How To Improve NDR Management: What Retailers Should Know

With the increasing online order volumes, retailers worldwide are experiencing tremendous growth in sales. According to Statista, global retail sales is projected to reach approximately 31.7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2025. However, challenges such as failed deliveries and inefficient NDR management impact profitability and are no less than a nightmare for retailers. As per Statista’s report, the average cost per failed delivery is US$17.2.

Efficient NDR management can help retailers avoid failed deliveries, which result in delivery re-attempt and growing return to origin (RTO) instances. However, retailers following traditional delivery management methods find it challenging to manage NDR or non-delivery reports. Before we move on to why NDR management is difficult, let’s understand what it is.

NDR or non-delivery report is a report that can be accessed by retailers to know why exactly a delivery failed. Once the retailer is notified about an NDR, they can take actions such as delivery re-attempting or selecting return to origin (RTO) for that package. Most retailers specify the number of attempts, and after the limit is reached, the parcel is returned to origin.

Keeping track of delivery failures, delivery re-attempts, and the number of orders marked as RTO is possible only when there are a limited number of orders. However, as the business scales and the number of orders increases, it becomes important for retailers to improve NDR management to ensure excellent operational efficiency and enhanced customer experience.

But to improve NDR management, let’s first understand the problems associated with it. Along with the issues, we have also listed how automation can help retailers achieve the goal of seamless NDR management: 

Inability to Validate NDRs

As soon as a delivery fails (due to any number of reasons), the driver marks the order as “undelivered,” and the retailer gets a notification for the same. For retailers relying on traditional delivery management practices, it is difficult to validate the non-delivery reason, especially when the order volume is high, and there is no means of communication with the end customer.

In this case, the first possibility is that the driver attempted delivery but it couldn’t be completed because the customer was unavailable, the address was incorrect, or due to any other reason. But what if the driver has marked the order undelivered without even attempting the delivery? It would definitely impact customer experience and your brand’s reputation.

An advanced 3PL management solution offers the capability to arrest fake delivery attempts by automatically sending an authentication message/call to the end customer. They can confirm whether the reason listed for the delivery failure is correct or not.

Lack of Data Analytics

Conventional 3PL management practices don’t provide any insights to measure the performance of 3PL and gauge non-delivery data. Without data analytics, a retailer cannot figure out NDRs that are most recorded by a 3PL, most recorded in a particular geography, or most recorded at an origin hub.

Smart 3PL management platforms consolidate a list of non-delivery reasons into different categories. Delivery drivers can easily choose from the list of non-delivery reasons, and retailers can instantly check the same. It offers an NDR management dashboard so that retailers can get needed insights to make informed decisions while taking corrective measures.

Inability to Choose The Right Courier Partner for Delivery

Location unserviceable is one of the reasons for delivery failure. It happens when the retailer fails to assign the package to a 3PL that doesn’t offer its services in that particular delivery location or geography. Advanced courier management solutions automate the order allocation process and eliminate the occurrence of delivery failure.

Using an AI-powered 3PL management platform can overcome the challenge of inefficient NDR management for retailers. It empowers retailers to arrest fake delivery attempts by validating the non-delivery reasons with the end customers. Doing this assists with combating fake delivery arrests, mainly when the delivery location and the system-suggested location differ.

Advanced third-party management solutions also provide 360-degree shipment visibility to allow retailers to keep a tab on each shipment and avoid delivery delays, delivery failures, and various other issues. Besides, the 3PL management software also enables retailers to look into useful insights and make data-driven decisions.

They can have data on the NDRs that are often cited by a courier provider, often cited in a specific geography, and often cited at a particular origin hub. To make the most of any 3PL management platform, retailers can pick a customizable and scalable SaaS-based solution.