Shipping Market Facing Challenges Due To Retail Competition
Consumers nowadays chose their retailers based on how fast their orders can be delivered. This is one of the main reasons why people turn to online shopping and this is also the same reason that retailers like Target and Walmart are able to get consumers on their side. The challenge now is passed on to the shipping industry including FTL dedicated truckload freight in order to meet the demands.
Amazon.com, one of the leading brands in e-commerce in the United States, is dominating the market with their free shipping offer to customers. The deal is for their consumers to get their order one day later while for a fee they will be able to receive their orders within the same day. Of course, these are all offers under customers subscribed to their premium membership.
In order to meet the demands of the consumers, retailers have been passing on the pressure to the suppliers as well as the trucking companies. Their task is to make sure that customers receive their parcel within the strict delivery windows promised.
At the beginning of 2019, Walmart decided to put stricter guidelines when it comes to their on-time and in-full scheme. The company set the bar higher when it comes to on-time shipping and delivery and it highlighted the importance of shipping items in-full. This term refers to a trailer that is full of the items that are ready for delivery. What used to be considered as an immeasurable quantity on its own is now categorized as a measurable unit.
The demand is that suppliers together with the respective trucking companies must deliver with regards to the expected performance. This can be quite challenging because there are instances when the suppliers have a shortage of inventory.
The in-full demand by Walmart is met by making sure that the trailer has 95 per cent of stocks under general merchandise while food and beverage category should be at least 97.5 per cent. With the help of FTL dedicated truckload freight, e-commerce companies are able to deliver the highest customer satisfaction in order to have an edge in the competitive industry.
