December 27, 2021
“On-Demand” service has become a popular buzzword. It all began with an idea by Uber, a taxi booking app. Let’s talk about now – be it retail, groceries, pharmacies, or restaurants, it is on the wish-list of almost every business model. The two most important aspects of on-demand services are; user experience and logistics. It means that you need to ensure faster deliveries than your competition to keep users happy.
How is that possible?
With the right technology. As you know, in the last decade, technology has completely changed the landscape of logistics.
Today, more than 58% of customers expect delivery by the next day. On the other hand, users want visibility of the transaction from the second they make an order until it is received. They look for a personalized and real-time delivery experience regardless of the demand peaks or the geographical constraints of a particular fleet.
The pressure to deliver fast has resulted in reduced profit margins and increased management difficulties. Organizations that offer delivery services or on-location visits may feel exhausted when the demands of delivery grow quickly. Such complexity may lead to mistakes and poor customer experiences. From route planning to tracking and managing assets can be back-breaking for the teams.
This is where an intelligent solution for Delivery Management comes into play. On integration with the system, it can smoothen out complex processes and lead to profitability while enabling scaling of operations.
So, what are Delivery Management Solutions?
In simple words, delivery management solutions connect the delivery agents who are out on the road with the staff in your back office. It implies that your drivers get all the information that they need to deliver a product, and at the same time, people at the back-end can overview all movements.
Delivery management solutions help improve your operational services, manage quicker delivery, and increase customer satisfaction. When it comes to logistics, it includes processes that allow the successful transfer of goods from one location to another. Delivery Management Software handles all kinds of processes that are required for transporting goods from one location to the next, along with the supply chain. In broad terminology, it is exactly how a package is moved from one place to another.
What is IMDAD?
IMDAD is a unified logistics platform to optimize your entire delivery operation. Not only does it help improve customer engagement but also lets you achieve sales growth of up to 40%. The platform can also help utilize and plan field operations effectively during peak hours and expand your delivery areas. Its comprehensive structure coupled with ease of use makes it an ideal management solution for last mile delivery.
IMDAD can drive your business to be the best in your area for customer delivery experience. With a plethora of tools, it lets you plan deliveries with greater efficiency. These tools and features combine to ensure an effective last-mile delivery solution.
Key Benefits of Integrating IMDAD
• Real-time fleet and delivery tracking
Real-time tracking plays an important role in successful last mile deliveries. The map interface enables more effective fleet management. On the other hand, it also helps in achieving customer satisfaction as they constantly get to know exactly when and where their package will be delivered.
• Automated journey planning
Real-time re-routing, delivery route optimization, and updated Estimated Time of Arrival (ETAs) are key functions of automated processes. With this smart assistance, organizations can re-route the delivery schedules easily and quickly as soon as they receive the update. This helps avoid any kind of delays or downtimes which could arise due to last moment changes or any other unpredicted factor.
• Route optimization
Companies can streamline the distribution as cost-effective routes can be optimized through an algorithm. This algorithm works in tandem with factors like locations, time of delivery, traffic and weather conditions.
• Geo-coordinated proof of delivery
For efficient deliveries, customer addresses are geocoded. This means that it can translate an address into GPS coordinates – latitude and longitude. The GPS leads to route optimization. This makes invoicing transparent and hassle-free.
• Improved Analytics
Deeper insights help businesses to strategize and plan better. The IMDAD platform provides a clear vision of the logistics operations. Furthermore, it uses bubble maps, delay density, heat maps and more to provide rich analytics to the users.
• Identify and eliminate bottlenecks
When the solution gets integrated with mobile apps and cloud-based planning, it results in more efficient and optimized last-mile deliveries. With this combination, reaching out to your targeted customers becomes more efficient along with dispatch management. The accurate route deviation alerts, real-time tracking, and live notifications help in identifying the bottlenecks and avoid them.
• Enhanced customer experience
Real-time delivery and app integration give them access to the assigned delivery agents, which means that they can contact each other via chat and call. It greatly reduces the events of missed deliveries.
Let us now understand more about the solution with a specific use case scenario where 74% of customers who were satisfied with their delivery experience intended to increase their purchase levels by 12% with their retailer. This may sound great, but if the business is not meeting customers’ delivery expectations, then it could lose the opportunity. In fact, if a business is not paying attention to delivery services, then the costs could run very high. 48% of customers who were dissatisfied with the delivery service intended to stop purchasing from the retailer. Those who plan to continue to shop with the same retailer wanted to reduce their spending by 45%.
Therefore, it can be concluded that customer experience during the delivery process is driving incredible changes in last-mile logistics. Thus, IMDAD solution is something that can help businesses stay ahead of the curve and even excel at customer service.
