3 technologies to help retailers overcome lockdown delivery overloads
As the nation enters national lockdown number three, retailers have once again been thrown into the no-man’s land of increased delivery demand, and not all are coping.
While the delivery delays of March 2020 have, luckily, become a thing of the past, many companies are still scrambling to keep up, with some not managing at all and struggle with lockdown delivery overloads.
Sadly, while big businesses like Tesco and Aldi have easily been able to bridge the delivery-demand gap, smaller companies continue to struggle. Even within bigger businesses, overworked staff and long wait times mean that attention should be taken to remove the strain somehow. And, as is often the case, technology holds the answers. Specifically, these three solutions could see delivery demand calming down after lockdown delivery overloads.
#1 – Portable card readers
Portable card readers have long been on the rise, but have now become fundamental. Hardly surprising given that, aside from delivery itself, curbside pick up is the next best option. Safe, easy, and above-all, contact-free curbside solutions can certainly remove an astounding amount of delivery strain.
By investing in options like the NFC card reader offered by Payanywhere, retailers can ensure customers stay in their cars and even keep their windows wound up while making payment. This immediate option is more appealing than delivery in many ways, meaning that integration could soon become a saviour for your overworked couriers.
#2 – Live chat
Again, live chat is hardly a new concept, with machine learning-led chatbots having been a business staple for years. Now, though, the ability to talk with customers has become more important than ever. After all, communicating with and making arrangements to suit buyers may well mean cutting out the middle man (or woman) of your delivery service. Rather, real-time chats will allow you to arrange pick-ups to suit you both, as well as making sure that safety is forever at the forefront of the process.
#3 – Self-scan
With non-essential retailers closed by law, self-scan solutions aren’t going to suit everyone. For essential retailers, however, self-scan technologies are fantastic alternatives to delivery. After all, consumers are far more likely to shop rather than order if they know they can do so without contact.
Of course, the last thing you want is to encourage shoppers to your store and then create a choke point with self-scan checkouts. Rather, many retailers are finding that the adoption of scan & go machines means you can keep traffic flowing freely at all times. Supermarkets have long utilised this tech with great success, but even smaller companies could benefit from taking this route. That way, you may find that delivery starts to calm down all on its own.
There’s no denying that deliveries are guaranteed to spike as we settle into this latest lockdown, and we’re luckily better equipped now than we were this time last year. That said, reducing the load where you can means better conditions for your drivers, and generally less pressure to send orders to every corner of the globe.
