Last-mile Shipping: Challenges and Solutions

Ecommerce giants like Amazon have normalised 2-day shipping, next-day delivery as well as same-day delivery. To stay competitive, ecommerce sellers have to try and match these shipping speeds, and to ensure this efficiency in last-mile shipping becomes important.

Last-mile shipping is the process of delivering an order from an ecommerce warehouse or a fulfilment centre to a customer’s location. It is the last leg of order fulfilment and thus is important for ecommerce sellers.

Efficiency in last-mile shipping can help you delight customers as orders can be delivered at lightning-fast speeds. Moreover, a shorter delivery time can help reduce shopping cart abandonment and boost conversion rates.

What are the challenges of last-mile shipping?

The biggest challenge ecommerce sellers face is high shipping costs. To deliver an order on time, you can quickly pack orders and mark them ‘ready-to-ship’ and hand them over to shipping couriers. However, fast shipping can mean high costs.

The second challenge is to build a robust shipping network, i.e., partnering with courier companies. If you only partner with one courier company, you may be unable to deliver shipments across the country. On the other hand, partnering with several courier companies can be cumbersome.

The third challenge of last-mile shipping is the lack of visibility into shipments. Once an order is handed over to a courier partner, you lose real-time visibility into the order and cannot guarantee quick delivery to your customers.

Another challenge is shipping exceptions such as damaged shipments, delayed orders, and failed delivery attempts. Shipping exceptions become a hassle for ecommerce sellers and can tarnish their brand’s reputation.





How to overcome the challenges of last-mile shipping?

Ecommerce sellers can optimse last-mile shipping challenges to deliver orders faster and at a lower cost. Here are some ways to overcome the challenges of last-mile shipping:

1. You can ensure proper order management to pick, pack and mark orders as ‘ready-to-ship quickly.’
2. Ecommerce sellers can split inventory across multiple ecommerce warehouses to store inventory closer to customers and deliver orders faster and cheaper.
3. You can build a strong shipping network by partnering with multiple courier partners with a good track record.
4. Ecommerce sellers can also look for courier partners which optimise delivery routes.
5. The courier companies you partner with should also provide you with order tracking details so you can ensure timely order delivery.
6. Ecommerce sellers can also prepare themselves to handle shipping exceptions. For example: if an order is delayed, you can notify your customers about the same and ask the courier partner about it.

Optimise last-mile shipping with Eshopbox

A tech-enabled logistics provider like Eshopbox can streamline order management and last-mile shipping, saving you time to focus on core business needs. Here is an overview of how Eshopbox helps:

• Distribute inventory across Eshopbox’s multiple fulfilment centres strategically placed across the country to deliver orders at a lightning-fast speed.
• Leverage Eshopbox’s strong shipping network to deliver orders in 29,000+ pincodes.
• Intelligent order routing by Eshopbox allocates orders to the fulfilment centre nearest to the customer’s location.
• Ensure fast and cost-efficient deliveries through Eshopbox’s intelligent order routing.
• Eshopbox empowers you with real-time order tracking and notifies you of any shipping exceptions so that you can take quick action.

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