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Tag: delivery

  • Everything You Need to know about Hyperlocal Business Model

    Smartphones have become the game-changer for the on-demand delivery business models. Buying groceries to ordering food, purchasing medicine to renting furniture, the rise of on-demand apps have made our life easier than before. Consumers now prefer to get all their basic need services at their doorstep so that they can save that amount of time and can get relaxed till their order get delivered.

    These on-demand apps have given acceleration to one such business that is known as hyperlocal business. The hyperlocal delivery business model is a perfect example of how technological advancements can unite with the age-old favourite shopping methods.

    What is Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model?
    Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model
    Benefits of Hyperlocal Delivery Business Models
    Supply chain models of a hyperlocal business
    How to build a Hyperlocal Delivery Network?
    Role of a hyperlocal delivery model in Covid-19
    FAQ’s

    What is Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model?

    The term ‘Hyperlocal’ refers to ‘a small geographical area’. Hyperlocal delivery model is when delivery of products is done within a particular geographical area. The pick up location from where the order is packed and the customer’s address should lie within the same pincode.

    This kind of delivery model works mostly in cases of groceries, medicines, regular household items, food delivery and even services such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc. The USP of hyperlocal e-commerce businesses lies in their ability to deliver products and services at unbelievably fast speed.

    Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model

    Hyperlocal  delivery model is defined as a business model in which the service aggregator acquires requested product locally and delivers the same to the customer in the same geographical area.

    Hyperlocal business model
    Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model

    For example, let us consider a hyperlocal on-demand business in food. When The customer places an order for the required food item through the dedicated mobile application, The aggregator receives the order and passes on the order details to a delivery partner. The delivery partner dispatches a delivery boy to procure the requested item from a local store and makes sure that it reaches the customer at a requested location. The aggregator drives the entire system and earns a commission for the role it plays.

    This model is applied to products as well as services like plumber, electrician, beautician, etc. The most popular example of a hyperlocal delivery model would be Zomato and Swiggy.

    Benefits of Hyperlocal Delivery Business Models

    Here are some of the benefits associated with hyperlocal delivery business model

    Supports traditional Stores

    The rise of e-commerce and online retail has been a threat to traditional stores. Hyperlocal delivery models provide them with an opportunity to optimize their sales.

    Minimal Efforts Required from Retailers

    Retailers can enlist their businesses on their respective platforms and grow their business. Everything from pickup to delivery is managed by the app aggregator. Hence retailers can grow their business with minimal effort.

    Helps build a sustainable ecosystem

    The hyperlocal delivery model is environment friendly as carbon footprints as long transportations are reduced.

    Single Device management

    A single mobile app can help you track, control and manage the entire hyperlocal marketplace.

    Supply chain models of a hyperlocal business

    Inventory-led model

    The inventory-led model is where you source your products directly from the brands and sellers and create an inventory of them. In this model, you are playing a direct role in the hyperlocal market. You have to track the demands of your customers and manage your inventory accordingly. You have to direct a team to manage inventory accordingly.

    Aggregator model

    Aggregator model can also be called as zero inventory model. In this delivery model you act as connecting link between the retailers and customers to ensure last-mile connectivity and delivery.

    How to build a Hyperlocal Delivery Network?

    Choose the product you you want to deliver or sell

    Firstly, you need to decide what products or services you would choose to deliver. Hyperlocal delivery models have tremendous utility and scope for success in a wide variety of sectors –restaurants, medicines, grocery, cabs, and hyperlocal logistics. You can target the local geographical locations and analyze the demand for a particular product or service.

    Identify your Target Audience

    Study the response of customers towards previous businesses. Your target audience may be busy professionals who have no time to head down to a restaurant for a meal, or you may target senior citizens who are unable to walk to their nearest grocery store.

    Market your product in your locality

    Your marketing strategy depends heavily on your target audience. You have to make your presence known by trying out different advertising methods that appeal to your audience.

    Build local partnerships with delivery agents

    Building  the network is an essential part of any business. in this you must create partnerships with two different parties – a delivery partner and the local merchants.

