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What is Instant Delivery? How does a company successfully execute instant cart delivery processes? Can smart on-demand solutions make Instant Delivery a success? We discuss the answers to all these and many more such questions in this blog.
With the rapid development of mobile Internet and O2O businesses, new service models that provide instant cart delivery are becoming popular. In the age of instant gratification, customers desire quick and hassle-free deliveries of food, groceries, pharmaceutical items, etc., right at their doorstep. Before understanding what instant delivery is, it is important to consider the following market trends.
Instant delivery or instant cart delivery is the delivery of products or items to consumers within shorter time frames, such as 30 minutes or less. As a result, enterprises are fast-adopting innovative platforms and new measures to step up their game and meet customer expectations.
Now that we have covered what instant delivery is, let us explore the reasons contributing to the growing demand for instant cart delivery services.
It is not surprising that in the age of rapid digitization, customers are increasingly becoming favorable toward instant cart delivery services. Some of the main reasons for this shift are shared below.
With urbanization, the lifestyle is getting more hectic, leaving people with lesser time for errands. Another factor is customers getting increasingly familiar with cloud-based app shopping. Instant cart delivery platforms enable buyers to order goods on an urgent basis as well as plan their future shopping accordingly.
Mckinsey cites ultra convenience and direct consumption as the leading factors for the growth of Instant Delivery. In their survey, 33% of respondents laid emphasis on convenience and 26% on direct consumption for using instant delivery services.
Let us understand this with the help of an example.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee are an elderly couple that lives alone. One evening while playing with the dog, Mr. Lee suddenly twisted his ankle and was bedridden. Suddenly Mrs. Lee realizes that she does not have her insulin dose at home.
She can’t leave Mr. Lee alone. She tells her son about this, who lives far away in a different city. To solve the problem, he orders medicines via an instant cart delivery service, and Mrs. Lee receives the order at her doorstep within 20 minutes.
Instances like these provide a clear answer to questions such as, ‘What is instant delivery?’ or ‘What are the benefits of instant delivery?’ People can get access to convenience and immense support, even during hours of urgency.
The pandemic has modified our habits and working conditions. Hybrid working or work-from-home concepts have become the new norm. Professionals working from home find 30-minute or 10-minute delivery a blessing as they get everything from food to groceries, medicines to fruits, without stepping out of their comfort zones.
While the instant cart delivery model is generating extreme customer satisfaction globally and emerging as an energetic business differentiator, nonetheless, it is also generating concerns regarding viability and sustainability.
This brings us to the next question – What is instant delivery business model? Also, how can businesses stay profitable and run sustainable operations with such critical delivery SLAs?
The instant delivery business model comprises the shopping apps, logistics providers, merchants (sellers, retailers, grocers, chemists, etc.), and the customer. The customer places an order using the app and this order is shared with both – the seller and the logistics provider.
The majority of apps use smart instant delivery management platforms that synchronize the operations, automate the workflows and ensure timely deliveries without breaching SLAs.
Now, we have two major considerations or bottlenecks in the scenario.
Operational cost is a critical differentiator when it comes to the economic viability of any model. Strategic placement of fulfillment centers plays a crucial role in executing super-fast deliveries. Although neighborhood stores provide quick order fulfillment, they don’t provide the concerned stakeholders with real-time inventory and delivery updates.
In this context, Instant-Delivery Apps fill the gap as companies operate from their dark stores or fulfillment centers in local markets. These centers are not meant for consumers’ direct footfall; therefore, fulfillment partners use this space more efficiently. As a result, operating these centers costs less than running an entire store.
In Instant cart delivery models, customers receive their orders through drivers who commute on electric bikes or scooters. Logistic partners often curb their fuel consumption by completing multiple deliveries at one go. Smart instant cart delivery management solutions help reduce costs via many other in-built functionalities, such as:
This way, the overall operations stay sustainable and scalable.
Delivering products within 15-20 minutes is by no means an easy task. In the absence of well-laid business strategies, instant cart delivery services can take a heavy toll on operational costs.
This is mainly owing to the operational complexities in the instant delivery segment that spur inefficiencies and challenges for businesses.
Lack of order forecasting is probably one of the biggest challenges for businesses offering instant cart delivery services. Often, enterprises struggle with inventory shortages and workforce planning. Since many instant delivery businesses deal in perishable goods, a lack of forecasting also leads to the loss of valuable stock.
Delivery managers need to know about the whereabouts of the order at all times for uninterrupted delivery workflow and enhanced customer experiences. Inability to track the orders in real-time poses multiple risks, such as thefts, lack of verification of asset movements, etc.
A real-time monitoring platform allows businesses to track the delivery status of each order and fine-tune their fleets on the go. Lack of transparency regarding the order’s location can derail the store’s instant delivery operations and reputation.
ParcelMonitor’s report confirms that 84% of shoppers ditch a brand after encountering a poor delivery experience. Delayed delivery and poor service results in SLA breach. Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to have intelligent tools that enable them to complete deliveries on time and meet SLA conditions.
