Last Mile Solutions in the Customer Experience Roadmap

"If you were prioritizing your development and customer experience roadmap, where should last mile solutions be on it?"        

Somehow, it seems illogical to suggest that the last touch point for customers in their path to purchase is the most important. But it really is. That’s because the experience a customer has when their order is delivered is the one that they’ll remember most and will impact how they feel about your brand.

Order fulfilment is all about customer empowerment. Therefore, if fulfilment of an order is disappointing because you couldn’t have it delivered when or where you wanted it delivered, it is highly likely that you won’t make the purchase in the first place. And if you do place an order and the experience itself is poor, you are highly unlikely to order from the same brand again.

Yes, consumers want flexibility. Some want curbside pick-up, the new fulfilment method borne out of the pandemic. For others, Click & Collect is the most convenient way of getting hold of their packages.

If you’re buying a gift, then you’re most likely going to want the comfort of a specified date delivery to be sure that the recipient receives your gift on time.

And if you’re making a purchase for yourself, and want it delivered to your home, office or to a locker, then increasingly your expectations are going to be for same day delivery.

We even have the disruptive delivery brands such as Gorillas and Getir offering delivery in 15 minutes of core grocery items.

With all of this in mind, it is understandable why many businesses focus on the ‘cost to serve’ and decide that they cannot offer all the experiences that consumers seem to demand.

However, this is not the best approach.

All that ends up happening is that the empowered consumer buys elsewhere from a competitor who offers these choices.

Prior to 1994 and the first online transaction, retailers held the balance of power as consumers had a limited choice of where and from whom to buy. The web changed all of that by creating the proliferation of choice consumers take for granted. Almost unlimited choices, where they can buy anything, anytime, anyplace and from anyone.

That is why focusing on the cost to serve is a flawed strategy. Retailers and brands must focus on customer lifetime value. And the last mile experience is a hugely important driver for that.

The last mile experience should feel like a white glove experience. Not where your order is thrown over the fence, left behind the recycling bin or where you are carded and must go through the rigmarole of rescheduling the order to be delivered.

Giving consumers control over where and when their order is delivered maximizes the convenience for them and puts them in complete control of the experience is crucial here. That leads to a great last mile customer experience. That drives repeat purchases and builds customer lifetime value as well as creating advocates for your brand.

Of course, one of the challenges for any retailer wanting to empower customers by offering all the relevant order delivery options is that it takes quite some time, cost, and effort to implement all the right solutions. Not only that, but you must negotiate with multiple suppliers. And then, once deals are in place with multiple suppliers, you need to manage the different fleets. Or for those using their own drivers, driver management is often another big drain on resources.

And that’s before even considering returns, how they are managed, ensuring visibility for consumers as packages are tracked, and keeping them updated so they feel in control and fully updated.

Imagine if there was a platform that could help you orchestrate all the potential delivery options you might ever need to offer.

A platform where new solutions could be switched on immediately as the platform had already taken care of the heavy lifting of integration with the plethora of options available.

A platform where you could ship from store or from your warehouse.

A platform where the consumer would receive real time notifications of where their order is and could have complete control over when and where it was delivered.?

A platform where the customer received a white glove delivery experience.

It sounds like a work of fiction, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.

It’s here. It’s live and it’s called Bringg.

Find out more at?www.Bringg.com

Martin NewmanThe Consumer Champion