By Rina Redelinghuys – CQuential Customer Services Executive

What is final delivery?

The overall delivery process to the customer has always been a key objective for many executives. A business could have the best product on the market, but if service is not a top priority, then the business will not be sustainable over the long term. 

The change in consumer buying habits has put additional pressure on the final customer delivery. The key to success is understanding customer service requirements and building an agile and flexible supply chain to fulfil customer expectations. Having a comprehensive warehouse management system (WMS) and delivery app, will facilitate the achievement of these business objectives.

Examples of the challenges experienced by companies: 

• Poor delivery allocation and address location.
  • Resulting in a failed delivery, impacting delivery profitability.

• Route optimisation and efficiency
  • A routing delay leads to missed deliveries or slipped SLAs, negatively impacting the customer experience.

• Capacity vs capability
  • Achieving a fine balance between managing the number of deliveries in a day within a particular area, which boils down to the following use cases:
    • Low-Density Short Distance
    • Low-Density Long Distance
    • High-Density Short Distance
    • High- Density Long Distance

Not taking into account the size of shipments, which adds another variable to the mix.

• Customer Availability
  • Delivery failures due to customer unavailability. 

It is essential to have the necessary checks and balances in place to ensure seamless communication between operatives and customers.

• Meet Fulfilment timelines
  • If the timelines are missed, it could be very expensive in the short and long term. The delivery process needs to be as robust as possible to fulfill orders in a timely manner.

If you are experiencing these challenges, you are not alone. 

What you can do about it:

• Consult with a logistics specialist to define the business requirement.
• Propose a suitable solution to meet your customer’s delivery requirements.
• Go to the market to find vendors that can offer the solution.
• Implement the solution.
• Continuously monitor performance to make adjustments where needed and ensure ongoing competitiveness.

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For more information, contact one of our Business Consultants at 011 712 1300; email info@cquential.com, or visit our website at www.cquential.com

By Rina Redelinghuys – CQuential Customer Services Executive

The last mile fulfilment process is becoming more dynamic as customer expectations change. The delivery experience is a key differentiator and the deciding factor in garnering customer loyalty and ensuring return.

Due to the complexity and variability within e-commerce, a flexible and responsive business model is required if businesses are to compete. Technology has allowed companies to deal with the complexities and share critical information that builds customer confidence and trust.

The introduction of technology enables businesses to:

• improve operational efficiencies
• respond to last-minute requests
• provide real time tracking options for customers to prevent anxiety and take action in real time
• communicate changes to both customers and employees
• improve proactivity and prevent delays.

Customer experience can be enhanced by delivery software in numerous ways

It allows customers to stay informed of the status of their orders through delivery (last mile) software. By receiving real time notifications regarding the location of their parcels, when it is scheduled for delivery and by whom.  The importance of notifying customers of potential delays cannot be underestimated if one is to avoid bad customer experiences.

With advanced delivery software providing real-time visibility of delivery status, flexibility and speed of delivery, supply chains and logistics will be boosted and customers will be satisfied. In a nutshell, this is the essence of competitive edge.

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For more information, contact one of our Business Consultants at 011 712 1300; email info@cquential.com, or visit our website at www.cquential.com