The Race for the Last Mile, the Rise of Third Party Logistics

SME’s in ecommerce rely on logistic companies for customer friendly and innovative solutions that can narrow the gap with retail godzillas. But if you aren’t Amazon, what your options?

Delivery of prized satchels and goods from distribution centre to store or consumer’s door is one of the most cost-intensive parts of the supply chain. The explosion in omnichannel retail has increased both the demand for last mile resources.

Reliable storage and distributions partners, businesses stumble with. Running your business from the garage, yes keeps the cost down but you need to muscle up. This is where a fulfillment warehouse works. A third party logistics provider removes any hassles associated with storage and delivery of goods. Not worrying about stocking, picking, packing and sending those order, OMG feels amazing, so much spare time. With this extra time now wouldn’t it be better to reach out to customers now?

Graduating from storage, the emergence of crowdsourcing and specialised last-mile fulfilment service providers looks to be the next evolution from standard procedure. Now is the time for Uber-style last-mile freight services to blast off, Deliv, MeeMeep, UberRush. These crowdsourcing solutions providing a good marriage for the supply chain scenario in the last mile. As innovative retailers seek alternatives to the parcel delivery services or in-house distribution fleet ownership.

Today’s consumer wants flexibility in how their orders are received. Last mile innovation will not be limited to the types of carriers shippers use.

Customers demand full end-to-end control of the delivery process. Whether it’s allowing them, to change destinations in real time, or solutions such as centrally placed lockers into which deliveries can be made for later collection by consumers and click and collect services continue to expand in collecting their booty from local facilities. This shifting paradigm requires logistics providers and e-commerce platforms to be integrated along the whole value chain, with a real time interface (Shopify, Bigcommerce, Neto).

With viable logistic options at your fingertips, use the time saved to focus on improving your core competencies, discovering new product lines and increasing your business revenue.

Put in that “extra mile” with your newfound crowdsourcing and specialised fulfilment service providers.