Scheduled delivery – Trends in 2023

September 15, 2023

COVID-19 has brought a significant shift in delivery times as customers remain locked behind the doors. The “quick commerce” grocery business promised delivery in 15 minutes.

Although the idea was a boom in the first two years, a sharp decline with some of the businesses, like Friddle no longer, and Getir getting shut down, has been seen. Only big giants like Gorilla have been able to survive the high delivery costs; however, operational efficiency is still going down.

Other challenges faced in on-demand deliveries are real-time product visibility, short fulfilment lead times, and flexible last-mile delivery, which have to be overcome while bringing costs down to a level that consumers are willing to pay for.

The only potential solution to this problem seems to be to stop promising 10-minute delivery and shift to scheduled delivery. A scheduled delivery is where customers can choose their preferred delivery time based on a fixed window of time that is suitable for both the vendor and the customer. Vendors can set their own schedules, and they can create as many of them as they need each day.

Let’s see how COVID-19 has changed the delivery trend and ‌what is its status today;

Door-step rapid delivery has become a popular trend that increases the customer experience; however, businesses find it difficult to maintain this trend due to high operational costs.

In order to cope with delivery costs and maintain efficiency, many businesses have switched from making rapid delivery to scheduled delivery. The Instamart from Swiggy, which had previously offered free 15-minute delivery to all its customers, now charges delivery fees for rapid delivery and offers a free time slot option. Scheduled delivery gives businesses time to fulfil the order, reducing the chances of error and optimising delivery costs. Many customers prefer having a guaranteed time of arrival and fast delivery. Knowing the estimated time of arrival gives them confidence in a seamless and accurate delivery.

Requisite for scheduled deliveries

Scheduled delivery can become a great way to tackle quick delivery problems without hampering customer satisfaction scores or reducing operational costs. However, using the appropriate techniques and tools to manage scheduled deliveries is crucial.

Compatible with multiple software

If you are using multiple systems for different operations like order management, payment management, and stock management, it is crucial that you consider testing the compatibility between them so as to avoid delays and data discrepancies. Any issue with data transfer can cause a nerve-wracking situation and lead to delays and wrong deliveries that impact on-time in-full (OTIF) order fulfilment. Make sure that your systems work in sync for seamless deliveries. Using an integrated system is a great way to avoid data discrepancies. Delivery management software is a complete suite that includes order management, payment management, route planning and optimisation, and scheduling and dispatching. The data flows seamlessly from one operation to another without any latency or errors, improving the efficiency of deliveries. It automates and streamlines business operations, which reduces operational costs and improves the net profit margin.

Schedule deliveries

The main factor in scheduling deliveries is prioritising the orders that need to be delivered first. The orders must be packed so that the order to be delivered first is placed on top of the delivery person. This helps in saving time and making deliveries efficient. Any error made while planning the delivery schedule might increase the cost of delivery, making it inefficient. Using scheduled delivery software, which automatically schedules the delivery according to the route and prepares the business for any unexpected events. It improves customer satisfaction and the bottom line of the business.

Optimise the route

Route optimisation is a major feature that helps reduce turnaround time and make faster deliveries. The last-mile delivery is the most expensive among the entire business operations, which can reduce the total profit margin. Using route-optimisation software allows businesses to create the shortest path for making deliveries, ensuring on-time deliveries and increasing customer satisfaction scores (CSAT). Delivering via an optimised route minimises turnaround time (TAT) and also reduces transportation costs. It also helps in maintaining both financial and environmental sustainability and reducing the impact of carbon footprinting.

According to Insider Intelligence , “Last-mile delivery costs approximately 53% of the total shipping cost.”

Accurate estimated time of travel

Calculating an accurate total turnaround time is important to check the efficiency of the delivery and the driver. Understanding the time taken and planning out strategies can help reduce turnaround time and make the process more efficient. Route optimisation software calculates the time and provides an estimated time of arrival that improves the customer experience and customer retention rate.

Low efficiency and the high cost of on-demand deliveries have forced many businesses to opt for the scheduled delivery model. With the use of the right technology and techniques, scheduled delivery is highly efficient and cost-effective. There is integrated software that can help manage the entire process involved in scheduling deliveries. Trakop is the best fit for managing scheduled deliveries and can help you create a number of schedules for making deliveries. Trakop is an integrated SaaS platform for scheduled delivery businesses like grocery, dairy, bottled water, and cloth diaper delivery. Talk to our team of experts if you are looking for any scheduled delivery-related advice or software to automate your scheduled delivery business.

Hope You Enjoyed the Read!

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Ravi Garg Founder & CEO

He loves to explore. His passion for helping delivery industries in all aspects flows through in the vision he has. In addition to providing smart solution to make delivery process flawless, Ravi also likes to write sometimes to make it easier for people from business industry looking for digital solutions.