Fast is needed. In the world of instant gratification, there is no room for patience.
From phones to movie productions to the manufacturing of FMCG products, everything is now faster. And in the world of shipping and logistics, ‘faster’ translates to same day or next day delivery.
5 Tips for Implementing Same-Day and Next-Day Delivery
1. Understand the demand
With more convenience offered to the customer, it is likely to put a strain on your efficiency. So before choosing to provide same-day/next-day delivery, check the kind of products you sell.
Depending on the perishable/non-perishable nature of your products, check how often and how many customers are already paying for express shipping when buying from you. You can put out a survey to see if they want same-day delivery.
2. Route optimization by studying the demographics
Check the distance between the place where you get most orders from and your warehouse. With a shorter delivery radius, you need a smaller transportation network to meet the demand for same-day delivery.
For eg: With Rajasthan being the hotspot for your orders, it is ideal to have a warehouse in the same state to fulfill this demand. By doing so, you can also limit this offering to just some cities/states.
3. Develop an inventory management system
Meet the rising demand for same-day delivery with a stable supply chain. Use real-time tracking for storing, packaging, and shipping out the stock.
Additionally, use cloud-based management systems to log in from anywhere and keep the process going. It is important to keep a stock at all times based on the average number of same-day delivery orders.
4. Build efficient warehousing
The key is to build a one-stop destination for order management, inventory storage, packaging station, and delivery personnel pick-up. This saves time spent transporting the goods from the warehouse to the fulfillment center.
Pro-tip: Provide an order cut-off time to the user if they want same-day delivery.
5. Ship in-house OR outsource to a trusted logistics partner
To meet ever-increasing customer expectations, sellers often employ many delivery personnel to develop their own in-house shipping team. However, this requires training and monitoring them personally which may not be cost-effective.
It is recommended to partner with a third-party logistics partner. Get access to their large fleet of vehicles and shipping network.
Do away with handling potential problems like reverse logistics. Save the stress of hiring and training your own delivery personnel.
And the best part? If you opt for iThink Logistic, you also get a real-time tracking dashboard.
