Improve Last-Mile Logistics for an Unforgettable Customer Experience

Fast, timely fulfillment has become a critical battleground in e-commerce, and the last mile often causes the most significant problems. Twenty-four percent of e-commerce retailers reported that more than 1 in 10 orders fail to deliver on the first attempt, yet the financial impacts of failed delivery can't be ignored. On average, failed deliveries cost retailers $197,730 per year. 

While it's clear that failed deliveries impact revenue, they also damage brand reputation, customer satisfaction and retention. Considering that nearly 40% of consumers want online orders to arrive in two days, retailers are under tremendous pressure to get last-mile delivery right. While there are many variables in play, accurate address data is critical. 

Complexity for shoppers often begins at the address entry stage. Whether it's a lapse in concentration, a finger slip on a mobile device, or a missed field, it's not uncommon for customers to accidentally provide incomplete or inaccurate data. However, 33% of retailers either don't verify address data or leave it to the courier. With incorrect or incomplete addresses, 41% of deliveries are delayed and 39% simply fail.

The Benefits of Accurate Customer Data Go Beyond the Last Mile

Accurate address data is essential for improving last-mile logistics. In addition to on-time delivery, it provides: 

Data Consistency: Fifty-five percent of retailers admit to facing challenges around the consistency of address formatting in their databases. Capturing accurate address information at the point of entry improves data quality and reduces the need to clean the data once it's in the database. 

Lowers Costs: Research has shown that the average cost of a failed delivery is $16.58. When delivery fails, re-delivery, customer service interaction, the adverse effect on brand reputation and the loss of future sales add up. Ensuring the customer's address is correct will help prevent unnecessary delivery delays or undelivered orders. 

Seamless Consumer Experience: With an auto-complete solution for addresses, shoppers enter as little as three keystrokes and in as fast as 150 milliseconds, are provided with suggestions to auto-complete the address. Auto-complete alleviates the friction caused by asking shoppers to manually enter details at every step and eliminates errors that can lead to inaccurate address capture and cause deliveries to fail. 

Research shows that more than half of consumers would increase their level of online shopping if they felt more confident about deliveries, while 57% would be reluctant to use a retailer again if fulfillment fails. These powerful truths highlight the importance of getting the last mile right. Not only does accurate address information play a vital role in last-mile logistics, but it also reduces friction for a better shopping experience and opens the door to customer data analysis that can supercharge acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and retention.  

— Matthew Furneaux, Director of Location Intelligence, Loqate