Why First Mile Digitization is Important in Logistics & eCommerce?

FMD is Digitizing the details of your parcel at the first mile before and during pickup time. If Data is digitized properly at first mile we have seen a very high increase in % of successful delivery, reduced attempts of delivery, higher customer satisfaction and ultimately resulting in higher brand recall and thus purchase. 

We have understood that the First mile contributes to the lowest in total logistics cost. Since the First mile is under control of Seller he doesn’t mind doing an extra bit to dispatch the products on time. But in this process, many forget the importance of FMD which can improve their performances.

If First-mile digitization is done properly every attempt which delivery agent will do will be highly successful as all required information as in Door number, lane number, Pin codes, Phone number, Invoice value, etc. was captured at the time of pickup.

Some common errors which happen at first mile:

Consignee details Incomplete –

Due to this Delivery agent has to call Consignee to get complete information for successful delivery. This causes unnecessary delays.

Consignee details captured wrongly –

Due to Manual entries and related error many time we have found that phone number, zip code are captured wrongly. When the Delivery executive finds this he has re-attempt the delivery to some other location with delay. For e.g, A consignee has ordered a Shoe from pincode 400001 and due to manual error delivery executives were trying for delivery in 400081.

Invoice number –

After GST and E-waybill implementation, if invoices & e-waybill don’t have the proper info. This may cause in hold and delay of product delivery. This is very tricky because one manual entry of one box can lead to a delay of another 100 boxes lying in the truck. 

Sender info –

Our observations say that in case of manual entries, in more than 70% of cases pick up executives don’t write Shipper info completely. When parcel returns because of multiple reasons, Return executives need to put a lot of effort to trace the origin of product. If information is not traced on time, the parcel may be lying in a tube for more than 10 days and thus causing damages to Return shipment. This complicates the process of Return /Damage settlement. 

How history has unfolded in the last 15 yrs of Indian e-commerce 

We have seen in the last few years of dispatch management where everything used to happen manual and pickup agents used to spend min 4-5 hours per Enterprise warehouse for pickup. This used to go up to 7-8 hours in peak season sales. Due to the eCommerce boom in the last decade, many people have already automated their process or are in the process of automating their dispatches soon. eShipz dispatch management solutions help these enterprises to remain focused on their product, sales and leave these easy automation to us. When the First mile is digitized most of their dispatch management requirements are taken care of. 

With years of experience and hundreds of brands engaging in First-mile digitization, our team at eShipz would be honored to help your team start the journey to proactively managing dispatch management and reducing overall logistics cost.