Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

Survey: retailers have failed to improve last-mile delivery for customers

Supply chain professionals say challenges in data sharing stymie collaboration, according to Convey and eft.

Challenges in sharing data have blocked retail supply chain professionals from improving shoppers' customer experience (CX) through better last-mile delivery practices, a survey reveals.

The finding came despite companies' increased understanding and measurement of supply chain's impact on CX, according to the survey commissioned by logistics technology firm Convey Inc. and conducted by conference organizer eyefortransport (eft).


Despite that rising awareness of the importance of supply chain practices to end customers, little progress has been made towards implementing tools or processes to improve outcomes in the last two years, the survey found. "There's a lot of room for improvement in the last mile, and it's a really important aspect of the customer experience. It goes back to the basics," Poonam Goyal, sector head/senior retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, who provided commentary for the report, said in a release.

The report, titled "The Perfect Order: Overcoming Roadblocks in Last Mile Experience," surveyed more than 230 retail supply chain professionals in order to revisit questions first tackled in a 2017 survey.

According to the survey results, 96 percent of respondents consider CX important when measuring last mile supply chain performance, up from 83 percent in 2017. However, technologies are still not addressing CX needs—only 5 percent of companies said their current systems "fully support efforts to improve the customer experience," barely up from 3 percent two years ago.

In fact, 61 percent reported that their existing systems do nothing to improve CX, down only 5 percent decrease since 2017. That led 89 percent of survey respondents to say they are not confident they can balance customer experience demands with rising transportation costs.

One of the biggest roadblocks to improved customer experiences is siloed data, the survey found. Two-thirds of companies (66 percent) said that connecting disparate data quickly is among their top three challenges and 18 percent admitted they had zero visibility into distressed shipments. Put another way, 60 percent of customer service and logistics teams don't share delivery feedback or data about distressed packages with each other.

"While the industry is getting more sophisticated, [delivery] CX-focused technology solutions are still highly disaggregated," Matt Bergerson, director of omnichannel experience and operations at outdoor clothing retailer REI, said in a release. "Whether it's order management, customer data, freight pay and cost analysis data, or order tracking, there is no one stop shop for solutions and data sets supporting last mile."

The Latest

Disaster Response

15 candles

photo of different colored umbrellas
Training/Professional Development/Labor Issues

Do you know a Rainmaker?

More Stories

chart of warehouse vacancy rates

Colliers: warehouse construction rates return to pre-pandemic levels

It’s getting a little easier to find warehouse space in the U.S., as the frantic construction pace of recent years declined to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2024, in line with rising vacancies, according to a report from real estate firm Colliers.

Those trends played out as the gap between new building supply and tenants’ demand narrowed during 2024, the firm said in its “U.S. Industrial Market Outlook Report / Q4 2024.” By the numbers, developers delivered 400 million square feet for the year, 34% below the record 607 million square feet completed in 2023. And net absorption, a key measure of demand, declined by 27%, to 168 million square feet.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

screen shot of woman planning freight routes

Survey: both shippers and carriers see need for standard KPIs

Both shippers and carriers feel growing urgency for the logistics industry to agree on a common standard for key performance indicators (KPIs), as the sector’s benchmarks have continued to evolve since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research from freight brokerage RXO.

The feeling is nearly universal, with 87% of shippers and 90% of carriers agreeing that there should be set KPI industry standards, up from 78% and 74% respectively in 2022, according to results from “The Logistics Professional’s Guide to KPIs,” an RXO research study conducted in collaboration with third-party research firm Qualtrics.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of warehouse worker scanning barcodes

Capel steps down as CEO of Manhattan Associates after 25 years

Supply chain technology firm Manhattan Associates, which is known for its “tier one” warehouse, transportation, and labor management software products, says that CEO Eddie Capel will retire tomorrow after 25 total years at the California company, including 12 as its top executive.

Capel originally joined Manhattan in 2000, and, after serving in various operations and technology roles, became its chief operating officer (COO) in 2011 and its president and CEO in 2013.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of conveyors and bins

SG Holdings acquires high-tech logistics specialist Morrison Express

The Japanese logistics company SG Holdings today announced its acquisition of Morrison Express, a Taipei, Taiwan-based global freight forwarding and logistics service provider specializing in semiconductor and high-tech logistics.

The deal will “significantly” expand SG’s Asian market presence and strengthen its position in specialized logistics services, the Kyoto-based company said.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of EV market share

J.D. Power: EV growth to stagnate in 2025 due to federal policies

The growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is likely to stagnate in 2025 due to headwinds created by uncertainty about the future of federal EV incentives, possible tariffs on both EV and gasoline-powered vehicles, relaxed federal emissions and mileage standards, and ongoing challenges with the public charging network, according to a report from J.D. Power.

Specifically, J.D. Power projects that total EV retail share will hold steady in 2025 at 9.1% of the market, or 1.2 million vehicles sold. Longer term, the new forecast calls for the EV market to reach 26% retail share by 2030, which is approximately half of the market share the Biden administration targeted in its climate agenda.

Keep ReadingShow less