Top 5 Delivery Challenges Facing Small Businesses

2014 has witnessed phenomenal growth in the small business sector, particularly the eCommerce sector. The fact that more than 5 million small and medium businesses – contributing to 47% of private sector employment and around 33% turnover – are currently functioning in the country tells an exhilarating story. The advent of the internet and quicker modes of transportation has shrunk the world into one big global marketplace.

Breaking Barriers

Small businesses are riding a wave of consumer confidence. The modern consumer has thousands of choices and is not wary of buying goods from places not part of his traditional market. And businesses are luring consumers with quality goods and the promise of delivering their goods to the consumer’s doorsteps.

With thousands of businesses keen on delivering their products to customers all across the country, the demand for delivery solutions providers has been quite extraordinary. This is where small businesses are facing challenges they have never encountered before.

1. Is the packaging right?

The worst thing that can happen to a business is that the goods delivered to the consumer are broken or damaged. Today, consumers demand beer bottles, wine, cakes and cookies, apart from furniture and electronic goods, which necessitate meticulous packaging. On top of this, the packaging must conform to the requirements of delivery companies and should be environmentally friendly. This calls for careful research and development on the retailer's part to provide the best possible packaging without drastically increasing rates.

2. How suitable is your courier?

Small businesses always have and will struggle to match the economies of scale achieved by a large omnichannel retailer. However, in the same vein as a ‘buying group’, third-party shipping providers across the UK and Europe can offer ‘pooled volume’ discounted rates from a range of parcel carriers.

3. Does the courier know your business?

Suppose the courier is not aligned with the vision of the retailer. In that case, their staff are not motivated enough to conform to the high standards of the retailer, which could be delivery of the goods within 48 hours of ordering. Also, extremely fragile items, like gifts and cakes or highly perishable foods like vegetables, fruits, meats and herbs, suffer the most at the hands of an unskilled delivery guy.

4. Are your goods classed as “Ugly Freight?”

Many goods are either oversized or don’t fit into conventional boxes and eventually on processing conveyors. They require special handling to avoid damage. This can affect the delivery schedule and the condition that these goods arrive at the customer’s doorstep. It becomes imperative for the business to work closely with the logistics partner to ensure that such goods are handled correctly.

5. Are you allowing “tracking” of your goods?

There is no bigger headache for the retailer than searching for that missing delivery. It’s better to spend money upfront in setting up a system which allows the tracking of the delivery right from the time it leaves the factory/office to the time it reaches safely to the customer than to burn it searching for the missing parcel and compensating the customer. Also, a system for taking care of any “after-delivery issues” should be implemented.

All said it is the prerogative of the retailer to be proactive in identifying issues with deliveries. Your reputation is at stake, not the courier companies. Act on customer feedback and set up robust systems for smooth, hassle-free deliveries. Give the customer the best shopping experience at negligible extra cost. This, and not anything else, will make the customer come back to you for more.