Inbound Logistics | January 2023

developed a strategy that could support Uncommon Goods’ 3,000% volume increase during the holiday surge and reduce delivery times. Previously, Uncommon Goods stored and shipped all products from a single distribution center in Brooklyn, New York. ITS opened a West Coast distribution center that accommodated same-day shipping for most of the country. ITS consolidates West Coast vendor inbound shipments, fullls orders and handles the returns process. “We needed a custom solution that efciently scaled to adjust to our drastic seasonality swings, especially for the holiday season peak,” says Robert Carucci, head of operations at Uncommon Goods. TAKING THE RIGHT ROUTE Quirch Foods, a food product distributor in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, has adopted last-mile delivery software DispatchTrack to support its growing network. Over the past two years, Quirch Foods acquired smaller brands and increased its eet by 400%, managing 21 distribution centers and 400 trucks that make more than 7,000 stops per day. Using the technology, Quirch has cut routing time by 50% with deeper visibility, creating more efcient routes faster, says Luis Porto, director of operations development at Quirch Foods. Real-time information improves communication with customers and internally. To help avoid shipping delays that disappoint customers, Fleet Enable, an end-to-end nal mile management system for carriers, has developed articial intelligence tools that optimize loading for nal-mile delivery trucks. The new technology ensures that deliveries will t on a truck, replacing manual calculations. The system takes electronic requests from shippers to generate orders, and a dispatch scheduling tool calculates truck capacity and delivery appointments to generate delivery

By partnering with third-party providers such as SEKO Logistics for heavyweight home deliveries retailers can eliminate the need to maintain a costly truck fleet.

routes that consider all the variables. The tool helps carriers reduce the risk of missed deliveries if shipments are too heavy or won’t t on a truck. Shippers can avoid missing delivery promises or using costly emergency moves to satisfy customers. REVERSING LOGISTICS The dark side of the e-commerce boom has been reverse logistics or product returns. In the United States, retailers spend more than $760 billion each year managing returns. Some e-commerce retailers have paused or stopped accepting returns to reduce costs and supply chain volumes. Removing the old items in some segments, such as appliances and bedding, is part of the delivery experience. To help retailers get a handle on returns, SEKO Logistics launched its SEKO Live consumer app to manage delivery, installation, and returns for big and bulky items. With the SEKO Live app, last- mile delivery staff and consumers can contact product technicians and exception management specialists at SEKO’s control tower and network operations centers or a retailer’s product and customer service teams. Users can

connect with resources during product installation or self-installation to get answers to questions or concerns that could lead to the customer returning the product. The app allows delivery staff and customers to report damaged or incorrect items or ask questions about assembly and use. A fast response could make the difference in whether an item gets returned. “In most cases, home deliveries of big and bulky items are completed exactly as planned, but if a customer has questions or uncertainties about their purchase, the time window to save the sale and prevent a return can be literally minutes,” says James Gagne, president and chief operating ofcer of SEKO Logistics. SEKO had used a similar app for commercial deliveries and installations, such as the installation of parcel lockers, isolation booths, and server racks in data centers. The consumer app lets the shipper congure interactions with the customer. If the shipper has a customer service team, calls can be directed to the in-house experts or even segmented by product complexity and cost. Or SEKO’s team can handle some or all of the customer service calls.

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