Despite efforts to improve the last mile of the customer experience (CX), retailers still are far from optimizing it: 66% of retail supply chain executives say that their existing systems do nothing to improve the customer delivery experience. Only 3% say they currently have systems that fully support efforts to improve the CX, according to a survey from eft and Convey.
Joseph Bobko, VP of Transportation at Boxed, told EFT and Convey that there is occasionally a ‘gap’ between a shipper’s understanding of delivery and the customer’s expectations, and that analytical expertise is often required to bridge that gap:
“This gap can be closed by third parties who can provide the objective analysis of performance,” Bobko said. “The other option is for the internal resources in the organization to strip out all of the — and I use the term loosely — carrier ’excuses,’ or the carrier reasons for failure, to get the true picture of what that customer perspective is.”
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CX Remains Priority Despite Struggles To Adapt
While current technologies are not meeting retailers’ CX needs, brands do understand the importance of the CX:
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83% of retail supply chain execs report CX is now a companywide goal and that they are feeling the pressure to improve it;
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56% report CX measurements are becoming key to making operational decisions; and
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67% said that gaining greater control of the CX was crucial to delivery.
These supply chain leaders are taking greater initiative to integrate CX into their operations, saying it is crucial or very important for retailers to:
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71%: Improve access to clear order, consumer and carrier data for in-transit shipments across consumer service, operations and logistics teams;
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70%: Improve “bidirectional communication” with consumers regarding their delivery expectations, package tracking and resolution of delivery options; and
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69%: Take dynamic and proactive action on in-transit issues, such as re-routing or expediting shipments and communicating efficiently with carriers.
Unfortunately, the desire to improve the CX often remains at odds with traditional operational metrics: 79% of respondents say reducing costs and improving margins is still crucial or very important to the company.
To compile the research, eft asked 200 supply chain executives in retail and brands eight quantitative questions about the importance of CX in final-mile delivery and how this affected supply chain performance.