    You could receive the customer’s orders through your mobile app and ask the local merchants to send their delivery personnel to deliver the order. You can also opt for partnering with a delivery agency. Often delivery partners charge a fixed price per delivery and impose a minimum delivery cap.

    Decide on an Revenue model

    Your revenue model depends on two sources – commissions from the merchant-partners and delivery charges from the customers. Your local partners pay you an agreed percentage of the order amount as commission on every order placed from their store. Your partners will be happy to pay you more if you bring them more business. You can charge your customers a convivence fee if you wish, as most businesses are providing free delivery services.

    Launch a hyperlocal mobile app

    Now you need to start working on the platform. You need to build separate mobile apps for iOS and Android for each of the three parties – the merchants, the customers, and the delivery drivers. A feature-rich, user-friendly app plays a major role in creating a solid customer base.

    Role of a hyperlocal delivery model in Covid-19

    Due to lockdown restrictions many hotels and restaurants had to shut down, this was the the right time to get online, especially for offline merchants who were facing business ups and downs during this crisis. Many restaurant’s took their business online as they saw it as a fully wise decision to starting with an online business, so that even after the COVID19 crisis, they can get better growth.

    To survive and thrive in the industry, you need a robust admin panel, an efficient and effective customer tracking app, and a powerful delivery driver app. Furthermore, you should always concentrate on a consumer’s satisfaction. Measuring customer satisfaction should become your daily habit – not something you do from time to time. You can expect a massive growth of such businesses in the near future.

    FAQ’s

    1. What is a hyperlocal business?

    Ans- Hyperlocal businesses are referred to as businesses where one wants to build a local ecosystem that enables customers to buy anything from their neighborhood stores. Hyperlocal includes all businesses in your locality, the nearby stores, Restaurants, Market, Malls, Hotels, and other products and service providers.

    2. What is hyper local delivery model?

    Ans- The hyperlocal delivery model is a type of model when the product delivery is done within a particular geographical area. The pick-up location of the order and the customer’s address should be the same. This type of delivery model works mostly in businesses like groceries, medicines, household items, food delivery businesses, and even in jobs such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc.

    3. How do I build a hyper local delivery company?

    Ans- In order to start a successful business with a hyperlocal model, you should choose a strategic approach. Below mentioned is a step-by-step approach that lists the processes which involve a hyperlocal on-demand delivery business.

    • Select the Industry
    • Choose a Niche
    • Identify your Target Audience
    • Seal the Deal (Create Partnerships)

    4. What are hyperlocal startups?

    Ans- A hyperlocal startup is a type of business that supports other businesses in delivering products such as Locus or Shadowfax or in delivery of products through a marketplace-like platform like Dunzo or Swiggy with Swiggy Go, or any other startups operating in this space in the Indian market.

    5. What is hyperlocal shipment?

    Ans- Hyperlocal delivery is the process of delivering goods directly from a seller to the customer. It’s the process that involves the operation of a courier agent picking up products from a seller and then delivering them directly to the customer’s address.

  • Impact of Coronavirus outbreak on Dropshippers

    The coronavirus outbreak has reached almost every corner of the world, with cases only continuing to soar day by day. In the months since the virus has emerged in Wuhan, China, there have already been signs of a shift in consumer behaviour all over the world. With the outbreak still in its early stages in India, sales of groceries, household goods and healthcare items have seen a boost as consumers look for ways to protect themselves. But analysis shows that it has had a reverse impact on other sectors. The government is taking various precautionary steps to contain the spread of coronavirus such as Janta curfew and 21 days lockdown during which only shops or businesses selling essentials are allowed to remain open. While, the other businesses are strictly closed.

    At the same time, the impact of the coronavirus on ecommerce and online store is great. It’s a fact that a lot of things have been and will still be affected by coronairus. Unfortunately, one of them (what will be affected) is dropshipping! But what is Dropshipping? It is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product using the dropshipping model, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the seller doesn’t have to handle the product directly. In other words, it is more of online store. One of the biggest concerns these store owners may have is that consumers will stop making online purchases over fears that they might get the virus from overseas shipments.

