Over the past few years, the business of local delivery has been increasing steadily as companies continue to push to compete with corporations like Amazon and Walmart. Restaurants have been some of the biggest contributors, with grocery stores not far behind. However, no matter your industry, the recent coronavirus outbreak has made it more important than ever to be able to reach your customers outside of your place of business. We’re going to explore how this recent epidemic is changing the face of local delivery and what you can do if your business is struggling to keep up. Here are just a few ways that coronavirus is having a big impact on the local delivery business:
Increased Demand
Demand for local delivery has understandably skyrocketed. Delivery volume on GetSwift’s platform increased by 130% after social distancing began in the US. While demand is on the rise in just about every sector, no other industry has seen a bigger impact so far than the grocery business. According to a recent article, grocery delivery is seeing the biggest boost. In fact, in the last month alone, downloads for Instacart increased by over 200%. Unlike restaurants, most grocery stores haven’t actually shut their doors. So, what is the reason for the sharp increase in online ordering?
There are likely several reasons why people are choosing to shop from their phones instead of going to the store. First, people are frustrated with experiencing empty shelves and long checkout lines. They are spending more time going from store to store trying to find what they need. And, some people don’t have the time to be able to go to the store when they have children home from school. So much emphasis has been put on “maintaining a distance” and “self-quarantine” for those who are at-risk, that many people have really started to heed the warnings. This means the grocery delivery business will continue to thrive until stores can keep up with stocking the shelves and people feel comfortable about leaving their homes again.
Rise of No-Contact Deliveries
Another way that the coronavirus has impacted deliveries of all kinds is the rise of “no-contact deliveries”. Because there is even a concern that delivery personnel could transmit the virus (or get it from those whom they are delivering to) many companies are choosing to offer options that allow the receiver to designate a place where their delivery can be left without having to actually make contact with the delivery person. DoorDash is one of the latest to alter their delivery practices to meet the growing concern over the transmission of the Coronavirus through delivery services. They recently changed their default delivery option to “no contact” — although customers still have the option to change it.
Similar in purpose to no-contact deliveries is the rise of curbside deliveries. This allows patrons to stay in their vehicle while their order is delivered to them. This is a popular and convenient option for people wishing for a meal from their favorite restaurant but not wanting to wait for a third-party delivery service to bring it to their home.
New Players
Not every business was prepared to meet the exploding demand for take-out and home delivery, but many are jumping in to do what they can as quickly as possible. With mandatory closures in place, businesses must have other outlets to make a dime otherwise they may risk having to close for good. Expect to see home delivery, takeout, and curbside delivery expand into other areas beyond food and beverage. In fact, if you have a favorite place of business that you’d like to purchase from, you might want to contact them ahead of time to see if they can fill your request even if their doors are closed to customers.
Get Help From GetSwift
Is your business having trouble keeping up with the demand for delivery? GetSwift can provide you with innovative technology that can help you automate dispatching, optimize driving routes, and keep in touch with your customers. There’s never been a better time to excel at delivery. Putting the right things in place now can help you get through this difficult time and set your business up for long-lasting success. Contact a member of our team today to learn how our delivery software can help you keep up with the pace of local delivery.
A parcel is a package essentially. In the mailing word, a parcel is any type of mail that is not a postcard, a letter, or a flat or large envelope. Most people think of parcels as boxes wrapped in brown paper or a brown box. Technically speaking, there is really no difference between a parcel and a package. The word parcel is more commonly used in the United Kingdom, whereas in the United States, package is more commonly used. When shipping, they are the same thing.
GetSwift offers an incredible parcel delivery software that will solve your three main problems when it comes to parcel delivery: lost parcels, parcels that are delivered late, and the wrong item shipped to the wrong address. GetSwift makes parcel delivery easy, with real-time driver tracking, route optimization for your parcel drivers, and advanced dispatching applications. In our continuing back to basics series, we’ll take a look at solving the common parcel delivery hiccups and tell you how GetSwift can help. Contact us today to learn more!
Common Hiccups in Parcel Delivery
Lost Parcels
Even with modern technology, parcels still get lost. This can be from a variety of reasons, such as their shipping information is wrong or incomplete, the parcels are small so they fall in-between cracks or get mixed up in bins, or they are just completely misplaced like being placed on a shelf and inadvertently forgotten. Tracking lost packages can be difficult, and more often than not, are simply replaced instead of found, which leads to lost revenue since you are shipping two items for the price of one.
Late Parcels
Late parcels are what will distinguish you from the crowded parcel delivery service market. When you deliver parcels later than promised, this is an indication of a fundamental delivery service problem. Often, this is where your parcel delivery software will shine and where you will see the most impact the quickest once implemented. Late parcels often come down to routes that are not optimized, so picture your delivery driver going back and forth instead of going in a relatively straight line.
