Did you know that 82% of companies fear having problems with the delivery service these Christmas days? I would like to give you some tips to plan the last mile in this time of high sales.
In the most recent report on Industries in electronic commerce: importance of temporality, from the Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO), indicates that at Christmas, 83% of those surveyed state that they will buy a product or service for the date. In addition, 79% of those surveyed state that it is very or somewhat likely that they make their purchases using the digital channel.
The End of the Year, which also has a movement brand in electronic commerce, has a percentage of 74% of those surveyed who declare that they will buy a product or service for New Year’s Eve and 71% of those surveyed declare that it is very or It is somewhat likely that they make their purchases using the digital channel.
How to plan an efficient delivery service?
In this day and age, it is important to understand the users’ shopping journey and this is not an easy task. Users have access to thousands of products and brands all the time, but once the purchase is made, the commitment is to deliver them on time and in good condition to customers’ homes.
We are already entering the Christmas season and you have to plan for gift deliveries to arrive correctly.
The problem is that there are thousands of shipments that you must manage during these New Year’s Eve parties, which is why you need to streamline your logistics processes as soon as possible so that your service does not present errors during high demand.
The report 2022 Last Mile Holiday Perspective prepared by DispatchTrack indicated that 82% of companies fear having problems with the last mile during the Christmas season. So how do you plan an efficient Christmas? In the text we are going to imagine that Santa Claus himself is in charge of the logistics operation of his shipments around the world and the elements that he should consider.
Santa Claus and the successful Christmas delivery service
Before the children receive their gifts on Christmas Eve, North Pole distribution logistics must perform exhausting route planning for the fleet of Rodolfo El Reno SA de CV. and the elves begin the delivery for thousands of children in the world!
In this context, the delivery service provided by Rodolfo El Reno is crucial. And the reason is that the expectations of customers with deliveries have grown substantially, because now they not only want their order to arrive in a short time, but they also want to be informed at all times of the status of their delivery.
For that the team needs to take care of the delivery experience and include tools that help accomplish that task. For example, it is important to integrate a system to track deliveries and quickly assign the reindeer in charge of the delivery, where each leprechaun has a mobile device to communicate with the different delivery points.
During this shipping process, notifications must be offered to the customer with information about their order, thus reducing uncertainty and having greater certainty of where what they purchased is.
Omnichannel is key for Santa
It is also key for the distribution company to have an omnichannel strategy that includes communication channels with customers that allow them to act effectively to address their queries, which will undoubtedly increase in the latter part of the year.
On the other hand, from the control tower at the North Pole, the team that helps Santa needs tools to monitor in real time that Rudolph the Reindeer’s fleet of vehicles is carrying out the planned routes, as well as being able to act proactively if there is a problem with deliveries.
To offer a better service for digital consumers, there are other equally important variables that must be addressed. One of them is the available stock of products, where in the North Pole they must ensure that they maintain updated inventory control with systems that facilitate the order and location of each item. Otherwise, many customers would be dissatisfied with Santa’s service and his reputation would be damaged if the promised gift is not available this Christmas.
In order for Santa Claus to maintain top-level management, he must have available a complete analysis of the preferences of each of his customers, such as their purchase history, the type of products they like to buy, and which are their favorite stores, among other data.
The North Pole Logistics Service
Based on this information, the North Pole will be able to more efficiently manage the products they have in inventory so that they are ready for delivery. But not only that, because with this data the Christmas business will be able to plan the optimized routes to deliver the gifts in shorter times, since it will know perfectly in which areas the greatest number of deliveries are concentrated to assign the routes that drivers must travel in a way more efficient.
Another element that Santa’s business must attend to is to implement an online sales platform for its customers to make their wish list (or purchases). Considering that ecommerce continues to grow exponentially, it is evident that you will need it to offer a catalog of products and the subsequent delivery of these. In that scenario, you have to offer different time windows so that the consumer can choose when they want to receive the gift they purchased.
It is essential not to make mistakes in the process of planning the delivery service this Christmas season, and to use the most appropriate tools in each case, since it is the moment to optimize the times and resources used that you need for a successful delivery. and therefore, that Santa Claus is happy to see the happy faces of all the children in the world.
Pablo Yanez Pablo Yáñez Cifuentes has been Country Manager of Beetrack Mexico since January 2021, and leads teams to reaffirm the brand’s position in Mexico as the leader in developing the most advanced last-mile software in the industry in Latin America. To put this into practice, his international experience allows him to develop long-term relationships in multicultural environments, since he has worked in highly competitive markets, such as Chile, the United States and Mexico with outstanding results.