How retailers can achieve same-day delivery

Key Insights from Attabotics and Accenture

Shoppers’ expectations of receiving products quickly have evolved over the past 10 years due to ecommerce. And not only do they want products quickly, they don’t want to pay high shipping costs. Micro-fulfillment strategies are key to reducing costs and meeting consumer expectations.

Attabotics conducted a study with high-level marketing and business executives and found that 80 percent see same-day delivery as an opportunity to generate more revenue and help lower supply chain costs. NRF recently hosted a webinar with Steve Osburn, managing director for Accenture, and Julien Seret, vice president of network supply chains for Attabotics, to discuss how retailers can implement micro-fulfillment strategies to meet these demands.

Location, location, location

The first step to achieving same-day delivery is opening facilities in metro areas. These centers need to be multi-tenant, meaning a shared infrastructure with other retailers for cost efficiency, and should be within a 20-mile radius of a high-density city. That location is critical to ensure that products can be delivered on the same day. Both Seret and Osburn mentioned running A/B tests and conducting market research to decide where distribution centers should be located.

Optimize storage and costs

Using a van delivery model will help retailers process larger shipments of orders within a shorter time frame. Retailers should start in high-density micro-fulfillment centers where they can aggregate hundreds of orders in one van and deliver within a 90-mile radius. Seret said this method can help make same-day delivery affordable for retailers.

Accenture and Attabotics developed a multi-echelon fulfillment model with two levels of storage — one macro-level and one micro-level distribution center. The macro center receives single pallets and replenishes the micro center. The micro center processes multi-SKUs, prepares direct-to-consumer orders and stocks stores. This operation combines the entire distribution and delivery process.

Get the word out

Once a retail brand gets the processes in place, they should over-communicate that they are offering same-day delivery. The promotion should be shared across different channels to showcase that consumer expectations are being met.