What to Look For in a Delivery Management Solution

witching from manual to digital delivery management solutions gives retailers more control and visibility into their delivery operations enabling them to provide a better customer experience. With the right delivery management system, retailers can efficiently automate and streamline their operations, and monitor drivers and deliveries easily, while saving time and money eliminating time-consuming tasks.

When selecting a delivery management solution, the best place to start is to understand how your company operates and what your business needs and goals are for the future. Having a complete understanding of how your company runs its logistics operations will give you a solid foundation to build on. There are several digital capabilities that will help retailers fulfill their needs, meet their customers’ expectations, and manage their delivery operations better. Here’s a look at some of the key functions retailers should look for in a delivery management solution that will help them improve performance, increase profitability, and gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

Retailers need a system that will help them streamline operations and create efficient routes to deliver goods as quickly and efficiently as possible. Retailers can create delivery routes on-demand or in advance. Real-time route optimization allows companies to monitor the location of deliveries and adjust routes based on unexpected demands, traffic, weather and other factors. With automated and optimized routes, last-minute deliveries can be easily added to delivery schedules and assigned to the best suited driver based on location, vehicle type, capacity, and other criteria. Efficient route optimization reduces delivery disruptions, ensures that delivery ETAs are met, and maximizes resources.

With the right delivery management technology, retailers have full visibility into their entire delivery operation from one central access point. They can manage drivers more efficiently through real-time tracking and communication. Unlike manual processes, delivery management solutions provide instant access to real-time data enabling retailers and customers to track the exact location of deliveries which can help minimize disruptions and ensure deliveries arrive on time. It can also help increase operational efficiency. Manual processes rely on a variety of information stored in separate silos, making the data harder to find and decisions harder to make.

As more customers rely on deliveries than ever, choosing a solution that prioritizes customer needs and support is key to growing customer loyalty and enhancing the customer experience. Providing real-time visibility is crucial, 88% of consumers say the ability to track shipments in real-time is important to them. With real-time updates and tracking, customers can track their deliveries and stay informed if there are any unforeseen delays. Getting customer feedback is critical to discovering strengths and weaknesses within the delivery operation and Improving customer service. A centralized interface with all delivery information accessible from one convenient system improves customer support response time and increases customer satisfaction.

Delivery demands change throughout the day. Relying on manual processes or third-parties to manage deliveries limits control, flexibility, and agility. However, with the right delivery management technology solution retailers can build their own fleet of drivers using in-house, third parties, or a combination of resources in order to adapt and manage their resources and time efficiently. Real-time resource allocation improves responsiveness to real-time constraints and unexpected demands and reduces their impact on delivery service. 

In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, retailers need to ensure they have the technology, digital capabilities, and agility to adjust their delivery operations quickly and easily. Using a delivery management solution that provides real-time route optimization, visibility, customer-centric features, and the flexibility to seamlessly adapt to customer demands will help retailers differentiate themselves and grow their business.

For more information about how our delivery management technology can help you efficiently manage all of your delivery needs, contact info@bringoz.com.