Wrong Items
Depending on if you are a last mile delivery service or if you are the one packaging the items, this often comes down to the wrong item being packaged, although it can be a problem with labeling as well. Either way, when you deliver the wrong item, this is a loss in revenue as well because often you will have to return to the address to retrieve it, sometimes at no expense.
Sorting Parcels
Sorting parcels can contribute to some of the other common hiccups, especially when you lack a top-notch parcel delivery service. If parcels are sorted incorrectly, you may deliver the wrong items to the wrong addresses. If there is a delay in sorting, your parcel delivery will be late. And if there is carelessness or a rushed day in sorting, parcels can become lost.
Driver Turnover
Ultimately, a lot of the problems mentioned above can be attributed to employee error, which is why employees are so valuable. When you have a new employee, they are just learning the ropes, and there will be mistakes made. While this is to be expected, a high level of employee turnover not only is costly for the company in terms of training, but only increases the amount of errors made, which to the customer, only reflects poorly on the parcel delivery company. Furthermore, if you are pulling drivers to cover other routes, parcel delivery times will suffer overall — which, ultimately, is what you want to avoid.
Loss of Customers
While an error here or there is forgivable by the customer, if errors are frequent (this can mean even two errors), the customer will look elsewhere for parcel delivery services. If you are a last mile delivery service, your entire company depends upon on-time deliveries, meaning you could lose important contracts with other companies as well.
Choose GetSwift as Your Parcel Delivery Service of Choice
Parcel delivery is a surprisingly crowded industry. Many people tend just to think of the big players, such as the United States Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx. However, while these hold a big share of the market, the little guys play a valuable role, especially in local markets and in delivery services that the big companies are just not equipped to handle, such as perishable goods. To compete, you need a powerful and robust parcel delivery software that can optimize your operations and routes, schedule dispatching, track your driver’s performance, and offer real-time feedback to customers. Let’s face it, there’s something inherently cool in receiving a text message with the exact expected time of arrival.
GetSwift offers all of the above services and more. With unlimited integration capabilities, your parcel delivery software can churn out analytics that will allow you to discover inefficiencies, explore more routes, and optimize processes.
When you first opened your delivery business, you probably only had a few customers. Planning your deliveries was easy; after all, you only had a handful of stops so you just went to the closest first then to the furthest out or vice versa, depending on priority. However, as your delivery business grew and your deliveries exploded, it was not as easy to plan routes as it was before. In fact, it was becoming quite complicated, taking more and more time to plan your deliveries. So what do you do now?
GetSwift offers a delivery route planner software that can help you maximize your delivery routes so that you are staying on track with timely deliveries and saving money in fuel and employee costs. In addition, our delivery route planner does much more than just plan your delivery route. It offers real-time driver tracking, advanced dispatching capabilities, a user-friendly driver app, automatic customer alerts, proof of delivery, and so much more. Below, we’ll continue our back to basics blog series by taking a look at what exactly is delivery route planning and how GetSwift can help you. Contact us today!
What are Delivery Route Planners?
Fundamentally, a delivery route planner is software that takes the place of a human scheduler. Instead of you sitting for hours, calculating the best routes for your drivers, delivery route planners will schedule stops for your drivers or fleets. Many, if not most, delivery route planners do much more than this, including GetSwift’s delivery route planner. They can show you where your drivers are in real-time. They can offer on-demand dispatching and driver feedback in terms of accidents and the like. Those using AI technology (artificial intelligence) can use machine learning to further maximize your drivers’ routes and alter routes according to real-time traffic conditions.
Does Your Delivery Business Need a Delivery Route Planner?
GetSwift gets asked this question all the time. What if your current method of delivery route planning is working? Why should you switch? There are some tell-tale signs that you probably need a sophisticated delivery route planner. Some of these signs include:
Your transportation costs are spiraling out of control, and you have no idea as to the cause because you have no data to tell you such.
Your customers are complaining about late deliveries.
Your current delivery route planning is taking more and more time, maybe even requiring two or more people to do the job.
Your delivery route planners quit.
You are unsure of which routes are making money and which routes are losing money.
You yourself are becoming frustrated with the inefficiencies in your current delivery route planning methods.
Why You Need Delivery Route Planning Software
Route optimization guarantees on-time deliveries for the vast majority of the time.
Route optimization will maximize employees’ time.
Route optimization cuts down on employees’ driving, which decreases the chances of accidents, as well as is healthier for your employees.
Route optimization will keep costs down.
