
Limited staff in the team including drivers, vehicles, and in the inventory
Limited drivers and vehicles lead to delays in deliveries. A driver can only ship a justified number of parcels each day and exceeding that number will the service quality.
Also, vehicle type plays an important role in shipping. Based on the road quality and traffic, vehicles should be selected. Big vehicles on highly traffic roads would not be recommended at all.
Delivery Cost
It’s one of the major factors why same day delivery is lacking behind. In order to make same day delivery effective and profitable, businesses need to reduce expenses.
Having old dispatching method
Manual dispatch or outdated dispatching methods can not comply with same day delivery. To check the real-time availability of the fleet, brands need the latest technology-based dispatching and processing system.
How to Reduce Same Day Parcel Delivery Cost
Same day parcel delivery can be profitable only when you resolve the troubles around costs like keeping the price reasonable and reducing the cost. The best part is It’s accomplishable with the help of tools and a few amazing strategies.
Optimize the entire delivery process
From checkout, dispatching to shipping there must be some windows for improvement. Just look for that. Putting all the things together will make it efficient and cost-effective. Try to do it on automation like you don’t need to do everything manually. Invest one time in building a good delivery management system. This will definitely work well in reducing costs.
Increase Order size
Set a minimum order value limit to be eligible for same-day/free delivery like e-commerce brands like Amazon does. Push your customers to buy similar things and that’ll save your cost and effort to deliver on the same day as a business.
Batch Orders
Track the orders going to the same geographical locations and batch them along to reduce your delivery cost. Use an automated routing system to decide things automatically on behalf of a person. Collaborate with crowdsourcing provides to manage fleets and operational costs.
Also, look at the future of same day delivery and how can you sustain comfortably there. For example, launching same day delivery services as an e-commerce business in just a few locations will not work in the long run. You need to expand as much area as you can.
On the other hand, if you start with your own fleet then the cost will be much higher and also there are competitors in the market. Then you need a big team to manage both e-commerce sales and shipping. So, look for opportunities in the market and fill the gap with your service.
