Covid-19 and the subsequent coronavirus lockdown resulted in quick changes and sharp increases for online ordering of food. Due to how quickly this happened there were a lot of home delivery fleets who weren’t ready for this influx in demand, resulting in nearly almost all online grocery retailers running out of delivery slots and refusing new customers.
With a lot of customers unwilling or unable to leave their homes, coupled with physical stores struggling with large queues and empty shelves, online grocery shopping sales grew by 92%, year-on-year, in the months up to July 2020.
This surge for home delivery has been felt across the entire industry, not just one or two retailers. Sainsbury’s saw its e-commerce grocery sales leap by 87% in the 16 weeks leading up to 27 June, and 130% in June alone, with online now representing 17% of all grocery sales – up 10% on pre-lockdown figures.
Changing the ways of delivery management
Since the beginning of lockdown, online retailers have had to change how they manage delivery operations to cope with the significant uptake in demand. Due to this uptake, supermarket weres originally struggling to provide delivery slots for all enquiring customers. Forced to rapidly adapt and shift to these new demands, brands within the retail sector utilised technology and smart data to keep their delivery chain moving as well as they possibly can.
One of the turning points for retailers during the coronavirus lockdown was the roll-out of ‘slot-steering’, this is the practice of encouraging local clusters of customers towards similar time slots. This means that transport and fleet managers can plot the most economic routes for drivers, resulting in less drive time and more deliveries.
Trakm8 customer Iceland has used this technology to significant effect. Thanks to their utilisation of Trakm8 Insight Optimisation platform, they were able to increase delivery driver productivity by 30% and save 10% on fuel.
What’s next for supermarkets and delivery driver software
As the number of shoppers attempting to book delivery slots online has fallen slightly, it still remains significantly higher than pre lockdown levels and with a potential second lockdown on the way, we expect these numbers to increase again.
Online supermarket retailers will now be looking at futureproofing their fleet to ensure they are ready for any influx in demand. Fleet managers may be considering various fleet optimisation options such as:
- Size and mix of fleet
- Partial electrification of fleets
- Fleet telematics solutions
- Fleet management solutions
All of the above options can improve the overall performance of a fleet whilst also increasing customer satisfaction.
Here at Trakm8, we offer telematics solutions and delivery software to fleets in various sizes with differing requirements. Our features include:
- Electronic proof of delivery
- Driver apps
- Real-time driver tracking
- Route optimisation
Contact us today to find out how our software could help you by completing the from below, alternatively use the online savings calculator.
