Top Trends in Last Mile Logistics Management
In the ecosystem of logistics and shipping, there is a significant rise in the demand of expectations. Research says that more than 25 percent of consumers are willing to pay extra for same-day delivery. It also states that same-day delivery will reach a 25-percent market share by 2025. In 2018, same-day delivery and last mile logistics were valued at more than $1.35 billion.
The key driving force behind this upsurge in last mile logistics is eCommerce ecosystem. Digital Commerce 360 states that consumers worldwide purchased $2.86 trillion on the web in 2018, up from $2.43 trillion the previous year.
On top of this, the importance of real-time data analytics has been established to be a major contributor in implementing last-mile delivery.
What is last mile delivery?
When you consider the journey of a product from warehouse shelf to customer’s doorstep, the “last mile” or the final lap of the product’s delivery is the final step of the process — a point where the package finally arrives at the customer’s door. Along with being a key to customer satisfaction, last mile delivery is expensive. It is one of the most time-consuming parts of the shipping process.
What is the issue with last mile?
Whenever you might have tracked a package online, you must have the status “out for delivery”. And you must have felt that it forever for that package to arrive. This is where the inefficiency lies in last mile delivery. This is because the final leg of the shipment involves countless number of stops with low drop sizes.
In case of shipment delivery for rural areas, the delivery points along a particular route could be several miles apart. Only one or two packages are being dropped off at each stop. Whereas in terms of cities, the scenario is not much better. In urban areas, the outlook is completely opposite. While in populated areas the issue of proximity gets dissolved, it is quickly negated by the near constant delays of traffic congestion.
And to compound the costs and inefficiencies of the last mile problem, eCommerce market in US retail sales has played a crucial role. It has significantly increased the number of parcels delivered each day, raising customer expectations to include not just fast, but also free, delivery.
Latest trends in last mile delivery
Last Mile logistics with faster fulfillment
The fulfillment timetables have changed and consumers now want expedited fulfillment making shippers move more product at a rapid pace.
Those shipments which previously required one hour to process are now being pushed into three-minute intervals. As a result, last mile logistics is now in a position to become part of this push toward speedier fulfillment.
Aid from smart tech for tracking
After people started using Uber, their perception adjusted to tracking the location of their ride in real-time. This becomes impact and trend in last-mile logistics, the utilization of smart technology for tracking purposes.
With the help from Internet of Things (IoT), smart technology and smart sensors, consumer can successfully track shipments in real-time. Both, consumers and shippers are able to receive SMS alerts, email notifications, and even Google notifications for each and every movement a shipment makes.
Data analytics helping save costs during last mile
We know that the amount of information that comes from automated systems and smart technology is immeasurable today. And, they can serve a greater purpose when applied through analytics.
With deep analytics, supply chain entities are able to isolate the cost-impacting factors across all shipments. There are many subtle changes that may not have a major impact on initial costs, the process of data analytics will give better purpose of pushing costs to infinitesimal limits.
Consequently, the total cost of last mile delivery can be plummeted further down, enabling more consumers to use same-day delivery and faster delivery options.
Conclusion
There are tons of things happening around in the ether of shipping and logistics, especially last mile logistics. And, with the level of technology that gets leveraged to push the frontiers of last mile delivery and same-day delivery, it is growing in complexity and scope, along with the rise in robust logistics management system across various countries.
The trend must be taken into consideration by shippers in last-mile logistics today if they do not want to lose their competitive advantage, especially against eCommerce giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, who are moving towards instant delivery as part of last mile logistics.
