New Opportunities And Role Of Hyperlocal Delivery In Logistics Industry In 2022

It is imperative for businesses to adopt the latest innovations in AI, ML, and data analytics for ensuring effective hyperlocal deliveries. Embracing automation is the key to expediting manual operations and nailing on-demand deliveries within the designated time period. With this model becoming increasingly popular amongst savvy customers, quick deliveries at the customers’ doorstep will not be limited to just food and other perishable items.

Let’s look at the various trends that are set to impact the hyperlocal delivery space in 2022.

Impact of Quick Commerce on Hyperlocal Deliveries

Amid the ever-burgeoning demand for immediate delivery, the only thing which will decrease is the delivery waiting time. The rise of new-age quick commerce brands like Zepto are further building on this game-changing trend by promising deliveries in less than 10 min. The penetration of quick commerce into retail and pharma will further disrupt the hyperlocal industry.

Faster Deliveries Will Mean Automation

Manual dependencies are time-consuming and prone to errors. Any business that still relies on manual processes will find it extremely difficult to navigate the rapidly evolving delivery ecosystem driven by customer expectation.. For any company to deliver within a few minutes, there is a substantial amount of complex back-end tech processes involved. Automation is key to intelligent logistic management.

Thus, logistics management platforms that leverage AI and ML will prove critical in optimizing hyperlocal and quick commerce deliveries through suitable vehicle and resource assignment based on auto allocation and streamlining deliveries order clubbing capabilities. Intelligent order allocation can automatically consider various delivery constraints such as weight, volume, distance from the customer, driver workload, etc., to assign the task to the best driver/logistics partner. Not only it reduces guesswork but also expedites order fulfillment. Smart logistics management platforms can help drive a net allocation rate of 99.7%.

Greater Focus On AI, ML and Analytics

Businesses are quickly realizing the role of digitization in reducing delivery turnaround and encouraging end-to-end delivery visibility. The use of AI and ML in optimizing and automating processes is likely to get a further push to meet customer expectations and achieve operational efficiency. Leveraging AI and ML can enable businesses to improve their route planning, improve capacity management, mitigate transportation risks, optimize resource utilization, boost delivery productivity and drastically enhance overall third party logistics management capabilities.

Bringing Inventory Closer To Customers

With the rising demand for faster deliveries, businesses are seeking new ways to reduce turnaround times by bringing inventories closer to customers. One such trend that is increasingly picking pace is the emergence of dark stores. This involves converting actual physical stores into small warehouses. These dark stores ensure rapid fulfillment of on-demand deliveries by enabling brands to access inventory that is within 5-6 km from customers.

Greater Push Towards Shared Economy

High rentals and crunch of space within city centers will push brands to collaborate and come up with innovative inventory storage strategies. As we go ahead, we will see multiple brands sharing the same dark store/fulfillment center to drive fast order fulfillment.

Real-Time Order Tracking

Real-time customer tracking will become a must-have feature in the on-demand delivery landscape of 2022. Today, customers demand the utmost transparency and clarity with regard to their orders. Every customer wants to know where the order has reached, the identity of the delivery person as well as the estimated time of arrival. Therefore, it is imperative for delivery providers to enable real-time order tracking for customers by sending them quick tracking links and real-time communication over SMS and WhatsApp. using smart logistics management tools that automatically transmit quick (and real-time) tracking links to the end-customers. Providing real-time customer visibility can help in reducing customer complaints by 28%.

Inventory visibility

Logistics management companies will also take steps to extend inventory visibility for local neighborhood stores or kirana stores. By providing local stores with an intelligent tech-enabled platform,logistics partners will help local stores provide real-time visibility and improve delivery performance which in turn will enhance the overall customer experience.

Flexible Payment options

In the post-COVID world, it will become increasingly important to offer flexible payment options to customers. The pandemic has shown that people can make online purchases without cash through contactless deliveries. Fully digital and convenient, cashless payment methods are set to go viral in the coming times. Studies predict that by 2024, over 52% of online retail transactions across the globe will take place via digital wallets. This is where intelligent logistics management platforms step into play. They enable hyperlocal players to swiftly change cash on delivery payment to QR code-based secured online payment. Over 2.2+ billion UPI-based transactions were processed in 2020 as compared to 0.7 in pre-COVID times. This illustrates the growing popularity of cashless and flexible payment options amongst customers who desire contactless on-the-go deliveries.

New Opportunities

The growing popularity of hyperlocal deliveries will drive logistics stakeholders to unearth new ways to delight customers and boost loyalty. Using technologies AI and Machine Learning, brands can significantly reduce their carbon footprint even while addressing the increasing demand for on-demand deliveries. A solution powered by such technologies empowers businesses to reduce CO2 emission by curbing distance traveled by 5% and decreasing trip volumes by 6%. The growth of the hyperlocal industry will lead to the digital inclusion of local stores and drive organized and just payment processes for the gig economy. The sector will also pose opportunities for businesses to make up-selling and cross-selling easier by ensuring high levels of customer engagement.

The on-demand delivery space is evidently riddled with a number of complexities such as diversified orders, newer delivery models, and diminishing order fulfillment periods. Needless to say, leveraging the latest technologies and automation stacks is essential for businesses to provide this game-changing service and stay profitable in the new normal.