SAME-DAY DELIVERY BY 2025 IS GOAL OF 99% OF ENTERPRISE RETAILERS, SURVEY FINDS

To get there, businesses need to better connect and automate fulfillment technologies. 

According to a survey from Bringg of enterprise retailers across the U.S., Canada and Europe, 99% of respondents say they will be doing same-day delivery within the next three years, compared to 35% able to do so today.

However, the survey found that many of the current last-mile fulfillment models do not support same-day or on-demand delivery, with 36% saying they don’t have the technology, citing real-time order visibility as the main problem, and 24% calling out the sheer distance they need to travel from warehouse to fulfillment as a primary obstacle to delivering on time.

“From what we’ve seen in our latest barometer report, the retail industry is highly agile, with a third of retailers (33%) highly confident that they can pivot to respond to new, pandemic-driven customer behavior,” said Guy Bloch, CEO of Bringg. “With a need for more delivery capacity, greater tech innovation and stronger partnerships with providers, now is the time for the 49% of ‘somewhat’ confident retailers to prove that they, too, can be agile enough to improve delivery speed and convenience. To get there, retailers will need to connect and automate their delivery network resources, processes and technologies, and adopt hyperlocal fulfillment as a goal for 2022.”

Retailers have an urgent need for greater connectivity, but a lack of visibility and outdated technology is holding them back. Forty-four percent are managing multiple fulfillment channels with disparate technologies, and 61% cite problems with visibility into the last mile. Sustainability and carbon emissions are an important consideration, with 56% of retailers using fleets with EV vehicles, and 1 in 3 using bike fleets.

The biggest pain point when it comes to scaling delivery is a lack of real-time visibility once the order is out for delivery, according to 61% of respondents. Fifty-five percent called out the inefficient manual nature of the way they currently plan and dispatch their orders, and only 35% have fully automated last-mile delivery and fulfillment operations.

When it comes to pain points associated with fast and on-time delivery, a lack of data is a central concern for retailers due to real-time order visibility (51%) and travel time (49%). This problem is exacerbated by multiple delivery partners, as 26% of retailers say they are struggling with visibility when working with third parties.

According to NACS’ “Last Mile Fulfillment in Convenience Retail” report, only 61% of retailers are satisfied with their third-party delivery partners. Concerns include high fees, little access to consumer data, difficulties delivering age-restricted products and service and operational issues. Read more about these challenges and what c-stores are doing to make delivery work for their businesses in “Delivering Convenience” in the December 2021 issue of NACS Magazine.