Your customers want their orders faster, often within just hours of placing the order. But labor issues and other obstacles work against your company as it strives to meet these demands. Sound familiar?
From homebuilders that can’t meet construction timelines, to restaurants that don’t have enough staff to cover busy shifts, to warehouse operators working to fill labor gaps with more automation, the U.S. workforce shortage is taking a toll on productivity, performance and profitability.
The labor shortage has been especially pronounced in the logistics, supply chain and transportation world. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the transportation and warehousing sector’s unemployment rate is 3.6%, just under the national average of 3.7%. But employee turnover in warehousing and logistics may be as high as 46%, compared to the average turnover rate of 12 to 15% across all industries.
With labor issues plaguing the supply chain, many are exploring more efficient ways to leverage smaller workforces.
Four ways to beat the fulfillment labor crunch
Fulfillment plays a crucial role in keeping your customers delighted and coming back for more. Roadie offers a number of solutions you can use to streamline and improve your fulfillment process, including:
Roadie Direct™ warehouse delivery
Lower costs and accelerate delivery speed by using Roadie’s solutions to sort, stage, route and deliver orders direct from your existing warehouses instead of outsourcing to third-party logistics (3PL) providers.
This all-in-one solution eliminates the “middle mile” and includes Roadie’s proprietary route-building algorithm and in-house sortation with the Roadie SmartSort™ app. Companies that use Roadie Direct™ can reduce fulfillment times by up to six hours per day, avoid 5 p.m. cutoff times and lower their cart abandonment rates.
Roadie SmartSort™ app
Save time, money and hassle by having the order presorting done at your pickup location using the Roadie SmartSort™ sortation app. The presort process requires very little warehouse floor space and can be handled by just one to two employees. That way, you can deliver faster with minimal additional cost.
Your staff can sort orders into groups or bins based on where those shipments are being routed, which cuts down time spent figuring out which deliveries go where. When drivers pick up the orders, your employees know that “Bin 1” or “Group A” includes all orders for that driver’s specific batch. This eliminates delays, speeds up the order fulfillment process and keeps your customers happy.
Roadie’s real-time tracking
Using real-time tracking, the Roadie system provides status updates for every order within the broader batch – for you and your customer. You can view delivery progress, get real-time updates on last-mile logistics issues and know when each order has been delivered.
Companies that use Roadie’s system can count on shorter delivery times, fewer handoffs for orders and fewer costly delays. You also get a photographic chain of custody, which provides visual confirmation of order arrival. This kind of transparency isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s becoming table stakes as more and more of your customers shop online.
Roadie’s proprietary batching and routing algorithm
By combining multiple deliveries into a single, streamlined delivery batch, you’ll spend less time coordinating pickups and more time growing your business. For companies fulfilling five or more daily deliveries, batching saves an average of 25% on delivery costs. And because you’ll be grouping multiple deliveries with a single driver, you can spend less time coordinating deliveries and more time engaging your customers.
Give them what they want
As competition in the retail sector continues to heat up, providing a great customer experience is essential. Logistics and transportation play a key role in making that happen every time. With these four solutions, Roadie helps you offer the fast, efficient and transparent delivery process that your customers demand and expect.