The IMDAD platform addresses myriad aspects of your business. Firstly, it integrates all your logistics and delivery operations into one system, ensuring cost-effective and timely deliveries. This includes everything right from the digital dispatch of all orders all the way through to CRM and analytics.
Starting from the digital dispatch phase, IMDAD can streamline and automate the entire process, encompassing both daily individual and bulk dispatches. The platform also incorporates complete stock management, allowing you to properly track your stock from pick and pack, loading, and deliveries all the way through to any returns. This even includes complete tracking of damaged, returned, or promotional items, thereby, ensuring that the impact from delivery quality defects is kept to an absolute minimum.
The complete optimization and efficiency of last-mile deliveries is also a core aspect of the platform. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the route planning and optimization, what the platform is capable of. The platform and its accompanying app provide drivers with real-time routing decisions, saving both time and fuel.
IMDAD also provides customers, drivers and users with complete up-to-date real-time notifications, across multiple channels, together with electronic proof of delivery, complete with comprehensive geo coordinates and date-time stamps. The platform even provides automated system-generated invoices and delivery notes for printing in the field or back office.
This very same data is also used to provide you with comprehensive real-time CRM for your entire customer database together with geo-enabled location services. Activity analysis, driver performance and map views are also provided to you on an intuitive dashboard, allowing for instant decision making.
Best of all, the platform is already optimized for 11 different industries – Bakeries, courier companies, e-commerce, FMCG, fruit and vegetables, grocery, laundries, pharmacies, restaurants, retail, and water delivery.
Taking your business online is not always easy and one of the greatest challenges one could face is the development of an online app that is both engaging and intuitive. While developing one’s own app is always an option, doing so can come with several issues. Amongst the most problematic is developing an app that performs seamlessly on multiple operating systems and various platforms. To do so, you will need experienced developers, which could be prohibitively expensive. And then there is the issue with security, which is especially important in an app serving as an e-commerce platform.
Such apps, like the one available on our IMDAD platform, allow you to easily get up and running in a fraction of the time. They are also extremely customizable, as they let you showcase your products and services under your brand. You can easily run promotions, extend discounts, and interact with customers all within your own branded app; all at a price point far lower than it would cost you to develop one from scratch.
What does the future look like?
What we are experiencing right now is a sped-up version of what’s in store for the e-commerce and last-mile industry in the future. While the big players can keep pursuing faster delivery options, smaller players that do so will see their costs soar. Instead, success in such an environment can be better achieved by maintaining the complex balance between addressing demand, flexibility, sustainability, and costs. Moreover, as competition ramps up, so do customer expectations. In order to match, or perhaps even exceed, these expectations it is worth splitting your focus into three primary areas – consumer centricity, flexibility, and control.
Consumer centricity: As e-commerce accelerates, larger players such as Carrefour, Sultan Centre, and Lulu Hypermarket are already beginning to exert their influence by offering various last-mile services such as Click & Collect and Home Delivery services. For smaller players, it is the customer experience and service that decide success in the majority of cases. To that end, two primary criteria need to be addressed. The first of these is offering a seamless experience across all channels, be it online or in person. The second is offering a visibly fast delivery service with timely updates and real-time notifications.
Flexibility: Being able to develop and design a network that can control costs and respond to unpredicted large-scale events such as COVID-19 is invaluable. This includes having the flexibility within your network to adapt and evolve in response to demand and customer expectations, while at the same time minimizing costs wherever possible. Maintaining optimal efficiency, even in a time of crisis, while at the same time expanding on their ability to deliver a wider range of products, is also vital.
Control: With delivery networks being stressed to their very limits, never has the value of meeting your KPIs been emphasized as they are now amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for on-time deliveries. Your last-mile delivery strategy needs to be designed and aligned with your network in such a way as to always achieve your on-time delivery targets and consistently meet customer expectations. This is especially true for your first-time customers. The deeper you move into e-commerce, the more important it is to ensure your first deliveries are trouble-free. Damaged or missing items, as well as incorrect items or delivery locations, will not only disappoint customers but also hurt your bottom line.
The last word
Logistics as an industry has come a long way and has become way more competitive than ever before. Especially during the pandemic, due to massive lockdowns and restrictions, e-commerce businesses across the world saw a steep rise. The stress of faster deliveries and safer handling of products has immensely increased because of high demand. Therefore, the concept of last-mile delivery has become a real move for most eCommerce businesses.
However, opportunities often come with some challenges. The same is with the last-mile deliveries. These challenges can be turned into opportunities with the right technology solutions. By using technology and systems or solutions you can maintain full control, with regular updates and tracking of your entire network, stock, and deliveries. This is why a solution like IMDAD is an invaluable asset for any company that wishes to succeed in this space. Last-Mile delivery costs are close to half of the total supply chain cost. And IMDAD can radically improve the margins of delivery services.
To know more, reach out to us via phone at +968 24171195 or email sales@omandatapark.com
