News flash.
Online shopping is growing so fast that the global online shopping market size nearly hit 4 trillion in 2020. In the US alone, online buying is expected to see 300 million online shoppers by 2023, with eCommerce retail purchases rising from 14.1% to 22%.
While most people can imagine the boom in eCommerce relating to small item purchases like electronics, groceries and clothing, the truth is, people are also making big-box purchases like never before.
Mattresses, furniture, and appliances frequent the online shopping carts of users worldwide, and demand isn’t going to be changing anytime soon.
With the coming onslaught of big-box orders, it’s time for delivery service providers and 3PLs to consider how they’ll master the art of “ two-man delivery.”
What Is Two-Man Delivery?
“Two-man” or two-person delivery is just as it sounds. It’s a logistics term named for a delivery system that relies on two people to deliver a product instead of only one!
What it represents to the companies that use it, though, is a bit more nuanced than that.
Two-man delivery also represents a shift from drop-and-go delivery towards the highly customer-centric and service-oriented approach of white glove delivery. It is a service level upgrade from one-person delivery, offering some common sense benefits worth considering for your company.
· It eliminates the need to ask the customer for help when unloading or placing bulky items inside their homes.
· For bulky items, an additional pair of hands reduces the probability of damage to the item or the customer’s property.
· When instituted, provides a step toward providing white-glove service, (link to white glove article) a two-man delivery approach that offers the industry’s highest service level.
Mastering Two-Man Delivery
Whether handling deliveries in-house or outsourcing them to a 3PL, understanding how to maximize the potential of two-man delivery and mitigate the risks inherent with it is paramount to your success.
Adding headcount to your delivery team increases your overhead and puts profitability at risk. Companies that move to two-man units must learn how to maximize efficiencies and leverage the team for the highest ROI possible to maximize the investment.
Train Your Delivery Team
Training your delivery personnel on how to unpack, handle and place the heavy items is essential for mastering the process. You may want to take a page from DHL-UK’s book using extra space in your warehouse to create simulations to train your delivery personnel to work together picking-up, moving, and placing awkward items as efficiently as possible.
Avoiding time-consuming discussions on-site, damaging the delivery item or worse, the customer’s home is vital to running successful two-man delivery operations.
A few timely pointers and some practice can be the difference between a chipped piece of furniture, scratched wall, negative review and delays in the delivery schedule.
Use The Right Last-Mile Delivery Management Solution
Leverage the newest technology for the upper hand.
Today’s best last-mile delivery software solutions can help you maximize the ROI of your two-man team.
Features such as route optimization can make routing and re-routing a breeze taking the guesswork out of finding the best routes possible for dispatchers and drivers alike.
Every second counts when on the road and in customer’s homes, and when added up, can equate to more deliveries per day, increasing the ROI for your two-man team.
Add other customer-centric features with the software, like live parcel tracking, SMS reviews, and white-label branding, and you are ready to take your last-mile delivery service to the next level.
Leverage The Strength Of Two-Man Delivery
Two-man delivery can help you “wow” your customers and leave a lasting impression that drives word of mouth testimonies and repeat purchases.
Go beyond your customer’s expectations having delivery personnel help customers clear the in-home delivery route and rearrange furniture before and after the placement. There is so much more in store for your customers when you offer “two-man” delivery for your last-mile service.
Bottom Line
With 88% of furniture retailers gearing up for an increase in eCommerce sales in the next five years, making the transition to two-man delivery today is more critical than ever before.
Maximize your returns and minimize inefficiencies! Excellent training and best-in-class last-mile delivery software can help optimize routes, impress your customers and turn your “two-man” delivery team into customer service experts that get people talking.
Meet CIGO
CIGO is a best-in-class, cloud-based platform to increase deliveries, service calls and pick-ups for your business, scales as you need it, and provides a state-of-the-art, “last mile” delivery experience that will thrill your customers.
CIGO simplifies complex delivery and route planning, empowers more effective client-facing and team-based communication and helps retain drivers while significantly reducing operating expenses.
Driven by innovation, an unwavering commitment to customer service, honesty and trust, CIGO delivers the best, most flexible delivery tracking software in the industry.
