Creating a delivery strategy

Delivering locally

If you intend to deliver to local customers using your own staff and vehicles you will need to have an idea of what you are trying to achieve before you jump in and create your delivery schemes.

You will most likely know the area(s) you want to deliver to along with the delivery days and times. Along with that you will also need to consider the resources you have (vehicles and staff) and the service you want to offer.

"Home" delivery type

The Home type delivery scheme allows you to offer the most convenient service to the shopper, but it is also more burdensome for the retailer. It compares to the service offered by the supermarkets and for completeness of that comparison FoodCommerce will also allow shoppers to make changes to their orders. Delivery slots are displayed to the shopper in a grid and are typically just one or two hours long. The shopper therefore does not have to stay in too long waiting for their order to be delivered and for this reason you would probably insist someone is there to accept your delivery. This makes it easier to explain and agree any substitutions, or for the shopper to return something they are not happy with. You may also be able to save on packaging.

Short delivery slots and a big delivery area can mean you need to be in too many places at once. There is also a danger you could be just zig-zagging across town, which would be costly and inefficient. You can counter this by dividing your delivery area into smaller ones and delivering at different times of the day, or on another day.

"Milk round" delivery type

An alternative to the "home" type delivery scheme is milk round. Typically you would have a set delivery route and the time you delivered to a particular customer would depend on where they lived along that route. It should give the retailer efficiency savings however it may be a less attractive service to the shopper. The uncertainty of the delivery time means it is probably unrealistic to expect someone to stay in to accept delivery so you should expect in some cases to leave the order without seeing the customer. This means you will need to pack the orders in insulated boxes with ice so the contents remain fresh all day, which will add to your costs. You may be able to make this service more attractive to shoppers by passing on some of your delivery savings. By collecting and reusing packaging you can save on your packaging costs and it may help promote loyalty.

Consider your delivery times

Delivering in the evenings, for example, may help attract new business, improve your service and enable a slicker order fulfilment process. The rationale for that statement is that you now include shoppers who have a day job in your potential customers and that by delivering later in the day you can prepare the orders on the same day, including getting items from other local retailers you have teamed up with. It also means that online shoppers can place an order one evening for delivery the following evening, and increasingly that is the level of service they expect. If you do this you should consider using a home type delivery scheme with tight one hour delivery slots.

The shoppers that want delivery in the day time should not be forgotten and they may be more relaxed about accepting a lesser service. If so you could use a milk round in the daytime and maybe use a one day preparation lead time so you can prepare the orders the previous day and start deliveries really early.

National delivery

Typically this will mean delivering using a next-day courier service. The courier type delivery scheme has a dispatch lead time setting that you set to 1 so FoodCommerce tells you to dispatch it the day before the customer expects it to be delivered.

Using a courier puts less restrictions on your delivery days so typically you would add slots for delivery on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The one day dispatch lead time will tell you to dispatch Tuesdays orders on Monday, Wednesdays on Tuesday, and so on. If you will prepare the orders the same day as you dispatch then set the preparation lead time to zero. If you need any more time add it to the preparation lead time.

Perishable goods going back to the depot because no one is there to sign for the delivery is bad news so you should take as many steps as possible to prevent that happening. Instruct the courier to leave in a safe place if no one is there and ask the shopper to leave alternative delivery instructions in comments when they checkout their order, like "leave in back porch". FoodCommerce will automatically send an SMS text message to the shopper reminding them you are delivering today if you want it to. Another tactic is to put big bright stickers on your boxes telling the courier not to return your box to their depot.

Collections

As well as your own shop you could create collection points elsewhere, for example: the farmers market you visit, the Post Office in the next village or a public house. You should also consider setting FoodCommerce to send a reminder SMS text message on collection day.

Same day deliveries

There are no delivery slots associated with the simple type delivery scheme as it was originally created to facilitate same day, or immediate, express delivery service. FoodCommerce can be set to send you an SMS text message when an order is received to help prevent any delays in your service.

Delivery charges and discounts

Delivery charges are generally disliked by online shoppers but are necessary to some extent for the retailer. A strategy to hide or reduce the delivery charge can therefore encourage shoppers to place an order and here are a couple of ways you could do that:

If possible include the delivery charge in your product costs. If you also have a physical shop selling the same goods you should not do this as shoppers will expect you to charge the same price in your shop as online. To prevent low value orders being placed set a "minimum order value".
An alternative is to have no minimum order value, a reasonable delivery charge (anything over £10 is unreasonable) and then discount the delivery charge on higher value orders. For example you could give 50% off the delivery charge on orders over £40 and 100% off orders over £75.

Another thing you can do is vary your delivery charge so that it is more expensive on popular days and less so on other days. This tactic is designed to smooth out your work load so you are not over stretched on some days and twiddling your thumbs on others.

Keeping within your capacity

The number of slots within a delivery slot is designed to limit the number of orders you accept to your ability to fulfil them. At Christmas time online shopping is extremely popular and this limit you have set yourself will be tested at this time.

In summary

Delivery schemes and associated settings are designed to give you the options you need in offering your customers a service they truly want. Your online shopping service can genuinely compare to and compete with the online grocery shopping service of the major supermarkets. Beyond that there are opportunities to team up with other local businesses and with a little lateral thinking offer a truly unique local online shopping service.