However, what about last-mile distribution in rural areas? Despite being places with low population density and less traffic, distribution of goods has its own challenges due to the long distances and lack of facilities that urban areas often have. In this case, how does last-mile distribution in rural towns differ from urban areas?

If you want to learn about the challenges of the last mile in rural areas and how it is distributed in such environments, read on.

Partnership with local companies

Nowadays, it is already common to see logistics operators and other companies having partnerships with small businesses and other local companies to use their physical spaces as urban hubs or delivery points. In rural towns, such partnerships are more frequent and essential to optimize the rural last mile.

This is because local businesses located in agricultural areas have a better understanding of distribution areas, such as logistics social services that facilitate the delivery of products to families. Therefore, they have the potential to offer better logistical support, such as temporary storage areas or delivery points for delivery routes that are very extensive or difficult to access.

Use of specialized vehicles

Due to the uneven topography and road conditions, transport vehicles must be adapted to the usual rural road conditions. Sometimes it is even necessary to have an off-road or four-wheel drive vehicle.

However, there are a number of trucking companies and other organizations with a fleet of vehicles adapted for rough terrain. Either having your own fleet of adapted vehicles or relying on the services of another company that offers them are suitable options for adapting last-mile distribution to the rural environment.

Use of community delivery points

One of the most obvious challenges in rural last-mile distribution is its capillarity, where there are long distances between delivery points and they are often difficult to access due to unreliable infrastructure that can cause delays. To this end, as mentioned in the collaboration with local businesses, the key to facilitating deliveries is community delivery points.

Community delivery points have the advantage of centralizing deliveries from more remote destinations where home delivery is not feasible. This brings out the potential of better-connected locations in a rural setting such as stores, post offices and other community gathering spaces to become collection points.

Apply delivery tracking

In modern logistics, more and more customers have the need to know in real time the location and status of their order to ensure that the goods arrive on time at the right address. In a challenging environment for logistics in general and last mile distribution, this demand is doubled.

For this reason, the best allies to achieve real-time tracking in deliveries are GPS systems, tracking tags and other devices to ensure visibility at all times and updating it at each passing checkpoint. In addition, delivery tracking technology is vital to employ route optimization for carriers to make routes more efficient in rural areas.

Conclusion

The challenges of last mile distribution in rural areas seem to be even more challenging than the urban last mile, mainly because of the lack of adaptable infrastructure in villages compared to cities. However, there are a few challenges that have more in common than they seem, such as delivery points and others that cover totally different needs, such as vehicles adapted to irregular topography.

At Hedyla we adapt the route optimization parameters according to the sector and use cases operated by the customer, covering their specific needs and guaranteeing a quality level of service.

Meritxell Vázquez

SEO & Inbound Marketing
Video Game Design and Production graduate currently training in Digital Marketing with a focus on SEO and Inbound Marketing.

Creating articles of value and supporting communication to the technology sector.

hedyla.com

If last-mile delivery is a challenge for companies at other times of the year, at a time when shipments are skyrocketing, it will be even more evident. If you want to know how to prepare your capillary distribution for Black Friday, take a look at the following tips:

1. Prepare well in advance

Companies specializing in capillary logistics distribution have been preparing for months for the disproportionate increase in sales and possible saturation of the system. Everything that you organized 15 days or a month in advance will have to be structured twice as far in advance.

This is because the possible setbacks and errors that you may encounter in your planning will be easier to correct. Besides, you can continue adjusting the preparation as the trends of this Black Friday are known.

2. Analyze past exercises

It has already been mentioned above that the pandemic has driven e-commerce and, consequently, last-mile delivery to unexpected levels. But how has your logistics been affected during previous Black Fridays, and has your industry been impacted to a greater or lesser extent?

In order to clarify all these doubts, there is nothing better than looking at the logistics exercises of previous years. Has a noticeable or very gradual increase been detected? Are pick-up points being used more or do you prefer home delivery? With all this data, a rough estimate can be made of what will happen on Black Friday with last-mile delivery.

3. Make an estimate of delivery times based on actual capacity

Optimizing delivery routes alone is not enough to be able to deliver efficiently and on time. You must calculate the maximum delivery capacity to be able to match the amount of shipments affected by your customers due to Black Friday with the usual distribution volume.

For example, let's say your fleet of vehicles has a capacity of 10,000 shipments and you usually have an additional gap of 10% in a relatively stable season. Well, in this case, add the extra 10% and the equipment could already carry up to 11,000 packages.

4. Reinforce staff if necessary

This is a very common practice that transport companies, couriers and warehouses do to meet the peak demand for shipments. To do this, you must always have updated information on drivers, warehouse managers and other profiles at hand.

If it is feasible and you have considered temporarily expanding the staff, it is highly recommended to carry out the whole process well in advance in order to train them and be ready for the Black Friday logistics.

5. Maintain real-time communication

Finally, as is often said, communication is very important. It is even more so at critical moments in any project. Alerting and receiving warnings of mishaps encountered in transportation is crucial for customer satisfaction.

Existen computer programs that help monitor, track and talk to drivers in real time. If you have not yet incorporated one into your logistics management, now is a good time to consider and implement it.

Faced with an increasingly demanding customer, logistics must be not only fast, but also effective in resolving potential problems, and also sustainable.For this, good planning, preparation for setbacks and, above all, communication is essential to avoid being left behind and to meet an increasingly high increase in sales.

Logistics during Black Friday is of vital importance, we must take advantage of online sales and not wait for our customers to receive their orders late.

Meritxell Vázquez

SEO & Inbound Marketing
Video Game Design and Production graduate currently training in Digital Marketing with a focus on SEO and Inbound Marketing.

Creating articles of value and supporting communication to the technology sector.

hedyla.com