In a recently published interview in FreightWaves, David Faulkenberry, an expert in final mile delivery with over 35 years of industry experience, discusses the changing face and future of the final mile market.
The emergence of e-commerce as a major market player has had wide-ranging effects on the ways in which end-users experience the supply chain, in addition to expanding the scope of final mile delivery itself. “Increasingly, anything and everything is finding its way into the final mile, depending on how shippers, brokers, carriers and customers choose to define it. It’s becoming harder to say that any transportation segment should be excluded from final mile considerations,” says Faulkenberry.
One of the most important consequences of the lighting-paced growth of e-commerce, particularly in the realm of heavy goods, is the increased need for quality, reliable white glove service. While the experience of purchasing furniture from a traditional retailer such as a brick-and-mortar store is unlikely to become totally obsolete in the near future, many consumers are opting to purchase online, directly from electronic retailers or manufacturers. The challenges of delivering heavy goods to these consumers, especially in the case of upholstered goods that could be subject to damage in transportation, or of furniture that requires assembly and placement in the end-user’s home, necessitate a white glove approach.
According to Faulkenberry, “white glove services include inside pickup or delivery on a prescheduled appointment attended by a shipper or consignee, at a home or business with any combination of services like: packing or unpacking; disassembly or installation; debris removal; like-kind exchange; haul-away of used products; and merchandise returns.” With a white glove experience, customers can take comfort in the knowledge that a team of experts is working to ensure that their purchases make it to their home in a condition that typical threshold or curbside deliveries could simply not guarantee.
Deliveright is uniquely equipped to handle these challenges by offering the world’s most advanced white glove network supported by patented proprietary technology, our Grasshopperpat platform, which offers complete visibility and accountability at every level of the supply chain.
But don’t take our word for it. “I’d say the best data to show how well a provider is doing would be customer satisfaction and survey data. Understanding which carriers are satisfying which customers for which goods and services would be a great place to start and set the stage for a deeper dive into data related to demand, capacity, costs and utilization. The best methods and models will be making customers happy,” says Faulkenberry. Deliveright’s average Google rating is 4.5 stars – the best in the white glove delivery world. We continually review how we’re performing, and assess what we can do to improve.
With a final mile network that already covers 90% of the population of the United States and growing, Deliveright’s innovative approach to logistics and dedication to excellent customer service means that as the e-commerce market continues to grow and change, we’ll be leading the way.
