Last-mile delivery - How to set it up!
As a retailer, how do you keep your profit margins healthy? Not an easy task these days. Just think about the environment: the level of competition is already fierce and will only become more cut-throat with the arrival of foreign players such as Amazon and AliExpress. Consumers are becoming more demanding and want more choice, faster delivery and the ability to return items free of charge...without being prepared to pay more for all this. The increasing number of sales channels is a third complicating factor. If you want to serve all those physical stores, online shops and marketplaces in the best way possible, you need to have a sophisticated, but costly, distribution network at your disposal. If you are not careful, all these factors will lead to less turnover and higher costs and your margins will come under pressure.
The smartest last-mile route
But there is also good news. Thanks to good entrepreneurship, smart logistics concepts and the availability of advanced technology, retailers are increasingly able to organise their supply chain operations in a highly efficient manner. These progressive players are reaping the benefits of the enormous growth in e-commerce, without losing control of their costs. By adopting a sophisticated omnichannel strategy, they can offer consumers a better customer experience, which leads in turn to increased market share. And finally, they will also succeed in turning the last mile, which is still a loss-making activity in most cases, into a powerful competitive weapon.
That particular challenge is generally considered to be the Holy Grail in e-commerce. You can find useful tips in this white paper and a colleague also gives you the benefit of his experiences. Use this valuable information to your advantage.