AUGUST 05, 2022
Faster delivery can increase sales for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. These brands have a high concentration of consumers in the top 15+ cities, where our same-day delivery (SDD) service would be a differentiator. In our earlier blogs, we established the concept of SDD, its need, and its benefits. In this blog, we focus on how Delhivery’s SDD service works.
End consumers would like a same-day-delivery option while placing an order on your website. Typically, it is displayed as “Order by 10 am and get it by 8 pm”. It is possible for you to show this delivery option with three things:
Before getting into the mechanics of SDD, let’s understand how the regular express parcel service works for the same city delivery.
Once a shipment is manifested, the shipment is picked up at a scheduled time. The shipment is then taken to the closest sorting hub – typically on the city’s outskirts. Then the shipment is sorted along with other shipments, bagged, and ferried to the relevant last-mile delivery center. At the last-mile center, the shipment is assigned to a field executive who delivers the shipment.
In the best case, same city delivery is possible on the second day (Day 2) – that means if a shipment is picked up on Day 1, it is delivered on Day 2. By design, until a shipment reaches a sorting center, it cannot be routed to the appropriate last-mile delivery center. A typical hub and spoke model works on scheduled connections between different facilities.
For an SDD promise, you’ll need to use an alternate model and bypass this regular flow. There are two options here:
In cities where we have enabled SDD, we have set up a network of in-city warehouses or micro fulfillment centers (MFCs). In each city, the number of in-city warehouses ranges from one to four. SKU-level inventory with limited days of cover (DoS) is stored at these locations and visible on the brand’s website – via integrations with our systems. The serviceability of different pin codes for SDD and the corresponding order cut-off information is also relayed on a real-time basis. The end consumer is able to see the order cut-off details and select the SDD option. The slower – next-day delivery option – can also be displayed.
Once an SDD order is placed, it is routed to the nearest in-city warehouse where the pick-pack operation is completed. Post that, all the shipments are sorted and bagged for the relevant last-mile delivery center. The bags are dispatched via a milk run model to all the last-mile delivery centers. These bags then enter the regular last-mile delivery flow with a clear priority for that same day’s evening delivery run. The milk run and last-mile delivery runs are dynamically planned based on the daily load patterns using our proprietary route planning tools.
We have designed our network based on the last order cut-off at 3 pm. Beyond this, delivery will be attempted the next day. Over a period of time, as we get more scale/volume, this cut-off could be extended. The consumer would receive the order by 9 pm on the same day.
We also offer a “pickup from the store” model for SDD. This is relevant for D2C brands that are already pursuing an omnichannel fulfillment model and have inventory in their own retail stores. In this model, we will pick up shipments from your stores and bring them to the closest in-city warehouse. Then we sort and bag these shipments, along with in-city warehouse shipments, for the relevant last-mile delivery centers. In this model, the order cut-off is limited to noon (12 pm).
Delhivery provides guaranteed same-day delivery with shipping prices as low as Rs 50, with an extended cut-off time. This service will improve your consumer retention scores and reduce your RTO. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help with enabling SDD for your business.
