Building Supply Chain Resilience: Lessons Learnt from Global Disruptions

Supply chains have always been critical to businesses in virtually any sector. And the eCommerce industry is no exception. It also involves procuring products from manufacturers or suppliers and third-party logistics services to deliver them to customers.

However, recent global disruptions like COVID-19, geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressure, international trade change policy, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulations have shown how vulnerable the supply chain is. 

This has made e-commerce businesses realize the need to strengthen the supply chain, giving rise to the concept of supply chain resilience.

Supply chain resilience is the ability to anticipate, stay prepared for, and respond to unforeseen disruptive events to ensure a continuous supply of materials and keep delivery operations uninterrupted. 

We at Upper understand the significant impact of these global disruptions on online retail businesses and are here to help. We’ve compiled a list of challenges, lessons learned, and how Upper can help implement them.

5 Major Challenges Posed by Global Disruptions

Elon Musk rightly says, “The supply chain stuff is tricky.” While supply chain management has never been easy, global disruptions have added complexities.

1. Inefficient route planning and lack of flexibility

Road closures due to local strikes, natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, trade sanctions, or restrictions on cross-border deliveries can disrupt delivery operations. 

If you fail to create alternative routes that account for these factors, drivers can get stuck mid-way or take expensive detours. If you face any run-time traffic congestion or accidents but fail to respond to them through route adjustments, it may cause delays, failed deliveries, and returns.

Upper helped Northern Express Logistics to increase their daily deliveries by 300% and double their drivers’ productivity.

Book a demo to see how!

2. Lack of visibility

A significant issue that global disruptions have made evident is the lack of real-time visibility in delivery operations. 

Companies fail to track shipments, making it difficult for them to determine potential issues like vehicle issues or emergencies that can disrupt delivery operations. This, in turn, may cause missed deadlines and customer dissatisfaction.

Our clients have expressed how much they value these real-time notifications. It’s not just about informing them; it’s about giving them peace of mind during the hectic winter season.

Maxwell Sterling, Northern Clearways Inc., a Snow Removal Service Provider in Minnesota

3. Communication breakdown 

Loss of mobile cellular data connectivity, internet shutdown, and network infrastructure failure are common phenomena during natural disasters or geopolitical wars between contending countries. 

This may make it impossible to connect with your delivery drivers and customers, rendering the inability to achieve last-mile visibility, respond to run-time issues, and inform customers on shipment statuses, causing communication silos among stakeholders. It can cause delivery delays, failures, or returns.

Northern Clearways Inc. reduced the communication gap by 92% with Upper’s integration. Know their full story of how they reduced it and efficiently optimized routes.

4. Changing delivery regulations and expectations

Sometimes, delivery regulations can change, making it hard to comply. For instance, e-commerce retailers didn’t prioritize contactless or curbside delivery until a few years ago. However, COVID-19 has caused customers to seek safe delivery options, such as contactless delivery, which is the most sought-after option. 

Similarly, customers are more focused on sustainable products and prefer shopping from online retailers that follow environment-friendly practices. A failure to meet these ever-evolving regulations and expectations may render you unable to cope with the highly competitive eCommerce industry.

5. Inadequate proof of delivery

Documenting deliveries is critical for record-keeping, especially during disruptions when accountability becomes even more crucial. However, it may become difficult to record deliveries manually when delivering goods to areas hit by natural disasters or war-torn countries. 

Packages can get stuck while on their way due to trade regulations or barriers, causing delivery delays. Further, orders delivered at unsafe locations in countries facing humanitarian due to civil war, trade sanctions, or external attacks can get poached or stolen. Documenting these deliveries on paper without photos can lead to delivery-related disputes.

We tried many software for collecting proof of delivery and maintaining records, but ended up on Upper as it is too easy to use.”

Tracy Sturdy, Owner of Residential Cart Solutions, LLC

Click here to read the full story ————>

Lessons You Can Implement as Practices in Your Businesses

1. Future-Proof your inventory management

Minimizing the impact of global disruptions on your supply of products is essential to ensure timely deliveries. 

So, you can integrate an efficient inventory management system to:

• Track stock levels
• Send low-stock alerts and automatically reorder low-stock products
• Capture supply and demand patterns
• Forecast demand patterns based on historical data like sales revenue

This helps ensure highly demanded products are readily available, especially during calamities or pandemics when the demand for specific products, such as groceries, medical supplies, or protective equipment, typically rises. 

