Forty-one percent of companies admit they struggle to manage multiple carriers, especially in the final mile of delivery.
Trying to juggle delivery providers manually or across platforms can be tough.
The best way to get a 360-view of your delivery providers is to collate them in one place. With a carrier-agnostic platform, you can view, manage, and analyze all your delivery options in one unified place.
The result?
For buyers, this means a streamlined customer experience with various delivery options to suit their preferences. This means higher profits and fewer costs for brands as you pick the most efficient delivery provider for each job.
Let’s dive into why carrier-agnostic platforms benefit your business and how they can raise your bottom line.
What does “carrier agnostic” mean?
“Carrier agnostic” systems and platforms seamlessly integrate various delivery service providers. This allows customers to customize delivery based on their needs while optimizing shipping operations.
Think about parcel lockers. They're like neutral post offices.
Any carrier can drop off a parcel for customers and companies using all different delivery services. In logistics, a "carrier agnostic" system isn’t hitched to any single delivery service provider. Instead, it mixes couriers so packages get where they need to go via the best possible route.
This gives both the company and customer control over shipping.
Since your business isn’t tied to one carrier, you can cherry-pick the service that best aligns with each customer’s needs.
If a customer needs a run-of-the-mill delivery at any time, it goes with Courier A. If that same customer needs a big, bulky fridge delivered the same day, it does with Courier B.
This optimizes shipping costs and delivery routes and keeps customers happy.
(But how is this different from traditional logistics?
Conventional shipping methods are carrier-specific. The company picks one service provider and only offers the options that a courier can offer.
Carrier-specific shipping is far less flexible and resilient.
Since customers can only pick delivery slots from one provider, you lack the customizable options to meet customer expectations.
You’re also at risk since you’re reliant on the performance of one service provider.
Carrier-agnostic delivery systems help customize deliveries based on geography and customer preferences.
This allows you to scale your business solutions across a wider area. It also spreads the risk, so you’re not relying on one delivery option.
What’s a carrier-agnostic platform?
Carrier-agnostic platforms are powerful tools that allow businesses to offer the best shipping options to suit a customer’s needs at that moment.
With access to various delivery providers, carrier-agnostic platforms optimize and automate delivery selection to pick the best provider for the job in real time.
These platforms act like a master key for your shipping solutions. It unlocks the ability to pick from all different delivery methods and providers.
This way, your business can make informed carrier choices that benefit the company and the customer.
Not only that, but these platforms also feature provider-agnostic tools that give you and the customer real-time visibility into where packages are.
Plus, a vendor-agnostic platform gives your organization actionable insights into how you can improve shipping operations and keep delivery costs low.
But how does this compare to traditional, single-carrier systems?
It’s an all-access pass versus a one-ride ticket.
Your business can deliver anywhere, switching providers up based on what's most efficient, costs less, or reaches the customer best.
And it’s adaptable. Customers can choose what suits them, and you can add more options as markets grow and change.
Let’s dive into how Delivery Solutions does this.
The platform connects the dots between carrier networks for completely seamless delivery experiences. With Delivery Solutions, businesses wave goodbye to the risks and limitations of a single carrier.
Automated routing picks the top provider for the job, so you always appoint the best carrier for each delivery. Customers have the power and flexibility to schedule, track, and rearrange deliveries, no matter the carrier.
And for businesses? It fits straight in with your existing ERP and CRM systems.
What are the benefits of a carrier-agnostic platform?
Carrier-agnostic platforms offer key benefits that give you a competitive advantage in a fast-paced shipping landscape.
Driving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, agnostic connectivity transforms your supply chain network.
Here’s how.
1. Speeds up deliveries
When customers can choose their delivery speed, you meet customer demands better.
With a carrier-agnostic platform that combines delivery providers, customers can pick the provider who can offer the fastest delivery based on their location and package.
For instance, your platform might switch between FedEx for city deliveries and a local courier for rural areas.
While a national courier has many delivery motorbikes to handle inner-city parcels, it only has a few vehicles to handle rural terrain. This means the customer has to wait up to three days for delivery.
Instead, a local courier has suitable vehicles to offer same-day delivery out in the sticks.
2. Cut back on shipping costs
You’ll experience serious cost savings with flexible courier options.
Agnostic platforms automatically select the most cost-effective carrier for the job.
For example, while FedEx might offer a better rate for local deliveries, UPS could be more cost-effective for cross-country shipping.
With both companies on hand, your platform can pick the lowest-cost provider for the job.
3. Optimize for efficiency
Choosing the most efficient carrier for each task speeds up delivery time, reduces fuel costs, and reduces environmental impact.
(So, your platform might select a bike courier over a van for small downtown deliveries. The bike can whip through traffic, so it’s faster. Plus, it lowers emissions and fuel costs.
4. Reduce dependency for resilience
Imagine you only use one shipping provider. That carrier goes on strike or has a major service interruption.
You can’t deliver to anyone.
With diverse carriers on hand, you’re less dependent and more resilient. Reliable connectivity to various providers keeps deliveries flowing.
