It is estimated that the cost of shipping last mile comprises 53% of the total delivery costs, so it is essential to look for strategies to reduce them and thus increase your profits. In addition, by optimizing efficiency in this area, you improve customer satisfaction because you achieve deliveries on time, avoiding incurring costs such as -for example- extra days of storage.
Now, how to reduce distribution costs? Take note:
Consolidate all orders and optimize orders
This is the main thing when talking about how to reduce distribution costs. By systematizing all your orders in advance based on variables such as deadlines, priority, specifications and volume of deliveries, you can anticipate unforeseen events, optimize transport times and evaluate different delivery options. delivery.
Use mobile technologies
The use of mobile resources is key to making last-mile delivery faster and more friendly, as you can considerably increase the customer experience without large investments, which translates into greater profitability.
Thanks to mobile technologies you can maintain contact with couriers and exercise greater control over delivery. In addition, some logistics applications help you optimize times in distribution centers, since a barcode reader is not necessary when picking.
Implement a good traceability system
Currently there are solutions so that both you and your customers can know -at all times- the status of an order. With this, it is possible to optimize costs for customer service, since these are automatic tools capable of offering information 24/7 about the products in the dispatch process.
Implement actions to minimize waiting times
In addition to focusing attention on how to calculate the shipping cost of a product, you should also dedicate efforts to determining waiting times based on variables such as distance, peak hours or vehicle availability -among others-, always with the help of a quality monitoring system. This, since the longer the delivery takes, the higher the logistics value will be.
Avoid excess obsolete inventory
When talking about how to reduce distribution costs, it is essential to consider warehouse stock, why? By keeping merchandise that is not sold, you increase storage costs and the risks of loss due to shrinkage and damage. In addition, products do not always retain their value, depreciating day by day.
Optimize and plan routes
In this way you will avoid unforeseen events such as traffic diversion, closures due to works, traffic jams, etc. The generation of intelligent routes will allow you to identify the ideal routes for each delivery, optimizing fuel and saving time.
Returns strategy
Returned products add significantly to the value of deliveries, so avoid them when considering how to reduce shipping costs.
In a context like the current one, it is essential that retailers and virtual stores know how to optimize their resources to maintain competitiveness and profitability. And although in recent months companies have learned several lessons to improve their processes, it has been difficult for many companies –including Amazon– comply with delivery times, something that could lead to a greater number of returns.
Analyzing critical information in this regard -such as incorrect prices, wrong or damaged products, etc.- is key to reducing returns and, thereby, reducing costs associated with shipping and logistics processes.
Look for strategic allies
The outsourcing of distribution and logistics processes in general is decisive when defining how to reduce shipping costs. By doing so, you release a fairly high operational load because, since it is not the core of your business, you need to invest in infrastructure, training and personnel.
In in this sense, by having a partner specialized in the matter -such as Envíame– you can unlink of concerns such as calculating the cost of shipping a product, creating shipments, generating labels and tracking your shipments since the platform is responsible for managing all the process, providing different options to choose those that best suit each case.
Enviame is the ideal strategic ally to optimize logistics processes. It is a shipping platform for e-Commerce from which you can manage all the distribution of your orders, connect with the best couriers and track deliveries in real time.