Seasonal sales and rush hours are beneficial for instant cart delivery businesses. However, inadequate delivery planning can have serious implications for vendors like operational cost hikes, increased missed deliveries, and poor online reviews and ratings.
What is instant delivery promise? It is speed!
However, it is also important to ensure operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and asset optimization for reduced carbon costs and profitable operations.
Hence, businesses often tend to lose focus on sustainability while focusing on speedy deliveries.
Inadequate inventory updates, low control of asset movements, and lack of route planning are some of the issues that lead to inefficiencies, including empty miles and higher fuel consumption.
Apart from inefficiency in deliveries, businesses also have to deal with additional transport costs or urgent onboarding of new drivers for delivery during peak hours. The businesses are also unable to control the movements of riders that are out for delivery.
To meet the instant delivery timelines, businesses hire efficient and quality drivers. However, it’s not only the drivers but also the ability to utilize the vehicle capacity in an optimum way and to complete more orders in one trip that ensures better delivery efficiency.
However, ensuring this in real-time for multiple orders and that too manually, is impossible.
Now that we have had an overall understanding of the various challenges in the instant cart delivery model, let us find out how to overcome these challenges.
Automation and digitization are changing the way businesses orchestrate instant delivery operations. However, what is instant delivery automation? These are highly smart end-to-end delivery management solutions that help businesses to plan, manage, control, monitor and track all the delivery operations, assets, processes, and stakeholders via a single integrated dashboard.
These solutions come with multiple advanced functionalities that we discuss at length in the next section.
Instant cart delivery solutions offer auto-allocation features to eliminate human errors. The solution allocates orders based on riders’ location, order SLA and waiting time. As a result, businesses can save valuable time and keep the systems error-free. Automatic order allocation enables enterprises to reduce order fulfillment costs, improve accuracy, track orders hassle-free, and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
As the delivery platform automates tedious tasks, businesses can optimize their human resources better.
Instant delivery platforms offer a solution for efficient and cost-effective driver management. The solution comes with various tools such as a driver app, roster management, drive payout management, driver deviation check, and productivity-driven gamification features for drivers.
Delivery managers can easily track the location of each driver displayed on dashboard maps via GPS. Skill gap management becomes relatively easy as businesses can directly compare and analyze driver productivity via custom KPIs to find any potential skill gaps.
The instant delivery platform considers multiple factors such as location, time, vehicle capacity, and traffic patterns while determining the best routes for the drivers. However, sometimes even the best-selected path can throw sudden obstacles. Along with changing routes, the driver needs to be informed regarding real-time updates.
Instant cart delivery solutions generate a visual representation of the routes (polyline), highlighting the ongoing deliveries and drivers. As orders get allocated to riders, their routes start unfolding. This routing is changed dynamically, in case of traffic or any other unforeseen incident.
Businesses that use AI/ML-based routing solutions for instant delivery experience quicker deliveries, efficient asset utilization through order clubbing, and access to predictive analytics for data-driven decision making
Automated instant cart delivery management solutions offer ePoDs (electronic proofs of delivery) that overcome the need for manual data entries for lost or damaged paper delivery notes.
Once the customer receives the order, an e-receipt is generated automatically, reducing the administrative burden of paperwork. ePoDs help in arresting fake delivery attempts, collecting customer feedback, and addressing issues such as thefts and re-attempts for delivery. Finally, the automated solutions for instant deliveries also offer NDR management to ensure a better quality of operations.
Instant cart delivery solutions enable businesses to plan and monitor assets, drivers, and orders in real time. The platform also generates insights by analyzing performance over time and potential loopholes. It improves the efficacy of the instant delivery mechanism by augmenting real-time data to deliver delightful customer experiences.
Business and store managers can check the real-time movement of assets, order status, and delivery status and also check whether a driver is deviating from system-suggested routes.
Smart instant delivery management solutions offer en-route order clubbing to boost delivery productivity. This feature adds flexibility in assigning more than one order to the same driver – provided their drop-off locations are in close proximity to one another.
The software solutions prioritize the clubbing of orders as per pre-defined KPIs (such as the nearest driver or the or the driver with the minor orders). However, it is important to choose software with easy filter controls that seamlessly club orders by considering parameters like vehicle type, number of orders, and right payment type.
While automated solutions for managing instant cart deliveries help businesses run efficient operations, it is important to choose the right platform as well. This is because solutions that automate only a few operations fail to offer an integrated and seamless working experience to businesses.
Hence, we recommend investing in end-to-end delivery orchestration and management solutions, such as Shipsy, that can be tailored as per specific business use cases.
Shipsy’s on-demand delivery management platform is the one-stop solution for quick, efficient, and sustainable instant cart delivery operations. It helps in optimizing fuel consumption and enables delightful on-demand delivery experiences via smart driver slot management, dynamic en-route order clubbing, real-time order tracking, and multi-payment options that help manage SLAs efficiently.
With its smart and highly optimized offerings, Shipsy can help businesses unlock:
To get started with cost-efficient and scalable deliveries with Shipsy, please get in touch with our experts and schedule a custom demo today!
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