For example, if one carrier faces unexpected delays, another can intervene. There’s no noticeable pause in service, maintaining customer relationships.
5. Enhance customer experience
More diverse delivery options result in a better shopping experience.
Customers appreciate flexibility. They want to choose a delivery method that suits their schedule and preferences.
The more flexibility a company offers, the smoother the end-to-end shopping process.
6. Improve scalability
Carrier agnosticism prevents your company from becoming boxed in by a single carrier’s capacity.
As your company grows, you may want to offer extra delivery options across a wider geographical reach. If your courier doesn't offer these services, you can’t scale.
Picture a small business that starts with local delivery options.
As demand grows, the business adds international shipping services from a second provider. Now, they can grow their customer base worldwide.
7. Simplify logistics management
Imagine managing a range of carriers on a streamlined, unified platform.
An omnichannel digital platform removes the complexity by managing carriers and deliveries automatically in one place.
No more flicking between different delivery systems and communication platforms.
(Take the Delivery Solutions OMX dashboard, for example. It provides complete visibility to select, track, and manage all carriers in one centralized hub.
How to increase ROI with a carrier-agnostic platform
A carrier-agnostic platform can enhance ROI by optimizing delivery operations and boosting customer satisfaction.
Here’s how to leverage your agnostic platform to supercharge your bottom line.
1. Automate carrier selection
Automated carrier selection uses AI to choose the best carrier for the job.
Platforms like Delivery Solutions factor in parcel type, efficiency, customer schedule, and shipping cost.
This way, delivery options meet customer demand, and you reduce manual errors and inefficiencies.
Let’s say a customer needs perishable ingredients delivered on the same day.
The system picks a specialized carrier with refrigerated vehicles to handle same-day delivery.
The customer gets their package on time and in the right condition, lowering the chances of a refund.
2. Leverage cost-effective carriers
A carrier-agnostic platform can pick between providers to find the most cost-effective delivery options for each job.
(Consider that deliveries can cost between $1.40 - $12.00 per package. Dynamic carrier choice can significantly cut back on your shipping overheads.
And low shipping costs are important.
Companies with high shipping fees often hand these expenses off to the customer.
The problem is that the number one reason people abandon their shopping carts is because extra costs, like shipping, are too high.
Carrier agnosticism means your company can save on shipping costs, so you avoid passing these extra costs on to customers.
3. Enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty
Diverse delivery options make customers happy.
When customers can pick delivery methods and times based on their preferences and schedules, it’s a much smoother customer experience.
Carrier-agnostic platforms give customers one place to choose various customizable delivery options.
(Imagine same-day, next-day, and standard shipping. Lockers, curbside pickup, direct-to-door delivery. All are available in one place.
This drives customer loyalty.
Companies that use omnichannel strategies like this retain 89% of their customers.
In comparison, single-fulfillment companies only retain 33%.
4. Reduce missed deliveries
Agnostic platforms offer real-time tracking and flexible scheduling across all providers.
This reduces the chances of missed deliveries as customers can watch out for delays and rearrange if necessary.
Think of it this way…
Fifty-eight percent of bulky deliveries get rescheduled.
Picture a customer who’s taken a morning off work to receive a washing machine.
The driver is delayed, but they cannot update the customer. Since the customer must return to work, they simply miss the late delivery.
This costs you money in rescheduling the driver and storing the item for future delivery.
Now, imagine they can update the customer, but there’s no way to reschedule.
The customer can inform their (now unhappy) boss that they’ll be late for work. But the delivery interruption leaves the customer feeling dissatisfied.
If the customer can jump onto your platform and rearrange delivery, they’re happy, and you don’t suffer a missed delivery.
5. Expand market reach
Diverse carrier options open up new markets.
With more options for delivery providers, you can deliver to different regions, states, and countries.
This way, you can offer your products to more customers in different locations.
For instance, if you wanted to access overseas markets, you’d add an air carrier to your list of providers. This bridges the gap between your products and international customers.
6. Streamline logistics operations
Centralized carrier management streamlines logistics.
It lessens your administrative burdens and operational costs.
No more calling around delivery drivers and scrolling through email threads. No more jumping between platforms to handle delivery options.
A system like Delivery Solutions allows you to manage all carriers and automate workflows in one place.
Not only do you save on labor and admin expenses, but you also simplify the whole system, so there are fewer mistakes.
7. Better data-driven insights
Platforms like Delivery Solutions can evaluate carrier performance to help you make informed choices over your providers.
(This visibility allows for more accurate comparisons of delivery times and costs. This improves planning and resource allocation and ensures you use profitable, efficient providers.
For example, your business might discover that certain carriers underperform specific regions after analyzing carrier data.
In this instance, you can rearrange resources to use a different provider for these areas.
Conclusion
Carrier-agnostic platforms allow you to manage multiple carriers on one unified platform.
This way, you can automatically pick the most efficient and cost-effective delivery provider to meet each customer’s preferences.
The result? An excellent customer experience with reduced admin and delivery costs.
Want to learn more about how Delivery Solutions’ carrier-agnostic platform can improve your ROI? Check out our live demo now.