Even in pandemic, last-mile deliveries all around the globe are seeing persistent numbers. As a matter-of-fact online delivery has seen nothing but an exponential growth ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. However good this may be for the industry, it also means that in order to achieve last-mile delivery targets and to stand up to customer expectations, more and more e-commerce delivery service providers are relying on last-mile delivery methods that on the surface might look like conventional but at the end of the day, are very harmful to the environment. There are a number of ways through which delivery partners in India and all around the globe can deliver efficiently while earning a profit and minimizing their carbon footprint. A few of them are listed below.
Route Optimization
Optimizing delivery routes is one of the best and easiest ways to Minimize the carbon footprint of your last-mile deliveries. Deliveries are usually just going from one point in the city to another and having a route optimization system means that one can save a lot of fuel while making deliveries. With a system like this, the person making the delivery can always minimize the delivery distance while simultaneously saving a lot of time.
Not only does route optimization reduces fuel consumption, covered distance, and the time taken during a last-mile delivery but with an effective system like this, the people making the deliveries will always be able to steer clear of any upcoming setbacks that might make the last-mile delivery inefficient. Setbacks like congested roads, bad weather conditions, construction closures, and lockdown restrictions. Avoiding these obstacles can help especially if the delivery is being made in a highly congested area meaning that a system like this should be very effective for delivery partners in Delhi and delivery partners in areas that are highly dense.
Going Hyperlocal
Hyperlocal is the new trend that everyone seems to be on the lookout for these days and why wouldn’t they? Going Hyperlocal promotes business in your city while at the same time maintaining a fuel-efficient and time-efficient delivery. For those unfamiliar with hyperlocal deliveries, a hyperlocal on-demand delivery model is a model in which the product is acquired locally from a store in the city and then delivered to the customer.
This kind of delivery model has a lot of benefits and one of these benefits include a minimized carbon footprint. By taking the product from a local vendor and then delivering it in the same city, saves a lot of miles while at the same time providing a lot of jobs to the local people of that area. Combine this delivery system with electric scooter delivery and you’ll land on a completely green last-mile delivery solution that is efficient even for areas that are highly polluted and have very congested roads.
Electric last-mile delivery
Making deliveries with electric vehicles is potentially the best thing a company can do to minimize the carbon footprint of its last-mile deliveries. Having a flexible electric fleet of vehicles that can travel through the thick and thin of a city will instantly put a last mile delivery company ahead of its competitors. Surveys suggest that whenever a customer is given a choice between a green delivery system and a conventional delivery system.
The majority of customers end up choosing the green system over the latter. This might seem obvious and it is obvious that people would choose a sustainable model over the conventional one. However, implementing such a thing can be quite difficult for a last-mile delivery company that is already making deliveries with fuel-based vehicles. The companies can’t simply start using electric vehicles when all their vehicles are fuel-based. It will take a long while for most of the last-mile delivery companies to transition towards electric vehicles but in the meantime, we can do our best to support existing electric last-mile delivery companies especially in highly polluted urban areas.
Something we can take away from the big picture of last-mile deliveries is that electric last-mile delivery solutions are here and they are here to stay.
