Online purchases are soaring through the roof
We are making massive online purchases. CBS says the following: "The retail sector began 2021 with record growth in Internet sales of nearly 86 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier. The sales of Dutch online stores increased by 85 percent." A huge increase that again affects the transportation of all purchases. PostNL warns of delays for a reason. Because the more we order online, the longer it takes for packages to be delivered on time. With the holidays approaching, you would do well to look for new opportunities.
Continue to ensure customer satisfaction
Consumers are used to fast delivery times. Some Web shops even claim "ordered today, delivered tomorrow." Given the increase in the number of orders, it is almost impossible to keep such promises. Especially in the December month around the holidays. After all, a St. Nicholas present delivered after St. Nicholas is simply not an option.
Fast delivery time is an important USP to win over customers and keep them happy. Given the developments of the past year, this is becoming more and more of a challenge. Entrepreneurs are forced to create a good strategy. One way to maintain customer satisfaction and exceed expectations is to manage the delivery process in-house. That way you are not dependent on an outside carrier.
Taking delivery in-house
We can imagine that organizing delivery in-house raises questions about the approach. Therefore, we share our tips for taking the delivery process in-house so that you deliver packages on time and keep customers happy.
1. Rent vans from a reliable party
The first step for organizing your own transportation is to make vehicles available. Can you use employees' cars? Then consider this option. Of course, you give them compensation for this. Don't have these vehicles at your disposal? Then rent vans from a party experienced in car rental. You can find many parties that offer vans for a rate per day. Compare the parties and choose the company you feel best with.
2. Use your employees as delivery drivers for a few days
After inventorying the vehicles, you will start looking for delivery drivers. If you are not used to delivering yourself you will have to see which employees are suitable to take on this work. The first question is whether someone has a driver's license, has room in their schedule to deliver one or more days and is willing to do this work. As a thank you, you can offer them extra pay or a unique gift.
3. Ask temporary workers and volunteers to support
Should there not be enough employees available to perform package delivery, you can look for others who can help. Consider temporary workers. A temp agency has a set number of men who can help you. Another option is to use volunteers. Extra hands from people willing to learn and help is always nice.
4. Discover the convenience of Robotics
Perhaps not the most obvious option, but one to consider. Employing a robot or its mechanism. There are plenty of things you can automate to alleviate human work. Package delivery itself should still really be done by humans, but do replace other tasks such as order processing with automated tools so you can work as efficiently as possible.
5. Purchase a Route Planning Tool
After looking at available vehicles, people and efficiency, the task is to ensure the most realistic and optimale delivery route. So that all packages can be delivered quickly and accurately. RouteLogic is a routing software that creates the best route for you within seconds. You enter an order from Excel is and the route is calculated. It automatically takes into account loading and unloading times, traffic jams, weather and the desired time period that your customer has indicated. So you and your customer know exactly when the package will be delivered.
Create your first route now for free!
