Gorlin of Roadie expects the local supply chain trend to continue in the coming years. “Retailers have shifted away from a centralized supply chain built around regional distribution centers and warehouses toward a more localized supply chain — one optimized for fast, efficient, last-mile delivery to stores and homes — not just in major metros, but in rural towns and communities,” he said. “They’ll continue leveraging existing retail assets like brick-and-mortar stores and warehouses to extend their reach, speed and efficiency of supply chains. And they’ll be looking at new models that can engage their existing customers, store associates and their local community to make delivery faster, easier and more personal.” Robots and drones will also become a factor. “Although actually building that infrastructure at scale is still a good ways into the future,” predicts Gorlin. As delivery becomes increasingly prevalent in the market, Welch foresees a company’s moral and ethical values playing a stronger role moving forward. Consumers are going to look to buy from retailers that are aligning their delivery practices with their broader corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. Welch believes specific themes that will emerge in the delivery space will be around strategically packing orders to minimize wasted space and leveraging packaging materials that are recyclable. As more retailers deliver different types of products — food, general merchandise, apparel and more — they will need to account for the unique challenges each brings to delivery. In 2020, home food delivery will be very popular, according to Welch. Some retailers will succeed in this area and others will fail, she said. “Supporting food home delivery is both expensive and risky,” she warned. “Delivering a spoiled product to a consumer can irreparably damage that brand’s relationship with the customer or, worse, drive a public health crisis that can hurt the brand’s relationship with an entire consumer market.” The overall economy will play a role, too, according to Welch. Many of the fast delivery times retailers are offering today are driven by capital from other parts of their business or outside investment. To her, this means that while delivery is very popular with consumers today, it isn’t necessarily wildly profitable for retailers. “If there are blips in the economy, we could see scenarios where retailers can no longer provide the delivery-driven customer experiences that their customers have grown to love,” she cautioned. CSN
Ready or Not? How can a convenience store retailer determine if delivery is the right move, right now? While there is no exact science, there are some basic questions to ask and answer: 1. Have you studied successful delivery
programs and how they operate? This is always a good idea before venturing out in any endeavor, said Lewis Goldstein, founder of Blue Wind Marketing, a full-service marketing and advertising agency. An enterprising delivery retailer should have good business knowledge of delivery king Amazon, as well as traditional players in the convenience channel that have experience in delivery, such as 7-Eleven Inc. and Wawa Inc. Their knowledge should also extend to non-traditional convenience retailers such as digital player goPuff.
2. Are you already personalizing your
customer shopping experience? Do you have a solid loyalty program or other methods of personalizing the customer experience? A stellar delivery program will personalize the experience to each customer based on their shopping history and items they’ve expressed interest in, according to Goldstein. “Retailers that prioritize personalization will win more delivery customers over the long term,” he said.
3. Can you transfer your customer experience to delivery? Instead of focusing on keeping up with Amazon’s expedited shipping, retailers should focus on building better customer experiences, said Will Walker, enterprise manager at Roadie, “the on the way delivery service.” From a delivery standpoint, this means creating a logistics infrastructure that can reliably deliver orders when buyers want them delivered. This is accomplished by leveraging multiple delivery models and creating a reliable set of options that include urgent, same-day, next-day delivery and more. 4. Do you understand a community-driven
supply chain approach? “This means being able to support seamless digital collaboration with a range of retail community partners to ensure they’re efficiently driving the highest quality products to market,” explained Sue Welch, CEO of Bamboo Rose, a supply chain and delivery process platform. “Without these capabilities and processes, convenience retailers risk losing money on delivery initiatives and disappointing consumers through sub-par customer experiences.”
5. Are you prepared to continually raise the bar on delivery? Retailers who want to do well in delivery don’t settle on their laurels; they find ways to offer a better service and experience than their competitors, said Goldstein. The best delivery programs are already doing this, and it is becoming expected by consumers.
50 Convenience Store News C S N E W S . c o m
46-50.HowTo_CSN1219.indd 50
12/3/19 3:49 PM