Do you own an e-commerce business that relies heavily on online orders? If so, this is the article for you. As the world of online shopping continues to rapidly expand, more and more customers are now relying on having orders delivered straight to their front door.
This is why it is so incredibly important for businesses to ensure swift delivery as well as constantly find ways to upgrade the delivery process. In today’s article, we have a look at how you can better your delivery driving for your business, so read on to find out more!
1. Make Rostering a Priority
One of the best ways to ensure that your product reaches your consumer in time is to use software to roster delivery drivers. Rostering simplifies the delivery process and can ensure that your delivery drivers have a schedule that they can stick to. Scheduling orders also reduces the amount of guesswork that your delivery drivers have to do, as it provides them with an organised and streamlined system of how they should go about their day. Software also allows for business owners to keep track of deliveries in real-time, allowing both driver and business owner to stay connected at all times.
2. Optimise Delivery Routes and Schedules
Reducing the amount of wasted time is the key to optimising your delivery service. We highly recommend that business owners find a way to optimise delivery routes and schedules in order to increase the overall productivity of delivery hours. This involves looking into delivery routes and coming up with the most streamlined way of getting as many orders out as possible in one delivery run. Creating a route summary and bundling orders in accordance with proximity is one of the best ways to ensure that you cover all bases in as few delivery trips as possible. This can also help a business reduce its delivery overheads and costs which will save the business from unnecessary expenses in the long run.
3. Create Incentives for Your Delivery Team
Studies have proven time and time again that where incentives are offered, productivity booms. This is why it is important that you offer your delivery team incentives for a job well done. By having systems of reward in place, businesses can accelerate the improvement of driver productivity and also increase levels of employee retainment at the same time. If you are new to setting incentives, we recommend offering bonuses to drivers who manage to get as many orders out as possible in a week. This not only ensures that consumers receive their products on time but also helps in boosting driver morale and confidence in the long run.
4. Improve Communication With Warehouses
Swift communication between your delivery team and warehouse is vital for any business that relies on product deliveries. In fact, businesses should ensure that clear communication channels are set up at warehouses that allow for orders to be processed as fast as possible. Not only will this help your business manage its stock, but it will also help managers arrange for additional delivery drivers if need be. Delivery drivers should also have an open communication channel with warehouse workers in order to ensure that they are kept in the loop should there be any delays in processing orders.
5. Keep Customers in The Loop
Last but certainly by no means least, it is important that businesses always keep customers in the loop about when they should expect their deliveries. This can include providing them with specific time slots to expect their order, in order to reduce the amount of time customers have to hang around at home waiting for their delivery. You could offer real-time tracking options that will allow customers to see where the driver is in real-time. This allows customers to plan their day ahead and know exactly when to be home when their order arrives, thus reducing the chances of delivery drivers having to reroute packages to post offices and wasting precious delivery time.
Streamlining your product delivery process is key to ensuring that your customers and delivery team remain happy with your services. We hope that this article has given you a few new ideas on how you can improve your business deliveries. We wish you all the best in your business endeavours!