Raise your hand, who didn’t experience this!
This is a real life story about the journey of a Big & Bulky online order, a bed that never arrived. 4 weeks after the order a late evening email was in the inbox. It said the bed would be delivered the day after, “sometime” in the afternoon. The shopper was supposed to be at work, so she had to change the plan.
Around 4pm, the shopper received a call. Apparently the van was at the front door but nowhere to be found. The van was in fact too big to go down the narrow road (although that was specified in the order notes) and was waiting at the top of the street.
After reaching the newly agreed meeting place, with no idea about how to bring the bed home, the shopper found the van was not there either. “Sorry: could not wait any longer”, the driver replied…. After asking for a refund and writing a nasty review, the shopper is now refusing to experience this again.
It appears most of the Big & Bulky Retailers have been taken by surprise by the significant spike in online sales and have been struggling to evolve their business model.
Surely, this industry is affected by extra logistical challenges: delivery of big items requires at least a two-man van, installation and service time, access roads could also be an issue due to vehicle’s size, and last but not least, customers need to be home to receive their goods. To address these peculiarities an efficient delivery strategy is a must!
Only few Retailers seem to have understood the importance of updating their technology and making sure it meets customer expectations.
Dunelm declares that now a third of its sales are done online and has therefore implemented a multi-channel strategy to make sure all sales are successful. Made.com emphasised in a recent article the importance of building deep relationships with last-mile providers to improve its small goods and large goods delivery proposition for consumers.
Milkman Technologies has identified 3 main areas in which its Home Delivery Platform can help:
- Offering flexible delivery windows
- Improving automation along the supply chain
- Allowing easy rescheduling for both parties
As bad deliveries represent a risk for Retailers of losing shoppers, only a strong commitment to meet customers’ expectations can be the right approach. Milkman Technologies mission is to honour the ‘’Promise to Delivery’’ with a technology that guarantees on time deliveries, thanks to precise planning and execution, full visibility and control of the routes, two-way communication and time windows’ selection. This AI powered technology can certainly make shoppers, like the one mentioned above, happy and ready to buy again and again.
