Key Takeaways: Establishing a local delivery service involves thorough preparation, which includes determining your target market and doing a competitive analysis. Building a team of dependable drivers and workers is one of the most crucial elements of a successful delivery service, and it is crucial to its success. Providing top-notch customer service and earning a reputation for dependability and promptness helps to build a devoted clientele. For any delivery service, it’s critical to have a transparent pricing structure and payment process in place. A business or company needs to evolve with the changing demands of the market and the consumers. Every few years, markets see a huge shift in how operations are carried out. The most recent change that completely transformed selling was the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, people were stuck in their homes, not visiting stores to buy groceries. This required almost every company to start offering delivery services. Even local businesses, for that matter, started offering local delivery services due to the demand. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once said, “What’s dangerous is not to evolve, not to invent, not to improve the customer experience.” When it comes time for a business to evolve, the smartest thing to do is follow the wind. Table of Contents What Does Local Delivery Mean? How can Local Delivery Service Help Your Business? How to Improve Local Delivery Service FAQ Create More Value with Local Delivery Services What Does Local Delivery Mean? Local delivery means distributing products and services locally in a particular district or city. Regarding eCommerce, local delivery allows a shopper to purchase items from an online store (Amazon), an online marketplace (Shopify), or retail locations and have those items delivered to the doorstep. Local delivery can work as an alternative to shipping and in-store shopping. In a world where in-store shopping from retail locations has increased risks and shipping carriers are prone to delay, local delivery offers benefits for merchants and shoppers alike. Upper Route Planner A Simple-to-use route planner that every one is talking about. Save up to 95% of planning time Save up to 40% of time on the road Plan 500 stops at once Start Your FREE Trial Ways in Which Local Delivery Service Can Help Your Business Increase Sales E-commerce has become an indispensable part of the global retail fabric in the last few years. With the ongoing pandemic and digitization in modern life, more people are choosing to shop online. In 2020, online marketplaces registered the largest share of online purchases worldwide. This proof should be enough to motivate you to adopt local delivery services as a part of your retail process. Better Customer Experience Shipping costs and delays are innate to delivery service. Find a way around these problems by offering delivery service to your local customers. As a merchant who sells and delivers products themselves, you can take charge of the process without worrying about external factors like extra shipping fees, and hiring carriers. Instead of being tied to a carrier, you can choose to offer delivery services and manage delivery needs independently. Make your delivery option attractive. Connecting with the Local Community Businesses that aim to achieve sustainable growth shortly must build a loyal customer following in the local community. You are not only providing a service, you are becoming a part of the local community. When social distancing is the norm, being connected in a community is the need of the hour – for individuals and businesses alike. There are many creative ways a business can connect with the local community. Better Future Opportunities The effects of the pandemic on consumer behavior will easily last for many years. Customers will keep supporting local businesses in their cities or areas as long as their delivery needs are managed. Businesses that anticipate customer needs and step up to fulfill them will easily set themselves up for better future opportunities in the marketplace. How to Improve Local Delivery Service For businesses that have already set up local deliveries as a part of their process, here are some tips to improve the efforts. Set Your Priorities Right To make the process easier and efficient, you must set priorities for all the delivery orders for the day. This way, you can identify customers or locations that need to be covered based on priority or specified calendar dates. Depending on the resource constraints, you can fulfill delivery orders according to the urgency. Create Efficient Delivery Routes In a time where all business operations are carried out using software, creating delivery schedules and routes manually is not only outdated but also inefficient. There is plenty of route planning software for local delivery businesses available to help create daily delivery schedules in a few minutes with the click of a button. Using this software, businesses can also set priorities for the deliveries on the schedule. Choose a Good Delivery Route Planner Having a good delivery route planner is often underestimated in business. When you let a delivery route planner take charge of planning deliveries and creating routes, you are handing off one of the most time-consuming jobs in the entire delivery process. Out of all the delivery route planners available, you must choose the one that suits your business and logistics needs. Get Real-Time Tracking With real-time GPS tracking or telematics, businesses can easily monitor the progress of deliveries and drivers’ performance and driver availability. This improves daily efficiency, keeps customers informed about the status of their deliveries, and improves customer satisfaction. Minimize Waste of Time & Money When efficient routes are calculated, priorities are set, and fleets and drivers are tracked in real time, businesses can easily save time and money that would otherwise be wasted on manual planning and optimization of delivery routes. At the same time, money can be invested in other business matters that require immediate attention. Reduced Chances of Error When you have route planning and optimization software in place, the chances of errors or creating wrong routes are reduced. Route optimization algorithms use advanced technology to gather real-time traffic and location information to give you correct instructions regarding the delivery schedule. Businesses can rely on route planning and optimization algorithms to avoid mistakes and errors and achieve optimum delivery performance. Keep Your Customers Updated By scheduling deliveries using real-time information and receiving real-time updates on driver and package positions, you can let your customers know when they can expect their deliveries. This can be done through automated email or SMS notifications to your customers. Many routing software offers the ability to send real-time notifications and updates to your customers and capture proof of delivery by capturing images or customer signatures. With Adding Local Delivery to Your Business The Following Questions May Arise How many drivers do you need? What are the zones that you will be able to cover as a local delivery business? What delivery options would you provide your customers with? How do you turn a list of customers into an efficient delivery route? Many of these questions and queries have one solution: route planning and optimization. You can set item and delivery instructions in advance, get in touch with your customers directly, control the activities of your drivers and fleets, and achieve timely deliveries. Upper Route Planner A Simple-to-use route planner that every one is talking about. Save up to 95% of planning time Save up to 40% of time on the road Plan 500 stops at once Start Your FREE Trial FAQs How much should I charge for my services? To determine the final delivery fee for doing local deliveries, you must consider factors like labor costs, vehicle operations costs, layers of taxes, and keeping the overall service fee competitive. Study the market and check out the opportunities. How will you promote local delivery to nearby customers? You can choose to promote your local delivery to nearby customers through search engine marketing, social media marketing, Google alerts, and retargeted ads. Focus on building a brand. Create More Value with Local Delivery Services Offering delivery services as a local business will only add more value to the company. If you are looking to add more value and convenience to your logistics process, you must let a solution like Upper’s route management software handle the planning and optimization. If you have any questions or want to discuss your options, you can feel free to reach out to us. We will do everything in our power to make sure you find the right solution. Author Bio Rakesh Patel Rakesh Patel, author of two defining books on reverse geotagging, is a trusted authority in routing and logistics. His innovative solutions at Upper Route Planner have simplified logistics for businesses across the board. A thought leader in the field, Rakesh's insights are shaping the future of modern-day logistics, making him your go-to expert for all things route optimization. Read more. Share this post:
