Why Logistics Management Platforms Witness a Surge in Demand During the Festive Season

In 2020, despite the pandemic, India generated US$ 8.3 billion worth of gross online sales for brands and sellers. What is more interesting is the fact that the number was 65 percent higher than in 2019. With more customers having tasted the speed and convenience of online delivery, it is expected the number to be higher this year. It means businesses will have to rise beyond the current delivery standards as delivery benchmarks become more and more short-lived.

Well, that is the sales part of online buying. These impressive numbers often mask the challenges brands struggled to overcome to deliver on ballooning customer expectations. The key challenge being the inability to scale delivery operations to meet online order volumes. Then issues like poor inventory availability, increasing delivery costs, and growing volumes of returns outweigh logistics operations for e-commerce providers, retailers, and manufacturers. So, to answer why SaaS-based logistics management platforms witness heavy usage during festivities and holiday seasons, that’s because to address the inefficiencies mentioned above.

Scaling Deliveries

AI-based logistics management platforms leverage ML algorithms that analyze various parameters based on historical data, current task requirements to automate the best 3PL selection. It also allows businesses to simultaneously partner with multiple logistics providers to quickly scale delivery operations and track them using a single dashboard.

Smart delivery management platform helps scale deliveries by planning highly optimized multi-drop and pickup routes. It intelligently clubs orders to ensure scalability further and can increase deliveries per driver by 14 percent. Another benefit comes in the form of easy roster management. Leveraging such platforms, store managers can request and onboard ad-hoc drivers to meet surging delivery demands during peak season/ time.

Driving Same-Day/ One-Hour Deliveries

A Statista research shows that 36 percent of online shoppers abandon their carts if they are unsatisfied with the delivery date. Rising customer expectations are narrowing the delivery windows for businesses. The need of the hour is an agile solution that can expedite order fulfillment to meet the one-hour/ same-day promise of on-demand/ hyperlocal deliveries. Smart logistics management solution helps businesses reduce the delivery turnaround time, mitigate en-route delays by assigning highly efficient delivery routes to drivers. Moreover, it eliminates downtime caused by unnecessary stoppages and vehicle idling, constantly optimizes routes to ensure ETA adherence, and does more. Such a solution can increase on-time deliveries by 24 percent.

Making Deliveries Profitable

Automation favors cost and operational benefits by optimizing processes. Intelligent route optimization and planning engine quickly charts out the most fuel and time-efficient route from point A to B. It constantly reroutes as per pickup/ delivery requirements to avoid delays caused by traffic congestion, roadblocks, etc. It reduces empty miles and encourages multi-drop deliveries by smartly combining forward and reverse logistics. It eliminates repetitive and cumbersome tasks and also the errors that are byproducts of human intervention. Smart allocation rules automatically assign the job to the best resource, both driver and vehicle-wise. These advanced tech capabilities can increase vehicle capacity utilization by 31 percent and save 4 percent of the time in route planning and optimization, among other benefits.

Ensuring Delightful Customer Experiences

According to a Business Wire report, 74 percent of Millenials will switch to a different retailer if they get poor customer service. The churn rate is even higher with GenX and Baby Boomers, who would switch immediately. Hence, customer satisfaction is critical to business success.

Dynamic route optimization allows customers to choose and alter their preferred delivery slots. Moreover, the solution shares ETA by providing a tracking link to the customer via email, SMS, and WhatsApp to help them know the exact time of delivery and track orders in real-time. Having visibility over the delivery process is instrumental in enhancing the customer experience.

Managing KPIs Efficiently

Data is perhaps one of the most significant advantages of digitization. According to a Microsoft report, 77 percent of consumers favor brands that ask for and accept customer feedback. A smart logistics management platform can help you do just that. It can trigger notifications to customers asking for quick feedback on services. It captures the feedback to improve service quality, identify fake delivery attempts, review SLAs and make data-driven decisions for future partnerships.

It also allows integrating gamification capabilities and empowering delivery managers to improve driver engagement and productivity. The delivery agent can view real-time performance, customer feedback, and more, motivating them to do better and maintain their position on the in-app leaderboards.

Festivities are the perfect time for businesses to augment their overarching tech architecture. State-of-the-art logistics management solutions offer a cocktail of profitability, scalability, and superior customer satisfaction to companies to thrive amidst a pool of opportunities and cut-throat competition. Leverage the technological capabilities to end the year on a positive note.