Visibility, coordination and labour constraints the major pain points in fulfilment
Survey of US brands finds 39% struggle with visibility for external fleets and 29% regularly find themselves without enough delivery drivers
A new survey from Brinng has found the biggest pain points when it comes to scaling delivery are working with multiple fleets (36%), scheduling delivery times with customers (30%) and lack of real-time visibility once the order is out for delivery (20%).
When working with external fleets, lack of visibility (39%) and lack of brand control (31%) are the biggest pain points, followed by cost (29%). Regarding delivering on time, retailers reported the biggest issues were with the number of drivers available (29%), dispatch and routing issues (20%), and travel distance between warehouse, retail location, etc. and delivery point (19%).
Out of those surveyed, many have tried to mitigate the above by investing in new fulfilment channels since the beginning of the pandemic, including curb-side pickup (51%), BOPIS (33%), alternative pickup locations (28%), and same-day delivery (27%). Though these channels proved to be effective throughout the pandemic and over the holiday season, retailers have recognised the need to continually invest in fulfilment capabilities and adjust current capabilities.
Retailers and brands reported that they are prioritising adding alternative pickup locations (30%) and BOPIS (24%) in the next six to 12 months. However, less than half of the retailers surveyed work with a technology vendor to streamline operations.
"In order to be successful at scale, it is important for retailers to understand that the complexities of creating efficient operations are always much larger than anticipated," said Guy Bloch, CEO of Bringg. "There are many lessons coming out of 2020 for the retail industry, including the critical advantages that external support provides when it comes to optimizing fulfilment operations. If these channels are to remain in place as a long-term answer to eCommerce fulfilment, retailers must consider a partner that specializes in digitizing, connecting and orchestrating between systems and stakeholders."