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According to the UWV, the labor market in the Netherlands is currently 'very tight'. The labor shortage within the logistics sector is palpable. The battle between carriers to find and retain staff has started with permanent contracts for parcel deliverers and at the same time consumers are already confronted with delays. In a recent survey by Sendcloud, Europe's #1 shipping platform for e-commerce, 50 percent of consumers claim their recent order was delayed.

In most cases the delay was only one day (22%), but in the extreme cases (8%) consumers had to wait more than four days longer for their order than the expected delivery time. While the majority of consumers (86%) received notification of the delay, 2 in 5 consumers (42%) did not receive this notification until after the expected delivery date.

Staff shortages appear to be a problem for many carriers as the survey of more than 1.000 respondents shows that more than 72 percent have recently had a negative delivery experience. Delays in most cases (42%), but consumers also reported that the delivery was delayed (28%), the package was left in an unsafe location (12%) or arrived damaged (11%).

In addition, it is interesting to note that 12 percent of consumers ordered products that were found to be out of stock at the time of ordering. In addition, 1 in 8 consumers complain about a lack of flexible delivery options. In view of the expected increase in parcels in the autumn, sendcloud online retailers to invest in a multi-carrier strategy.

“As in many industries, parcel deliverers have to deal with a high workload due to staff shortages. We advise online retailers to use multiple carriers for home deliveries and service points; this reduces the pressure on deliverers and shortens the delivery time enormously. A multi-carrier strategy makes it possible to switch to alternative shipping networks if supply chains become congested. It is a good way to spread the workload and at the same time it is a good way to meet the high delivery demands of consumers. By offering multiple delivery options, consumers can choose where, when and how they want to receive their order – resulting in a positive delivery experience.”

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