Learn More About Last Mile Delivery Software
What is Last Mile Delivery Software?
Last mile delivery software allows businesses to manage deliveries in the last leg of supply chain operations—delivering packages from distribution centers to customers’ doorsteps. This phase of the delivery process is generally the longest and most difficult to manage since it usually involves multiple stops along the way. While the final stage of delivery may be challenging for businesses to navigate, it hasn’t stopped customers from demanding quick and seamless service. Nowadays, consumers expect options like free two-day or, in some cases, same-day delivery. To stay competitive, retailers must find ways to make deliveries more efficient. This is where last mile delivery platforms come into play.
Last mile delivery software provides businesses with all the tools necessary to complete deliveries while minimizing costs. This tool includes route planning to optimize couriers’ routes and automatic dispatching for reduced service time and labor costs. It also offers functionalities such as package tracking and selecting ideal delivery times to prioritize customer needs and offer them insight into the location of their packages. It is more important than ever for businesses to provide real-time visibility into operations due to social media becoming an outlet for customers to air grievances, which can harm a company’s reputation and turn away new customers looking for peer recommendations. Finally, last mile logistics tools can allow for contactless delivery, where proof of delivery is sent to customers through a photo of the product after it is dropped off.
What are the Common Features of Last Mile Delivery Software?
All features that come prepackaged in a last mile delivery system aim to decrease costs, optimize labor, and shorten delivery times. The higher customer expectations are, the more efficient a retailer needs to be in completing deliveries. The below features of last mile logistics tools help accomplish this.
Route planning: This feature eliminates the time-consuming process of manually planning travel and instead uses machine learning to find efficient routes that minimize gas usage, distance traveled, and estimated time of arrival (ETA) for deliveries. This helps to reduce labor and fuel expenditures.
Automatic dispatching: Last mile delivery software allows new orders to be instantly added to the ideal driver’s queue based on the route their other packages will be traveling. This feature ensures efficient distribution of labor and shorter wait times for customers to receive their orders.
Smart tracking and delivery windows: These features track customers’ packages and allow them to select an ideal time for the item to arrive. Real-time visibility into delivery is vital for logistics companies because unsatisfied customers sometimes write scathing reviews on social media, which can repel prospective customers looking for peer recommendations. Delivery windows also give more power to the customer.
Proof of delivery: Last mile logistics tools facilitate contactless delivery that confirms proof of drop off with a photo. This feature protects companies against unfounded customer complaints while conveniently notifying recipients of their package’s arrival.
Performance metrics: The ability to track metrics such as on-time delivery, service rates, and distance traveled are central to this software. One can also segment the data based on the time of the week, individual drivers, or teams to assess performance based on different dimensions.
Customer feedback: Customer reviews allow businesses to assess driver performance and gauge consumer satisfaction. Last mile delivery software allows customers to rate their service on an e-commerce platform. This functionality helps retailers improve operations and provide constructive feedback to workers.
Mobile and external integration: Drivers can manage their deliveries via mobile integrations while on the road. In addition, customers are able to track their deliveries and leave feedback in mobile apps. Some last mile delivery software may even integrate with transportation management systems or ERP tools.
What are the Benefits of Last Mile Delivery Software?
Faster delivery time: Route planning and automatic dispatch allow couriers to quickly add a package to their route while optimizing their travel to speed up ETAs. When a parcel is delivered quicker, this means happier customers, brand loyalty, and a strong corporate reputation.
Better customer experience: Tangential to delivery times is improved customer satisfaction. When packages arrive quickly and when promised, customers feel satisfied and are more likely to convert to repeat purchasers. In addition, allowing customers to select package arrival windows gives them power and control over a process that can be frustrating without proper visibility. Centering the customer in the last mile delivery process means better customer service.
Improved delivery operations and lower costs: Machine learning, automation, and fleet analytics used in last mile delivery software also smooth out operations by queuing up orders, dispatching workers, and reducing fuel usage through route optimization. Because more efficient and less expensive operations are the ultimate goal of any strategic supply chain, last mile logistics platforms are vital for any business that uses e-commerce and ships goods to consumers’ houses.
Who Uses Last Mile Delivery Software?
Last mile delivery solutions are generally used by any company that sells and delivers products to a customer’s doorstep. Since many brick-and-mortar stores have online shopping platforms, this software can be used by virtually any business that sells a physical product or delivers food and beverages.
Food and beverage delivery businesses: An increasing number of grocery stores and restaurants are offering on-demand delivery of food and beverages. For food that qualifies as perishable goods, they must be delivered as quickly as possible. Last mile delivery software helps make food deliveries more efficient through automatic group dispatching. This allows businesses to quickly group deliveries together by location, so drivers are able to cover multiple deliveries in one location. In addition, last mile logistics software keeps customers informed about when their order is arriving by providing a tracking feature as well as notifications of any delays or food adjustments.
