The last mile is the journey of a product from the warehouse shelf to the back of a truck and the customer's door, thus being the final step in the operational process, when the package finally arrives at the consumer's door. In addition to being one of the keys to customer satisfaction, last mile delivery is the most problematic part of the shipping process.
It is one of the logistics areas where Big Data can have a real impact on daily operations, offering the opportunity to optimize internal processes and better control external factors, developing qualitative and quantitative improvements in operations, supply chain areas and logistics processes, bringing significant improvements in last mile deliveries.
Some of the innovations that the Guatemalan chain Pollo Campero has implemented in this new commercial reality include investing in the implementation of establishments that serve only home delivery service and setting up open spaces to serve more consumers.
As a result of the spread of Covid-19, restaurant chains were forced to close the table area. In this context, companies focused on mitigating their economic losses through food delivery sales..
After Delivery Hero bought the digital home delivery platform Glovo in 2020, the company has informed that in order to compete in the Guatemalan market it intends to execute an ambitious investment plan.
Maintaining proper inventories to meet demand, having a robust logistics system and an electronic sales channel that protects your customers when they make a purchase, are part of the challenges that businesses face in this new reality.
With "Black Friday" and Christmas approaching, commercial establishments in the region are beginning to apply their sales and promotion strategies, with which they will try to recover part of their income.
In a transaction valued at around $272 million, German company Delivery Hero acquired Glovo's operations in eight Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Delivery Hero strengthens its position in Latin America, adding Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala to its existing presence, and further expanding its existing operations in Argentina, Panama and the Dominican Republic, the German business group reported.
Identifying and correcting failures in the logistics process of product delivery, while maintaining the satisfaction levels of their customers, who demand facilities to buy online, is the main challenge facing companies in the new commercial "normality".
The outbreak of covid-19 in Central America and the severe home quarantines decreed by the governments, caused the market to undergo deep changes and to be deeply and rapidly transformed, to the point of establishing a new commercial reality.
The restrictions on mobility decreed in the region open up new opportunities for sales points such as small self-service shops, grocery stores and corner shops, which can make use of home delivery service schemes to boost their sales in this context.
In the current context of health crisis, large supermarket chains have implemented safety and hygiene protocols, which force consumers to assume long waiting times to do their shopping.
Locating customers and estimating their potential consumption, choosing strategic locations for distribution points and calculating product delivery times are some of the tasks that occupy companies in this context of changing consumption patterns.
Many of the changes in purchasing patterns resulting from the crisis generated by the Covid-19 virus in the region will not be temporary; several of them are here to stay.
Within this context of health emergency, the mobility restriction measures decreed by the governments have forced people to change their consumption habits, a situation that forces companies to look for ways to deliver the products to their customers.
In order to adapt to this new economic reality and derived from the outbreak of covid-19 in Central American countries, companies have been forced to rely on marketing channels that until a few weeks ago were not among the most important in their commercial strategy.
The company DHL has announced that starting January 2015 that the average increase in prices in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama will be 4.9%.
From a statement issued by DHL:
DHL Express, provider of the world's leading international express services, today announced an overall increase in average rates globally, effective from January 1, 2015. The average increase in prices in Guatemala will be 4.9% (also applicable to Costa Rica and Panama).
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