Tech Stack Complexity Seen Undermining Last Mile Delivery Operations

January 16, 2023

A State of Last Mile Delivery report survey highlights new findings from 500 managers within the retail and ecommerce landscape. The report provides critical insights for simplifying the complexity around last mile delivery operations, while focusing on reducing costs and enhancing the customer experience.

In 2022, we witnessed how the aftermath of COVID-19 affected both retailers and consumers. Supply chain crises dominated the delivery industry, and consumer expectations continued to evolve and put pressure on retailer’s delivery operations. The economic instability and inflation forced both retailers and consumers to focus on cost efficiency, posing a major challenge for businesses to stay profitable, while still meeting consumer demands.

Bringg’s latest report shows that in order to stay competitive in 2023, retailers will need to offer multiple flexible delivery options, which are immensely impacting consumers purchasing decisions. It highlights that an astounding 87% of survey respondents admit to issues with digital cart abandonment, with lack of clarity about delivery options prior to check out as the top reason (44%). In addition, it appears that many retailers aren’t providing competitive enough delivery choices to satisfy their customers, with 35% citing a lack of delivery options as the reason for cart abandonment.

“The retail industry evolved at an unprecedented rate in 2022, and consumers became accustomed to fast, same day delivery,” said Guy Bloch, CEO of Bringg. “Ultimately, in 2023 the delivery experience frontier is moving towards new elevated standards, where consumers expect convenience and control, demanding flexible delivery options, transparent communications and all at an affordable price. Retailers need to focus on investing in the right technologies and leveraging relevant partners, to successfully compete in an increasingly saturated market.

With 61% planning to offer self-scheduled delivery in 2023, and 56% including subscription-based delivery, it is evident that these are important services for encouraging repeat orders, while lowering the cost of delivery for consumers and retailers alike. By automating delivery scheduling and allowing customers greater control over the scheduling process, retailers will be able to offer the convenience of receiving deliveries when and where consumers wish.

Additional survey findings include:

89% are struggling with their last mile delivery operations, with the top reason being the complexity of their tech stack (37%). Accordingly, over 1 in 3 struggle to manage multiple fulfillment channels through disparate technologies.

Lack of flexibility is affecting both cost and capacity, with 49% of retailers still lacking flexibility during peak seasons, and 37% unable to scale up or down drivers as necessary, resulting in reduced profits.

32% of respondents claim that integration with third party carriers and fleets is a growing challenge; causing lack of real-time delivery options which negatively affects cart abandonment as well as customer loyalty and retention.

The report overall emphasizes the need for retailers to focus on profitability and convenience in 2023. Providing transparency into delivery options during the shopping process will require strong integrations between ecommerce point of sale, delivery management solutions, and external providers. Managing these integrations through a single platform and automating the last mile delivery process will enable better visibility for consumers and cost efficiency for retailers