Industry: Retail
Company size: large

Enhancing Retail Logistics Efficiency by Investing in Purpose-Built Delivery Software

In 2020, a prominent European retailer — one of the largest in the world — faced unprecedented challenges driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. With over 10,100 stores globally — including 37 hypermarkets, 262 supermarkets, 50 proximity stores, and an online ecommerce platform in Romania — the company needed to urgently adapt to the surge in online sales to maximize revenue and keep customers happy.

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The Challenge:

As the retailer began pivoting to accommodate growing ecommerce sales, the company was facing multiple challenges. Some of these challenges were known previously and others were discovered along the way in their discovery process with Postis, makers of a platform designed to help retailers optimize last-mile delivery. These challenges included:

Mobility restrictions.

Since customers were staying home to fight the pandemic, demand for online shopping increased as folks couldn’t visit physical stores to buy nonessential products.

Logistics complexity.

As online sales started to scale, the retailer lacked the infrastructure needed to efficiently handle larger order volumes, many of which contained a broader variety of products. The company also struggled to deliver orders across a larger geographic territory.

In-house development constraints.

To solve these challenges, the company had been planning to build an in-house carrier integration and management module. Unfortunately, these plans were hindered by financial commitments, technical challenges, and time constraints.

The Solution:

As the company began looking for a technological solution to their challenges, they decided that the right platform would enable them to:

Eliminate single carrier dependency

to reduce API downtime, increase fulfillment efficiency, ensure on-time deliveries, and improve customer satisfaction.

Build carrier redundancy and
delivery option diversity

to enhance scalability, flexibility, and the customer experience by offering a seamless order management experience across systems.

Unify order management

to align KPIs, accelerate reporting, and enable data-driven analysis and business decisions.

After researching their options and doing their due diligence, the company ultimately decided that Postis was the best option for their situation.

As the retailer began rolling out the solution, the implementation stage was split into three stages:

Middleware integration:

Postis acted as the middleware that orchestrated data across internal systems (e.g., CRM, OMS, and WMS) and carrier systems. The company was able to instantly activate existing solutions in the Postis Carrier Catalog and rapidly integrate with new, local, specialized solutions.

Decentralized fulfillment.

With Postis, the retailer was able to utilise 39 hypermarkets as regional fulfillment centers, allowing orders to be split up across as many as three locations. At the same time, they were able to introduce new delivery options — including express, next-day, scheduled, at home, in-store, locker, ultra-fresh, and oversized.

Real-time visibility
and traceability.

Postis gave the company real-time visibility and traceability into fulfillment teams, call centers, customers, and carriers. The platform also provided status change notifications which enabled them to proactively manage issues and keep customers informed every step of the way.

Results:

The decision to trust Postis to optimize the last mile proved to be a wise one. As a result of their investment in Postis, the company was able to maximize online sales during the pandemic thanks to these five key benefits:

1. Improved carrier redundancy.

By working with several different operators, the company was able to eliminate downtime, resulting in a 36% increase in fulfillment efficiency. At the same time, by empowering customers to choose the best pick-up option, they were also able to reduce delivery refusal rates by 25%.

2. Increased operational flexibility.

Thanks to Postis, operations teams gained flexibility with the option to choose between automated, batch, or manual AWB generation for all couriers.

3. Enhanced customer satisfaction.

By implementing full track-and-trace capabilities in customer accounts and sending notifications via email and SMS, the company improved customer satisfaction by meeting and exceeding their expectations.

4. Streamlined operations.

With Postis powering logistical operations, the retailer gained real-time visibility and control in call centers, which enabled proactive troubleshooting. Plus, with a user-friendly platform that centralizes all important carrier information in one place, new hires can get up to speed quickly.

5. Improved reporting
and settlement efficiency.

Using real-time reporting and carrier settlement facilitated by dashboards, out-of-the-box templates, and customized in-depth analysis, the retailer can continuously fine-tune its operations and bake an increasing amount of efficiency into the foundation of all that they do.

Add it all up, and by leveraging Postis’ delivery software application, the retailer successfully reduced logistics complexity, improved operational efficiency, and enhanced customer satisfaction across its extensive retail network — all without disclosing sensitive client information. As a result, they’re well-positioned to take an even bigger slice of the ecommerce pie as we head further into the future.

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