    With many manufacturing and logistics facilities restricted or shut temporarily, experts have recommended them prepare for delays and take that into account before continuing to run paid ads and take orders. It is a good idea to check with your supplier, but assume that your items will not be shipped promptly. Or, if they are shipping things on time, disruptions to domestic shipping in the destination country could still cause delays. As a result of the continuous widespread of this virus, transportations all around the country are shut down partially or completely. This has caused the inability of all workers and employees to go back to factories and companies to work, which has affected operations in most companies.

    Also Read: How Dropshipping Works? Should you Start Dropshipping in 2020

    The Effect of Coronavirus on Drop-shipping

    The impact of COVID-19 has been massive on dropshipping.
    First, it means significant delays. Since the priority of the government is public safety, the authorities set prevention and control measures such as lockdown in place that disrupt the free movement of goods and people. These policies have left logistics companies in difficult situation, incapable to navigate the new restrictions, and without the government’s guidance, many are forced to freeze operations as they can’t provide a concrete answer. Moreover, Western sellers are confused about their action plan because most of them don’t know how to lower the possible financial risks. The forecast is not too encouraging if we consider the roadblocks and temporary closing of airports, highways, railways stations, and ports.

    In the same way, this uncertainty will disrupt the business of startups & smaller vendors who very often depend on the products they sell; smaller retail traffic could push them into bankruptcy. Their ability to survive depends not only on the quality of goods but also on a speedy delivery process since customers want to have access to products as fast as possible. So, these circumstances obviously unfavourable for them to survive. Stocks have been said to fall on fears that the Coronavirus could take a more significant economic toll than initially expected.

    In addition to this, the directive, orders from government during this lockdown have asked people to avoid travel and going out by working from home. These directives, orders from government which excluded emergency service workers and people who work for essential public services, urged the private sector to enforce similar arrangements. This means almost all the workers involved in the dropshipping process won’t have the chance to go work.

    The fact is, most suppliers of dropshipping business depend on factories. As a result of COVID-19 and the compulsory -stay indoor- thing, factories will not be able to produce products at the expected date. Because of Coronavirus, the majority of workers will not be able to come back to suppliers’ factories to start producing. However, according to the current situation, the return date of workers may be delayed, which means dropshipping will suffer.

    Drop-shipping is likely to be affected more due to Lockdown

    If in case, supplier or suppliers have product stocks available, what about logistics? Logistics companies are also affected due to coronavirus outbreak as most of their workers are at home because government has allowed transportation of essential goods only. With the Government announcement of borders closing and all cities’ transportation systems closed, there’s no way logistics companies could work. If logistics companies don’t work, then there’s no way parcels and other dropshipping fulfillment products will be shipped out to their various destination. Most of the suppliers’ facility has been temporarily shut down by the government. So, it has left businesses with dropshipping with no option but to wait for the situation to get better.

    Also Read: 10 ways Startups should be Prepared for the Coronavirus Crisis

    How to manage Dropshipping during Coronavirus

    • As mentioned above the reduction in logistics and suspension of flights is disrupting the supply chain that is causing delays in shipping, reduced transport capacity, and inflation in shipping costs. As a dropshipper, it is your duty to inform your customers about the delay. The delays should not be affecting for a long time. However, you still need to put confidence in your customers and ask them to wait a little longer. One also needs to be prepared to refund them and wait for the situation to become normal.
    • The capacity for carrying couriers has been compromised after the lockdown. However, services will be resuming at a slow pace and should return to its normal operations in the upcoming weeks. It is in the best interest of dropshippers to avoid standard shipping.
    • One must try removing fear from the customer’s mind by letting them know that coronavirus does not survive for long on a surface. The postal services are already using disinfectants and taking extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of their staff and packaging.
    • Remove fear from the customer’s mind by letting them know that coronavirus does not survive for long on a surface. The postal services are using disinfectants and taking extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of their staff and packaging.
    • Avoid selecting standard shipping and choose a faster shipping method until the outbreak is controlled. It is recommended that you use only the express shipping method during this time.