By Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa For those in eCommerce, the delivery stage is fast becoming one of the most important customer experience frontlines. This is because consumers expect fast and seamless deliveries. This is backed up by research from the US that finds shipping service and reliability of delivery are important for customers who shop online. Sixty-one per cent and 74% of respondents said that quality of shipping service and reliability of delivery, respectively, impacted where they shopped online. During the frenetic festive trading season, its more important than ever to meet the delivery needs of customers to encourage them to repeat purchase throughout the rest of the year. Key to getting this right is one of the most critical yet challenging aspects of logistics “ last mile delivery - the final leg of a packages journey from a distribution hub to the customers doorstep. In todays competitive ecommerce landscape, next-day and same-day delivery have become the norm as customers increasingly expect such a service. This heightened expectation puts immense pressure on eCommerce companies to optimise their last mile delivery networks. However, its not a straightforward process. Theres a number of challenges that retailers face that impact on its efficiency.

Growth in traffic congestion

Congestion in urban areas is a big issue for last mile fulfilment, with traffic volumes on the increase, particularly over the festive season, as delivery trucks and vans navigate busy streets, narrow alleys and limited parking spaces.

Delivery to remote locations

While in rural areas distance is the issue. Delivering to properties in remote locations often requires long routes to sparsely populated locations leading to increased fuel and labour costs. Often there are poor road conditions and postcodes covering a number of widely dispersed properties which can also complicate delivery. Sometimes ecommerce companies rely on third-party couriers to manage these out of town deliveries, which can create inconsistencies in service quality and reliability.