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Make sure that you’ve listed your estimated delivery times where your customers can visibly see them.
Shipping and Logistics for your deliveries may not be one of the first things you think about when it comes to your business – but it should be.
As a business owner, shipping and logistics are the lifeline to your business; it’s how you get your product to your customer.
Thus, it’s important that you’re constantly in the know for trends in shipping and logistics, and how they will affect deliveries for your business.
Knowing these trends and changes will help you get an understanding of how the landscape is changing, and how services like next day delivery or even same day delivery are possible – and, most importantly, what they mean for your business.
Here’s a look at how the landscape of shipping and logistics in 2020 will look-like and the two biggest factors you definitely need to know about:
#1 Automation
Probably the biggest change you can expect in 2020 for shipping and deliveries is going to be increasing automation.
Development in automating systems means that everyone is looking to jump on the ‘automation’ bandwagon. Nearly every industry is looking to automate as many systems as they can and as soon as they can.
Why? To save costs and improve efficiency, over the long-run.
Automation should matter to you, your business and your customers not because it’s a cool thing to have, but rather, it’s going to mean you’ll have a more streamlined processing and procurement system (or systems). This means that handling deliveries are going to be much easier and much faster; and it also means that you’ll need to know how and where to find and make use of these systems to get the best services for your business and your customers.
Here are just a few of the latest developments in automation within the shipping and logistics industry:
Improved Robot Picking systems – you’ve likely seen images or clips of warehouses with robots that help to locate and retrieve items for packing, so this isn’t that big of a deal.
The big improvement, however, is that now, robots are now being designed to have more versatile gripping and handling capabilities to handle procurement more gently, appropriately and efficiently, depending on the type of items being handled.
In addition, developers are looking to decrease the lag time between robots receiving commands to their processing and subsequent actions, meaning that procurement processes will also be faster and efficient.
Autonomous Delivery Vehicles – As we drive (pun intended) into an era where it may finally be possible to have driverless vehicles powered by sensors, big data and artificial intelligence, companies are working on delivery systems that can operate without the need for human intervention.
While it’s unlikely that humans will be completely replaced, expect there to be an increase in non-human deliveries along with your post men and women. Some forms of autonomous delivery vehicles are drones and self-driving road vehicles such as cars and trucks.
Integrated Business Solutions for Fulfilments and Deliveries – rather than having to manually handle transactions and then place orders/packing for deliveries, business can now house everything under one roof that allow automated systems to handle all the processes and documentation from the moment the customer completes their transactions by using services that make processing orders and booking deliveries automatically.
This means that business owners can worry less about having to create orders between platforms and focus on the aspects of business that they specialize in. This is definitely one area that you as a business owner, small or big, can benefit investing in.
Be on the lookout for companies and services that offer automated systems that can improve your shipping and logistics processes. If you’re interested in taking it a step further, search for solutions that allow you to integrate your business with an automated fulfilment system which can make the process from transaction to delivery much, much easier and efficient for you.
#2 Deliveries and Transit Times
Here’s a statistic for you: 73% of online shoppers expect quick and affordable deliveries.
Customers are calling for faster deliveries at cheaper prices. If you ask them which one they prefer first though, most of them say that they’re willing to pay more to get faster deliveries.
A report by iPrice found that deliveries are still a pain point for customers and businesses when it comes to e-commerce shopping in the South East Asian region.
On average, transit times for deliveries were around 3 days. The longer it took for items to be delivered, the more dissatisfaction levels increased. The flipside was also true, when delivery times were faster, customers and businesses were happier.
Take Malaysia for example. Customers in Malaysia are the most dissatisfied in the South East Asian region.
Why?
The study found that delivery services in Malaysia take on average 5 days in transit – 2 days longer than the regional average.
It’s good to assume that your customers are feeling the same pain points, and have the same expectations, because, let’s face it wouldn’t you expect the same thing too? Wouldn’t you want your parcel to arrive faster?
As technologies and systems (like the ones discussed at the start of the article) improve, it’s predicted that delivery speeds will increase. Even now, services such as next-day or even same day delivery are possible.
In the future, it’s predicted that for some locations, customers can expect to receive their purchases within the same hour from the moment they completed their transaction. It’ll be like ordering a food delivery. It probably won’t be there in 30 minutes or less, though.. (Or maybe it may).
That’s not to say, however, that you will need to be able to do that for your business to survive. Rather, it’s something to strive for.
If you can go the extra mile and do all you can to process your customer’s orders faster, it shows initiative and prioritization from your end. Furthermore, if you can find the best solutions to deliver the best results for your business and your customers, it’ll only reinforce a positive image for your brand.
Still need convincing on the importance of delivery speeds? Here are some of the benefits linked to being able to make faster deliveries:
- Increased Likelihood of Repeat Purchase – by being able to deliver your parcels fast, you’re showing your customer that you’re fast and reliable. Doing that increases the likelihood that they’ll have you in mind when they intend to make an online purchase. This is the foundation of how loyal customers are built – and loyal customers tend to make up a large portion of a business’s revenue.
- Improved Brand Reputation – relating back to the point above, if you’re able to consistently deliver fast and reliable service, you’ll begin to build up a reputation of being a business centered around prioritizing your customers.
Therefore, it’s important for businesses to find solutions that cater to customers expectations of deliveries.
Another forecasted improvement is that shipment and tracking systems will continue to improve. As of writing, most deliveries are tracked on a ‘departure/arrived’ status; courier companies will pick-up or deliver the parcels and then update their status into a system.
In the coming future, it’s likely that technology to track the live location of parcels via GPS will be made available.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean that your deliveries will be done faster, this ability to ‘live’ track does give you and your customer a solution to the ever constant thought of ‘where is my parcel?’ – which can help to alleviate some of the stresses when sending and receiving parcels.
Speaking of alleviating stresses, here are some common practice etiquette that you definitely should never forget doing when delivering to your customers are:
Keep your customers updated on the status of their parcels by giving them a tracking code
Make sure that you’ve listed your estimated delivery times where your customers can visibly see them.
Answer their inquiries about their parcels as soon as possible to comfort them and give them assurance (this will also helps to improve engagement rates)
Conclusion and Key Takeaway
It’s important to understand all these trends and changes because you need to know where you can make improvements.
Understanding how the shipping and logistics landscape will change can be the difference between a successful business or one that barely gets by.
Your business needs to be moving at the speed that improvements in shipping and logistics are moving. Your customers will know that delivery services are continuously getting better, and will continue to demand more. Even if they don’t, it becomes a big plus for your business if you can deliver faster and better.
To summarize and recap this article, here are the two major things you need to know (and remember) about shipping and logistics in the future:
#1 Automation – Automation will streamline delivery processes, making shipping and logistics easier, faster and cheaper. Finding more solutions for your deliveries will be key to improving your business.
#2 Deliveries and Transit Times – Expectations and technologies will continue to increase, transit times will decrease – and you’ll need to find the best shipping and delivery solutions for your business.
Bonus tip: One of the best ways for you to optimize for both of these factors is by using single-point logistic aggregators, such as EasyParcel.
You get access to a wide variety of shipping options at prices that usually require long-term contracts to get. If you’re ready to make your deliveries faster and cheaper, read more about EasyParcel below.
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