T he pressure to move shipments more rapidly continues to accelerate. For most companies of any size, technology is essential to meeting customers’ “I want it now” expectations. Over the past few years, nearly everyone has become used to clicking a “place order” button and seeing the items they purchased arrive within a day or two—if not hours. And when consumers learn the items they want won’t arrive as quickly as they’d like, they don’t hesitate to act: 40% use comparison shopping sites to check for availability and 29% shift to a new retail site to access the product they want, according to a survey by consulting firm PwC ( see chart ). It’s not only consumers who expect rapid delivery. Many business professionals, accustomed to quickly receiving the items they purchase at home, expect similar speediness while on the job. In an ideal world, shippers could meet customers’ demands for rapid delivery without incurring extra costs to expedite shipments. While the world isn’t ideal, however, technology can help shippers meet tightening delivery time frames. Among other capabilities, these solutions boost visibility, efficiently match shippers and carriers, optimize routes and loads, enable data-sharing, and digitize documents. New delivery devices, like electric carts, also cut time from deliveries. When customers want it NOW, technology makes it click by delivering increased visibility, optimized loads and routes, data-sharing, and digitized documents. By Karen Kroll TECHNOLOGY MAKES IT HAPPEN
November 2022 • Inbound Logistics 31
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