Choose GetSwift Today for All of Your Delivery Route Planning Needs
GetSwift began by delivery drivers who themselves were frustrated with the lack of delivery route planning tools available at the time. Since then, we have worked incredibly hard to deliver the best delivery route planning software for use by your startup or small to medium-sized business. As a Top Rated Local® delivery logistics software company, we are constantly striving to innovate and anticipate our customers’ needs so you can continue to stay ahead of the pack. When we make improvements, we hope you do as well, seeing a headache eliminated here and there.
GetSwift’s delivery route planning software has unlimited integrations with apps and other software. This allows you to connect your deliveries with orders, invoicing, analytics, and much more. Furthermore, you can customize our delivery management software to your business to meet your needs. Our customer service department can walk you through any problem that arises, as well as any app integration you may need.
With advanced dispatching, real-time driver tracking, driver app, automatic customer alerts, customer feedback, proof of delivery, management of fleets and cash, and our top-notch analytical tools, GetSwift offers an all-in-one delivery route planning software that will take your delivery business to the next level.
A courier is someone who transports packages, documents, letters, and news from place to place. The need for the dissemination of information has existed since the dawn of humans. Thus, couriers have been around for thousands of years. In early history, the first couriers were runners who were trained to run long distances to deliver news, legal summons, love letters, military orders, and many other types of messages.
One of the most famous couriers of all time was Pheidippides who ran all the way from Marathon in Greece to Athens to tell the others that they had defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in the Greco-Persian war. The story goes that upon delivering the message, Pheidippides died. The distance that he ran, 26.2 miles, became our modern-day marathon named in honor of this event.
Courier services are still indispensable in the world, even with the power of the internet. Today, courier services consist of drivers who deliver packages to said destinations. The most well-known of these are UPS and FedEx. In order to deliver these packages timely, a powerful courier delivery software should be employed, such as those offered by GetSwift.
GetSwift offers the best courier delivery software for your courier business. Courier companies can really be any company that delivers items to others; however, most of the time, courier companies are those who deliver messages, packages, and letters from person to person or from business to business. With the internet, many small courier businesses are opening their doors, endeavoring to offer superior customer service over the big guys. However, in the courier business, on-time delivery, undamaged goods, and the correct order is still king. For that, you’ll need us. Call today!
What is Courier Delivery Software?
Courier delivery software streamlines the package delivery business to ensure your startup or small to medium-sized business is operating efficiently so that you are maximizing every penny. While this can be done the “old-fashioned way,” such as with spreadsheets and data entry, if you want to stay competitive, you will have to invest in technology, specifically courier delivery software.
What Courier Delivery Software Can Do for Your Business
The automation of tasks. For example, many businesses or people require recurring deliveries. Thus, when you can automate the same packages to be delivered each week, you’ll eliminate the need to re-enter this information week after week. Furthermore, by allowing your customers to input their own orders with a user-friendly interface, the order entry will part will be eliminated for you, leaving you to focus on the packaging and delivery portion.
Tracking. Tracking orders is crucial to the courier business, as you need to know where your orders are at each stage of the delivery process. This allows you to track and analyze delivery inefficiencies, as well as which routes are profitable and which are not-so-profitable.
Optimizing routes. Once you can track your packages, you’ll be able to optimize your delivery driver’s (or whatever your chosen delivery method is) route. Route optimization is truly where the power of the courier delivery software comes into play. If you are wasting gas money by having your driver drive all over town and by paying them extra to drive all around time, you will quickly lose not only customers when deliveries are late, but you’ll also lose money, which affects the bottomline.
Specialization. Many smaller courier companies are breaking into the courier business by specializing. Companies such as food delivery services specialize in delivering food items to customers, or grocery delivery services only deliver groceries. These companies can create a niche not only in their chosen market, but also by utilizing courier delivery software to offer superior services than the bigger guys in town. By delivering items that bigger companies can’t due to the expense (coffee delivery, anyone?), you can quickly grow, expand, and create jobs in your local community, making a difference in the lives not only of your customers, but also in the lives of those you employ.
GetSwift is Your Go-To Company for Courier Delivery Software
Courier delivery software can take your courier business to the next level quickly. In the 21st century, if you are not utilizing technology in every way you can, you can bet your competitors are, which is where you can quickly lose ground, lose money, and fall behind.
GetSwift offers the best courier delivery software solutions, including route optimization, that can take your business from a mom and pop to a full-blown courier business with multiple locations and many employees. UPS was founded in 1907 in Seattle by two teenage boys who delivered packages on foot and by bike. Everyone has to start somewhere; GetSwift can be your somewhere.
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