Festivals play a significant role in driving the revenue for the eCommerce industry in India. According to a survey by LocalSurvey, more than 51% of shoppers are moving towards eCommerce websites for festival shopping. Although India is a land of festivals, the span of Rakhi to New Year is the time when the Indian eCommerce market witnesses a massive hike in site visits and sales. The surge in demand and sales brings multiple challenges for the shipping and logistics companies, as they have to manage resources to ensure the gifts and festivities are delivered on time to the end customers. Moreover, the backlashes that arise when customers’ expectations do not meet the products or services are also one of the major concerns that every shipping company has to deal with during festivals in India.
Rakhi is one of the prominent festivals for Indians and witnesses a massive rise in eCommerce purchases. From online rakhi delivery to video rakhi celebration with the ones who are miles away from each other, the festival holds a special place in Indian hearts.
Sisters tying the strings on brothers’ wrists and receiving gifts in return, a perfect ambiance of love and care between siblings. To ensure this bond remains unbroken, the shipping companies are required to overcome several challenges throughout their shipping journey from businesses to end consumers. . Let’s look at some of these challenges and understand how to overcome them.
Shipping Challenges that can Hamper Rakhi Celebration
The shipping and logistics industry gets hyper-busy during the time of Raksha Bandhan as they have to ensure the festivities. While delivering the ordered products to the shoppers, the industry has to overcome the below-mentioned challenges:
Cost Management
The shopping for rakhi starts from mid-July till the date of Raksha Bandhan. However, during this span, the number of orders increases exponentially, and the logistics companies have to put in additional resources, including vehicles, human resources, packaging materials, and fuel, to deliver the products timely. Cost management is one of the biggest challenges a logistics company must overcome to ensure a profitable business. All the resources required for quality fulfillment add to the final shipping cost. On the other hand, the additional cost of the fuel and packaging materials adds to the price of the products, which might compel the buyers to purchase from a particular online vendor.
Entangled Business Process
A transportation business aims to deliver the products to the end customers on time. However, before dispatching, the product has to undergo several complex processes such as clustering, sorting, packaging, labeling, and manifestation. As a result, there are changes that the dispatches get delayed, which further delays the final delivery of the product. Additionally, there are instances where the products get misplaced during these processes resulting in loss to the business and a halt to the rakhi celebration at the customer’s end.
Overburdened Customer Service
During the rakhi festival, the eCommerce market becomes extensively dynamic, and logistics become longer and more complex. The customers, on the other hand, are now more information seeking. They need to know where their orders are and when they can expect the delivery. However, at the time of festivals, the logistics companies’ customer service department is overburdened with customer service requests. The department cannot cater to all the requests and provide accurate information to the customers. As a result, the shoppers get irate and tend to cancel their orders, resulting in losses to the eCommerce and logistics business.
Driver Shortage
The drivers are the lifeline of a logistics and shipping business. Because of these drivers, eCommerce businesses can deliver the products to the end customers. However, during Rakhi festivals and increased orders, the drivers are occupied with the deliveries and orders. The logistics companies face a massive driver shortage challenge, resulting in delayed deliveries to the end customers.
Stringent Government Regulations
Keeping in mind the commotion caused during the rakhi festival, the government implements several logistics policies which are mandatory to comply with. Failing to abide by these policies leads to severe penalties for the logistics companies. Sometimes, the driver of the vehicles fails to adhere to the government regulations resulting in delayed deliveries of the gifts and rakhis to the destination.
Overcoming the Shipping Challenges for Impeccable Rakhi Celebration?
The eCommerce sales skyrockets during the rakhi or any other festivals in India. To overcome the above challenges, online businesses need to take specific steps. Let’s look at some of these preventive measures that can help them deliver their products on time while subduing the hurdles of shipping and logistics:
Aligning with the Best Logistics Companies
One of the best ways for eCommerce businesses to distribute the orders to the end customers is to align with the best logistics companies in the market. However, defining the criteria for “the best” delivery partners can be subjective for each seller. To cater to the growing demands of the customers, online business owners must analyze the services provided by the logistics companies. They must identify the best logistics services for their businesses, such as timely delivery, optimum cost of transportation, quality packaging, and secure transportation.
Opting for Tech-based Business Process
Technological advancements have a remarkable impact on almost every sector of the business environment. To have transparent and real-time visibility of order status, eCommerce companies must opt for logistics that deliver tech-based business processes such as real-time order tracking, automated packaging, and tech-enabled order manifestation processes.
Adherence to Government Policies
To improve the TAT and Reduce RTOs during the rakhi celebration, the eCommerce businesses must select a delivery partner who adheres to all the government logistics policies. As a result, this improves the order’s timely deliveries while reducing the eCommerce companies’ loss coefficient.
How Pickrr Helps eCommerce Businesses to Overcome the Shipping Challenges?
Pickrr is a SaaS-based logistics and shipping solution provider that helps eCommerce businesses to ensure on-time deliveries and an enhanced shopping experience for the end customers. The company is associated with multiple leading and several local delivery partners across the country. As a result, eCommerce sellers can improve their TAT, while retaining their customers for a longer duration.
Additionally, Pickrr offers a unified rate card to the eCommerce sellers, reducing the load of courier partner selection from the seller’s shoulders based on shipping cost. All a seller has to do is to place the order on Pickrr Dashboard. Moreover, with Pickrr Advantage -Pickrr’s value-added service, the online store owners do not have to worry about selecting the delivery partners for order fulfillment. The advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence used in Pickrr Advantage select the best-fit courier partners for the eCommerce sellers depending on the preference of fastest delivery, cheapest shipments, and mode of transportation. If you wish to know more about Pickrr Advantage, connect with us.
