The impact that a Last Mile Delivery Partner has on your e-commerce business

The lockdown imposed in 2020 affected customer behaviour for businesses significantly in Canada, which saw an online sales increase by 625 per cent.

In 2022, there were more than 27 million e-commerce users in Canada, accounting for 75 percent of the Canadian population.

This number is expected to grow to 77.6 percent by 2025.

Canadians are increasingly eager to embrace the world of eCommerce, are getting more responsive to new and inventive payment methods, and are becoming more comfortable keeping data and shopping online.

In 2021, medium-sized businesses reported, on average, $4.2 million in e-commerce sales, and small businesses reported $580,000.

Sales in Canada reached $79.8 billion in 2022 and are expected to grow to $104 billion by 2025. The growth of e-commerce in the country has encouraged more and more small business owners to use this platform.

Businesses need to make sure that they have a robust and functional e-commerce store in place, including a watertight shipping and delivery strategy.

In supply chain management and transportation planning, the Last-Mile Delivery Partner is a key element in customer satisfaction. Last-mile delivery is the last leg of a journey for goods that includes the efficient movement of people and products from a hub to a final destination, usually involving a personal residence, retail store, or warehouse.

A company/retailer without its own method of moving its goods that requires regular deliveries to operate would rely on this type of service.

Knowing what a last-mile delivery partner is helps businesses understand why the partnership is an essential service and identifies the elements that educate companies, choosing a good fit that meets their customers' needs.

Benefits of a last-mile delivery partner

This service is ultimately an extended team to your business. It represents you on the ground by understanding first what the customer needs. Mistakes at this point of the delivery can damage brand-building, as a consumer's focus is typically on the last step of the purchasing experience.

The Last-Mile Delivery Partner represents your brand as an experience. If the installation is sloppy, if there is damage to the product or packaging, if the delivery person is without a uniform, has no protective coverings on their footwear, or is late, determines how a customer makes reference to the retailer.

What to look for when selecting a last-mile delivery partner

Reliability and Capacity

Establish whether the partner you select has enough of a fleet to handle delivery requirements. Meeting deadlines to avoid the need for solving logistic problems that deviate from time spent by the business for brand building is an essential need for any company.

Quality Delivery

Customers have specific delivery instructions regarding location, timelines and methods for delivery. As a result, it is important for a delivery partner to respect and know the customers, which is only achieved through consistency.

Applying attention to detail is additionally crucial to any transaction. The delivery partner should always identify the weight and size requirements of a delivery to ensure that more than one person is available for the delivery to avoid injury and damage to a parcel.

Quality Reporting

A last-mile delivery partner should be able to provide timely, detailed reporting that meets the retailer's requirements.

Technology

Does the delivery partner make transactions using technology that is easy for the retailer to track? Is it user-friendly for the business owner, as well as for the customer?

Customization and Understanding your business needs

Large companies are very structured but are less able to pivot on last-minute changes to delivery details as a smaller delivery partner can.

Local presence

Having a local presence that you can not only communicate with directly but can be present at your place of business to understand spatially what requirements work well, and to expedite pick up by knowing facility accessibility, is another way to bring better value to a business through the efficiency of delivery.

There are numerous small courier companies and fresh start-ups servicing the Greater Toronto Area. Oakville-based and award-winning My Courier checks the boxes in fulfilling the requirements of such a service. Since its inception date of only three years earlier, My Courier has hired more than 100 employees and has continued to grow, made possible by their clear understanding of what business owners need and successfully providing excellent customer satisfaction as evidenced by online reviews.

New services added include: