If you’ve tried to order anything online recently you’ve probably seen items sold out or even unknown shipping dates. Not much of an online shopper? Chances are that even your favorite brick and mortar stores have had some sparse shelves. As 2022 begins it’s clear to see there is a national, dare we say global, supply chain problem. How you approach and manage this issue may make or break your next year.
Supply Chain Problems
The lasting effects of Covid-19 are still being felt in almost every business dealing with products or merchandise. Most basically, a shortage of materials has drastically impacted the supply chain. This shortage is compounded by a change in imports and trade, rising gas prices, and labor shortages. The degrading logistics efficiency is now impacting all of us. Bungii partners with major furniture and flooring retailers coast-to-coast, all of whom have noted that the continued lack of retail labor has put their stores in a bind. Furniture stores everywhere are currently waiting months to restock their pieces.
To make a bad problem worse, the global pandemic has exponentially accelerated e-commerce while consumer’s expectations continue to increase. DIY projects have blossomed, home offices have taken shape and pet paraphernalia has become a commodity. Even though it’s becoming increasingly difficult for stores to obtain products, customers continue to expect faster delivery.
Additionally, port blockages are a major bottleneck in movement along the supply chain. Around half a million cargo ships are docked and sitting idle off the Californian coast; they are unable to unload due to overcrowding of carriers and shortage of truck drivers needed to move the cargo once it is unloaded. Combine these drayage issues and maritime congestion with at-capacity warehouses of the West Coat and… well, you can do that math. Once the products finally arrive to the warehouses poor domestic inventory management lead to, you guessed it, even more delays!. Enter Bungii- stage left. Businesses can and should manage their supply problems using a third-party virtual fleet to more effectively move inventory.
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Why you Need a Virtual Fleet
Some of the issues outlined above are fixable while others are out of the control of most business owners. Though you can’t control cargo ships or material shortages you can control the last mile. Most major retailers are turning to virtual fleets to increase speed while reducing costs.
Using a virtual fleet can help negate transportation issues from port blockages by maximizing the product that you do have while waiting on future shipment. Currently, a major mattress retail chain in the Greater Atlanta area schedules mattress deliveries from their warehouse to any of their 13 local stores as well as homes anywhere in the Atlanta area using Bungii. They used to use an LTL delivery provider but Bungii has increased their average delivery speed by over 4x!
Another option to optimize inventory is to follow a major trend among big-box retailers: become your own showroom and warehouse. Keep your inventory hyperlocal instead of using the traditional hub and spoke warehousing model. This allows inventory to be readily available and reduces the number of less-than-truckload deliveries required. Furthermore, several of our partners leverage our service to sell floor models directly to their customers. Call upon your virtual fleet to more efficiently (both in time and cost) move your inventory between warehouses, between stores, or even from the cargo docks.
Cut down on customer wait time and more quickly move your orders. Per a 2020 study from Multichannel Merchant, 89% of consumers now define “fast delivery” as same day or next day. Without offering this option customers may rethink their purchase. A major furniture chain in Minneapolis was struggling with late and unpredictable shipments of furniture to their warehouse. To combat this they’ve enabled delivery with an almost immediate turnaround time; they are able to deliver from warehouse to doorstep the very same day the product arrives. But, how? Once the product arrives at the warehouse, they call the customer and notify Bungii to schedule a same-day drop off. Using a virtual fleet drastically helps improve customer satisfaction during a frustrating time in retail and ecommerce.
5 Steps to Take Now to Strengthen Your Supply Chain in 2022
- Plan for more supply chain disruptions. If we’ve learned anything over the last couple years, it’s that we should plan for problems. With legislation changing and mandates rolling out, one should anticipate further disruption in labor, materials, and overall supply.
- Prepare for how you will react to continued disruption.Take some time to process what these changes will look like for your company. Will you increase your number of employees or will you have to cut back? Can you improve your inventory systems? Should you increase capacity with a third-party delivery company?
- Create a plan to offset these issues: using a service like Bungii to move product around can help ease some pain. Maybe you need something different! Chat with your team and create a plan that works for your company and your business model.
- Leverage your delivery flexibility to gain customer market share and loyalty. Mobility is key! If they want it, you have it or you’ll figure out a way to have it.
- Utilize your virtual fleet to support all aspects of your supply chain problem as much as possible.
Start preparing now for 2022! Connect with our Business Team to learn about Bungii’s full commercial capabilities and formulate a strategy to protect your supply chain for 2022. Do you have a need that wasn’t mentioned above? We can provide a custom solution for you.
How to Make it Your Own: Custom Delivery with Bungii
Bungii’s platform is custom built to meet your unique delivery needs.
Top brands, including major national retailers, trust Bungii to deliver an industry-leading experience across multiple industries. Custom delivery options give your business a major advantage when it comes to giving your customers a positive experience, but we know there is no one-size-fits-all last mile delivery strategy out there. That’s why Bungii is the ideal delivery partner if using or interested in using a virtual fleet model. We are a big and bulky, last mile service with a commitment to delighting our partners and their customers by offering a custom delivery plan for each one of our partners.
We build a custom experience by taking time to understand your business, creating features around your delivery needs on our tech-enabled platform, and bringing it all together with a virtual fleet of delivery professionals.
Learn how Bungii can bring an excellent delivery experience to your customers and supercharge your logistics strategy. Get your free delivery analysis by filling out this one minute form:
