Embracing Tech Should be First Priority in Last-Mile Delivery

Customer demands and expectations are greater today than they’ve ever been before. Technology advancement ensures that last-mile logistics organizations in the UAE can remain at the center of the growth story that is expected to unfold in the coming years.

Customer demands and expectations today are greater than they’ve ever been. Consequently, one of the main challenges courier businesses face is the heightened intolerance today’s customers have of bad delivery experiences. One late delivery will send them to social media pages, where they will broadcast their displeasure far and wide. This hurts the market reputation and internal morale.

One projection for the UAE courier, express, and parcel (CEP) market is a value of more than US$ 1.6 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 7.5% across the next five years. This growth will be driven by consumers looking for convenience and businesses looking to fulfill their promises. Technology is the way to deliver these things and here are three key benefits to be expected when embracing tech in last-mile delivery operations.

Enhanced customer experience

The business models of industry giants like Amazon are built on kept promises. If they say it is going to be there by 4 pm on Wednesday, then it arrives by 4 pm on Wednesday. Customer expectations rule in the digital economy. But another thing the business world has learned in the past few years is that modern consumers’ expectations go beyond the basic promise of on-time delivery. On-time delivery is a given. What else can you offer me? Technology can enhance a consumer’s experience of the order lifecycle before delivery. Instead of wondering whether and when their package will arrive, they can watch its journey on their mobile device.

While this is particularly useful when ensuring a recipient is there to receive the parcel, the capability can be extended. Customers can be sent notifications and pictures for confirmation of delivery if they are unable to receive it in person. Delivery time windows become easier to calculate and allow more deliveries per round trip, leading to massive cost savings that can be passed on to the consumer to further enhance their experience. And as a bonus, tech is so good at optimizing routes and multiple drop-offs that express delivery options become viable.

Lower operational costs

We have already seen how technology can enable more deliveries per round trip, leading to cost reductions. Fuel prices are on the rise. This, along with a range of other factors affecting other areas of the business, are beyond the control of stakeholders. But that does not mean they cannot compensate. Routing algorithms that optimize delivery trips can cut down on fuel costs. Dispatching and batching algorithms that optimize fleet utilization allow companies to reduce their fleet sizes. Fewer vehicles mean reduced OpEx. Missed deliveries represent another cost that can be eliminated by tech that gives real-time updates and two-way communication with customers. Package recipients can collaborate on the scheduling and rescheduling of deliveries. And the number of calls to customer support — a major cost to B2C enterprises — also falls drastically when real-time monitoring is offered. Additionally, technology allows companies ready access, through easy-to-use apps, to outsourced fleets to manage demand spikes.

Optimizing operations

Map tech, public traffic data, and machine learning have combined to offer incredible options for the automation of logistics operations. By analyzing the common times of day or year when deliveries spike, firms can plan more efficiently and enlist the support of a third-party provider in time for peak seasons. Similarly, having information about the origin of orders can tell business leaders the optimum location for warehouses and self-pickup boxes.

In conjunction with analytics, delivery companies can experiment with different speeds and modes of delivery for different types of goods, consumers, and districts. Technology gives us the ability to change rapidly, so as soon as operators experience a market shift, they can try something new — expand or shrink their fleet, offer different services, or simply adjust an element of workflow for efficiency or cost cutting. Such nimbleness will allow them to remain effective and relevant in the last-mile space despite external factors.

The growth story

Logistics is a somewhat conservative industry, subject to many different standards. Technology will not only enhance the customer experience, cut costs, and optimize operations. It will also serve the need for transparency and unified standards. Technology advancement ensures that lastmile logistics organizations in the UAE can remain at the center of the growth story that is expected to unfold in the coming years.

For those unwilling or unable to build their solution, technology partners can eliminate the barriers to entry, ensuring even the smallest of businesses can go beyond mere pledge fulfillment and truly delight customers. ë