E-commerce businesses: Retailers that sell goods online can take advantage of all of the features that last mile delivery software has to offer. Nowadays, e-commerce businesses are expected to deliver goods promptly to prevent customers from moving to competitors that have fast delivery times. This software helps businesses by offering features for faster route planning, fleet management, and prioritized schedules for deliveries that need to be delivered quickly. From the customer side, they appreciate features such as live driver tracking, ETAs on package arrival, and driver communication options.
Pharmaceuticals: Companies that ship pharmaceuticals to customer doorsteps must have highly efficient supply chains that comply with legal regulations surrounding the transportation of controlled substances and protected patient information. Last mile delivery tools help consumers plan for when their medications arrive so as to prevent theft, and the software also provides vendors visibility into the final leg of transporting sensitive goods.
Software Related to Last Mile Delivery Software
Related solutions that can be used together with last mile delivery software include:
Fleet tracking software: This software uses GPS technology to monitor activity, vehicles, and drivers while en route. Fleet track systems collect real-time data on driver performance and update ETAs for packages, much like last mile delivery tools. A key difference is this tool enables in-app communication between drivers and managers, whereas last mile tracking solutions include customers in the interaction with drivers. Fleet tracking is also mainly suited to assess driver performance and analyze operation costs.
Fleet management software: Route planning, dispatching, cost analysis, and vehicle or driver tracking are core features of fleet management tools, which makes them similar to last mile logistics systems. However, fleet management isn’t limited to the last mile of parcel delivery and can be used more generally for the transportation of goods in company vehicles.
Challenges with Last Mile Delivery Software
Automation in the supply chain helps a business's bottom line, but that does not mean integrating software into operations is a pain-free process. Change management is sometimes necessary to ensure culture shifts toward industrialization, and getting company-wide buy-in to a tool is crucial to achieving ROI.
Last mile delivery software has the following challenges.
Shifting cultures toward automation: The supply chain is one of the industries most notorious for resisting progress. Despite the enormous benefit supply chains gain from automation, innovation usually happens through select forward-thinking companies or operations becoming so inefficient that there is no other option. With many companies falling into the latter category, integrating last mile logistics systems requires growing pains and change management.
Requires total buy-in and training: An extension of culture shifts toward innovation is the need for cross-company buy-in to ensure a business can attain ROI with its new last mile delivery software. Multiple stakeholders use this software, such as couriers and warehouse managers, so there must be ample training to ensure the product is used correctly to increase efficiency, cut costs, shorten ETAs, and make customers happy. Without swift and total acceptance of the product and willingness to master using it, a company may not receive the full benefits of software that manages the last mile logistics process.
Insufficient customer engagement: Not all last mile delivery tools are created equal when it comes to engaging customers. Although certain platforms have fully built-out chat, survey, and customer notification features, not all do. Thus, it’s crucial to invest in software that has robust customer service features to ensure a business gets the maximum ROI for automating the final leg of the logistics process.
How to Buy Last Mile Delivery Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Last Mile Delivery Software
The first step of the purchasing process is aligning with internal teams on the most important components they need from the last mile delivery system. Once the key requirements are identified, long and shortlists are created to select the best software for one’s company.
Compare Last Mile Delivery Software Products
Create a long list
User experience and user-friendliness are important criteria to consider when forming a long list. Also, not all delivery management tools have robust customer engagement features, so note which products have built-out surveys, feedback systems, and live chatting with customers. Perhaps the most crucial thing to look for with a long list is the ease of integration with one’s existing tech stack.
Create a short list
A shortlist can be created based on more unique criteria, such as the industry for which a product is designed. For example, some software is specifically designed for pharmaceutical delivery that takes into account additional regulatory requirements surrounding patient privacy and the distribution of controlled substances.
Conduct demos
The next step is to have last mile delivery software vendors demonstrate the products on the shortlist to buyers. Buyers must have questions ready to check that the product meets core business requirements.
Selection of Last Mile Delivery Software
Choose a selection team
The selection team should include C-suite leadership from management, finance, logistics, and IT. CEOs offer direction to ensure the product makes sense with the company’s vision, CFOs can speak to the financial feasibility of the software’s implementation, logistics leaders can ask pointed questions about the tool’s functioning in day-to-day operations, and IT ensures it neatly fits with existing tech stacks.
Negotiation
Buyers must make sure to get an array of quotes that delineate how much the contract will cost and for how long it lasts. It is important to know that a vendor will bring its best salespeople to get the largest possible quote for their company, so buyers must be prepared to walk away if the contract does not meet your expectations.
Final decision
Logistics executives should be the final decision makers since they understand the nuances of last mile delivery and know in detail the unmet needs surrounding supply chain management. However, IT leaders must act as a check during the process to verify that the software can integrate into existing tech stacks.
