The world of retail is having a difficult time measuring impact, looking at solutions, and managing their supply and demand. It’s been a very interesting yet impactful period with departments making extreme hours to cover the business’s shifts.

At Packaly, we are seeing a massive increase in on-demand shipments, coming from both small retail stores and huge brick and mortar players. This increase has everything to do with the ‘stay at home’ mentality consumers are adopting with the COVID-19 virus spreading around the continent. Every country has its way of dealing with these impactful changes and takes measures to avoid a total catastrophe.

Together with our retail partners, we’ve been measuring and inspecting the current development of the retail environment and came to a drastic conclusion:

People are relying on your products, so logistics is more important than ever before.

Our on-demand shipment platform has been giving answers to logistical problems for retailers. In these uncertain times, we still deliver to their customer's front door with safety measures for everybody’s health. To keep a good grasp on what you as a retailer can do to keep innovating, we made a small how-to on 5 steps to start shipping on-demand, fast.

1. Notify when you have to pack a delivery

When you deliver parcels on-demand, it’s essential to know when you have a delivery that has to be prepared for departure. On average, our delivery couriers need only 10 minutes to arrive at your store. The importance of knowing when to pack and present your parcels is very underestimated. One of the most critical elements of on-demand delivery is the preparation period before the courier comes to pick up the parcel. Therefore, it’s important to notify your staff about any new parcels that need to be prepared. Here are some tips on how to notify your staff:

• Install a light that starts flashing when there is an open delivery ready to be dispatched. This requires some custom work.

• Create a push notification in your system on the smartphone of the responsible process manager.

• Setup an email to be triggered every time there is a new parcel for your store.

2. Create a place to pack and store the parcels before collection

The moment your store gets the notification that there is a parcel that has to be prepared, it’s all about efficiency.

Having a good packing and storage environment to give out the correct items to the correct courier is very important. This makes your process fast, reliable, and convenient for our couriers, your staff, and everyone involved in fulfilling our promise of on-demand delivery.

You probably have little space to work with or didn’t even consider a location to pack your parcels at all. The efficiency of using both your cash counter as a packing table and space where in-store customers check out is not the best solution, but what if you have no other choice?

Here are a couple of tips:

• Create a dedicated corner for packing parcels in your store.

• Make sure that couriers know where to wait for a parcel.

• Store all packing materials together, so it’s not everywhere.

3. Verify with the rider what parcel they are picking up

The parcels that you are shipping are all identified with a specific order number or shipping ID. Couriers tend to be in a hurry, as they want to do as many parcels as possible within the same hour. Giving them the correct parcel is crucial to the process of delivery within 60 minutes.

Make sure that you always use the correct tracking ID or order number, so couriers know what to take where.

Print the correct label if needed, or when working with Packaly, make sure that you look at the correct name or order number on the parcel. Packaly does not work with labels but just with scans of order numbers and parcel IDs.

Make the correct decision in your process by identifying your parcels and telling the courier what they have to look at when delivering the parcel.

4. Give the correct instructions to the courier before handing over the parcel

Couriers have the intention to deliver your parcel as fast and reliable as possible. Giving the correct instructions for delivery are part of a smooth but also straightforward service level. Our couriers always try to operate based on the client’s wishes.

For instance, in times of the coronavirus, all our couriers do not hand over the parcel but put it on the ground, ring the doorbell, preferably with their elbow, and step 2 meters back.

Our couriers are instructed to follow all notes and tips that our partner stores give to the parcels. We value quality together with our stores more than ever, looking at the best solutions to communicate with our partners and your customers.

5. How to handle aftersales when you just did an on-demand delivery

After-sales are important, especially when the process of ordering and delivering is within an hour. Customers tend to have their opinion about services ready after they received their products, so it’s best to dive into their opinion as soon as possible.

Therefore, we recommend our clients use a service like Trustpilot to send an automated email within a couple of hours after the delivery has been done.

Some of the most convenient tools for this are review systems that can give your customers the ability to immediately tell what they think of the delivery service and the experience.

Some tools you can consider:

• Trustpilot

• Google Reviews

• Kiyoh

• Yotpo

Find out how we can help you give your customers a better experience! Start your CO2-neutral on-demand delivery with Packaly right away!