Shipping and Delivery Trends to Watch Out For

With the advent of Covid-19 and a massive surge in eCommerce shopping, we’ve seen quite a few advancements in product shipping and delivery this year. Some have emerged to make the process faster, while others are making it easier.  

And with 2021 on the horizon and eCommerce looking to be a major player in the upcoming peak season, businesses are continuing to innovate on the shipping and delivery front.   

Here are 4 shipping and delivery trends to keep an eye on over the next few months.  

Same Day + Next Day Shipping  

Retail and eCommerce businesses have been looking for ways to accelerate shipping for years. But when customers made the transition to online shopping earlier this year, it became a much more pressing issue.  

As we head into Q4, eCommerce giants like Amazon are pushing the envelope even further to provide same day and next day shipping to their customers all over the globe. And while it’s still uncertain as to how they plan to do that, there is talk of housing inventory in smaller, local locations to ensure that order delivery is faster and easier.  

Looking ahead, it appears that businesses that can effectively capitalize on this “Same Day and Next Day delivery” trend will have an edge moving into 2021. 

Last-Mile Tracking 

Customers want to know when their package is arriving for a lot of different reasons — the most obvious being their anticipation and excitement for the product inside. Knowing when orders will arrive also brings peace of mind to customers, as they can verify their package hasn’t been lost in the mail or stolen from their porch.  

Given that last-mile tracking technology enables customers to do just that, it comes as no surprise that many shipping businesses are investing more heavily in the technology. Moving forward, we can expect to see better real-time package tracking for the final mile of delivery. 

Omnichannel Fulfillment 

The popularity of online shopping is growing. But unfortunately — due to product availability, shipping time, and handling costs — not all customers have the luxury of waiting for an order to arrive at their home.  

As a result, many businesses are tapping into a variety of shipping options to get products to customers faster. In some cases, this means shipping products to stores for customers to pick up at the curb (BOPAC) or a customer service desk (BOPIS). In others — following the lead of grocery stores and restaurants — it means shipping products from a local store to customers’ front doors for shorter, cheaper order cycles.  

While this requires better omnichannel logistics and thoughtful planning, creating a variety of fulfillment options makes online shopping more enjoyable for everyone involved. And with customers looking for fast, easy, and safe ways to do their holiday shopping this year, you can expect this trend to continue.  

3rd Party Delivery Systems 

As eCommerce sales ramp up, many businesses are scaling their internal logistics to meet demand. However, other retail companies are looking to 3rd parties like Uber drivers, startups, or omnichannel providers to handle their order delivery services.  

Heading into peak season, retail and eCommerce businesses will likely see a greater surge of online shopping. And given that 3rd parties are easy to scale up and down with demand, we can expect to see contractual drivers handling a large chunk of the order delivery during the last few months of 2020.  

2020 has spurred innovation in many corners of the retail and eCommerce industry — a major one being the shipping and delivery of products. As we wrap up this year, we can expect to see more of the same as same-day shipping, last-mile tracking, third party delivery systems, and omnichannel fulfillment drive product shipping and delivery this peak season.