Pro Tip: Diversifying your sources and establishing good ties with suppliers from multiple countries can help reduce dependence on a single supplier and minimize supply chain disruptions during geopolitical tensions or trade barriers.

How Can Upper Help?

Upper provides extensive integration capabilities through an open API that you can customize to connect with your existing business systems. 

So, you can integrate it with your inventory management software to track your inventory, sales, and low-stock products and optimize them. This helps optimize your inventory levels and ensure you never run out of in-demand products. 

2. Create flexible, multi-constrained delivery routes

To ensure efficient and timely deliveries, you must plan routes considering multiple factors, such as live traffic patterns, customers’ availability, road closures, events like accidents or jams, and vehicle capacity specifics. This helps you reduce your delivery distance and time and achieve on-time deliveries.

How Can Upper Help?

Upper features AI-powered route optimization algorithms to plan routes based on multiple constraints, including:

• Drivers’ hours of service
• Customers’ delivery windows
• Driving preferences (like avoiding tolls or highways)
• Vehicle type 
• Capacity constraints
• Priorities of orders

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But what about real-time disruptions, such as road closures, traffic congestion, or blockades due to marches, protests, or events?

Don’t worry—Upper has you covered! Our software provides dynamic routing capabilities that let you rearrange your sequence of stops to create the most feasible and efficient route if you encounter these blockers. 

Moreover, Upper enables integration with industry-leading inventory management software like Zoho to track and optimize inventory levels so you have in-demand items available.

3. Track and communicate with your drivers 

Tracking your drivers’ locations in real time is crucial to identify any bottlenecks hampering their progress and eliminating them proactively. A GPS-based tracking software can serve this purpose. If you notice a driver running late, you can communicate with them to determine the reason and take suitable measures. 

For example, suppose your driver gets stuck mid-way due to their vehicle breakdown. In that case, you can add the remaining stops along that route to another available driver’s schedule or reschedule deliveries for later. 

How Can Upper Help?

Upper’s GPS-based tracking software lets you track your drivers’ real-time movements and gain visibility into their progress. 

You can also connect with them via private messages to determine and address their concerns and queries. For instance, if your driver calls in sick, you can redistribute the pending stops along their route to another available driver.

4. Fulfill your customers’ delivery expectations

Prioritizing your customers’ delivery preferences is crucial to achieving success and staying competitive. For instance, customers prefer instant gratification and instant delivery options, including same-day delivery. Adopting a modern-day route management software solution can help optimize routes that ensure quick deliveries.

For customers skeptical about receiving deliveries in person, you can offer contactless delivery options, such as curbside delivery. Moreover, you can utilize biodegradable packaging and create fuel-efficient routes to reduce carbon emissions. This helps you project yourself as an eco-conscious business owner committed to sustainability goals and regulatory compliance.

5. Digitize your delivery documentation process

To ensure reliable and traceable proof of delivery, you must switch from manual POD to electronic POD. This enables you to capture customers’ e-signatures and photos of products left at the doorstep, porch, or parking space, add specific notes, and add time stamps. 

This helps you create a verifiable record for each delivery that can’t be tampered with or lost and protects you against legal disputes in the future. This prevents you from the unwanted expenses in redeliveries to compensate for fake ‘undelivered’ or ‘missing’ complaints.

How Can Upper Help?

Upper’s POD feature enables businesses to capture electronic signatures and photos as evidence of successful deliveries. This helps avoid situations where you don’t have proper traceable proof to prove you have delivered a package as requested.

This also ensures the evidence is digitally accessible, eliminating the chances of loss or tampering, which may be the case with paper-based proof of delivery. This lets you ensure your accountability towards customers and reinforces their trust while avoiding legal penalties.

Upper – Your Go-To Partner to Build Supply Chain Resilience

“Let’s give the devil his due”—global disruptions have undoubtedly impacted e-commerce delivery businesses worldwide but have also taught us an important lesson: focus on building supply chain resilience.

By embracing technology, optimizing routes, utilizing data-driven analytics, and integrating proof of delivery software, you can enhance your delivery business processes and ensure they are future-ready.

Upper’s route optimization software can provide the tech to enhance your supply chain resilience. To know more about how we can help, feel free to contact us and schedule a demo.