Diversify your delivery service providers to help grow your business

By Melanie Monteverde, Senior Manager, Marketing, Walmart GoLocal

July 5, 2023  |  3 Min. Read  |  Insights

Based on 2023 projections, 20.8% of retail purchases are expected to take place online this year and e-commerce sales are slated to grow 10.3% as well. This means that online shoppers are placing more items in their shopping cart. Experts predict the U.S. e-commerce market will reach over $1.1 trillion in sales by the end of the year, showing it’s more important than ever for retailers to find cost-efficient, reliable ways to fulfill customer orders. But is your business ready to capitalize on this e-commerce growth?

Imagine that your physical and virtual shelves are stocked and ready for your customers. You’re selling through your inventory and fulfilling a high volume of customer orders with delivery. Then, you start encountering issues with your current delivery service provider (DSP). You’re noticing a higher number of uncompleted orders, seeing higher surcharges or additional fees, and new daily volume limits. Consequently, you’re paying more money to ship orders, scrambling to find alternatives, and the goods are arriving later than promised to the customer. The surcharges decrease your profit, and you struggle to fulfill orders and meet customer expectations. Could this have been avoided?

Short answer, yes—retailers can protect themselves by taking a strategic approach to delivery.

Benefits of diversifying your delivery service providers

By working with multiple DSPs, businesses can be better positioned to serve their customers and grow their business while avoiding potential challenges like delivery or shipping restrictions and surcharges. With peak season fast approaching, you can protect your business from any service disruptions with strategic DSP diversification. The adage, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” certainly applies here.

Retailers who diversify their DSPs benefit from:

• Efficient Delivery: It’s important to partner with a DSP who can help you meet customer expectations. When volume restrictions are placed by one delivery solution provider, retailers can turn to their other DSPs to manage extra volume, helping provide on-time delivery for customers.
  
  
• Expanded Coverage: Partnering with multiple DSPs can help retailers maximize delivery coverage and reach customers where they are. Backed by the scale of the world’s largest retailer, the Walmart GoLocal delivery service platform has strong coverage in suburban and rural areas.
  
  
• Protection from Disruptions: Some operational and service disruptions are inevitable, so it’s crucial to have reliable DSPs you can turn to. Whether it is a pandemic, weather delays in one part of the country, package limits during peak season, or random shipping surcharges, it’s important for your business to have a flexible and reliable DSP, no matter the circumstances.
  
  
• Improved Customer Satisfaction: All of these benefits work together to help you improve customer satisfaction levels by offering more flexible, reliable and efficient delivery using a strategy with multiple delivery service providers.
  
  

Walmart GoLocal has worked with many clients to strategically diversify their delivery and shipping carrier portfolio, leading to higher on-time delivery rates, lower cost per delivery, and higher customer satisfaction because of on-time deliveries. Schedule a consultation today. We can help you determine if a delivery diversification strategy is appropriate based on your shipping profiles or suggest a custom solution.