2021 parcel delivery trends that will reshape the industry
The shipping industry is not unfamiliar when it comes to change. The growing importance of technology in businesses has already started reshaping many niches worldwide including the delivery of goods.
In the wake of a global pandemic which made the industry take a huge hit, the whole essence of delivery is undergoing even further transformation for the year of 2021. Many delivery companies are now looking at ways they can change the major aspects of their business to prevent any future drawbacks in the future.
In this article, we will talk about a few major parcel delivery trends that are happening this year and will likely have a major impact on the industry as a whole in the near future.
Business Intelligence as a means of improving execution
The importance of data as a whole will be key in changing the approach of many delivery companies for the foreseeable future. The ongoing global crisis highlighted a number of flaws of the current norms within the shipping industry.
Delivery execution as well as transportation costs seem to be the main areas in which different approaches will be implemented and the increased use of Business Intelligence methods highlights that.
As it stands now, many courier companies already use TMS or Transportation Management Systems to improve their deliveries, however, many experts believe that these systems will soon be updated to include additional data acquired using BI methodology.
In particular, the use of information about weather and traffic is said to be the new norm for many couriers worldwide allowing further optimization and better execution.
Cloud technology as a further means for delivery improvement
E-commerce as a whole is growing, yet again in part of the pandemic, since most consumers are spending more time at home and placing their deliveries online for various goods.
This increase in demand is prompting most couriers to use more and more cloud technology as a means to make their businesses more flexible, connected and speedy in all areas and at the same time, monitor the shipping processes every step of the way.
In this case, if something unexpected happens where the whole world is affected, businesses will be able to react more promptly and execute important decisions faster for deliveries to not stop.
Most shipping companies will expand their partner network
As the whole shipping industry was disrupted worldwide last year, an interesting trend emerged. Retail giants like DHL, UPS or FedEx had to implement strict limits for shipments and even turned down a number of parcels since everything was stopping in their tracks.
As a result, many deliveries were delayed heavily, resulting in huge losses for companies. Those, however, who had more established partner networks worldwide fared much better as they had the flexibility to change their approach.
Industry experts believe that much more courier companies will try to increase their partner networks in order to prevent anything similar happening in the future.
All in all
Today we’ve talked about a few major trends happening in the shipping industry for 2021. It’s fair to say that the global situation affected parcel delivery in many ways and it seems that technology will play a key role in what becomes the new norm for companies.
