3PLs/LSPs
specialreport
It’s all in
the delivery
Outsourcing last-mile deliveries can save you money and headaches.
But picking the wrong partner could sabotage the entire customer experience.
THE ATTRACTION OF OUTSOURCING
last-mile delivery to the customer is not difficult to figure out. The last leg of a shipment’s
journey can be expensive, and customer expectations are high that the merchandise will
arrive on time and defect free.
Yet handing off that task to a third party can
be something of a risk, particularly when it
comes to specialty products that can’t just be
tossed on the customer’s doorstep like a book
or article of clothing. For suppliers of specialty
items, the final delivery is a key element in the
customer service equation—one that can
either bolster its reputation or cost it a client’s
business. That makes it all the more essential
they select the right partner.
One such specialty supplier is New York-based Windowrama, the Northeast’s largest
retailer of windows, doors, and skylights. The
majority of its products are delivered straight
from its Edgewood, N. Y., distribution center to
a home or construction site. These products
are generally large, heavy, and because they’re
made of glass, fragile. It’s critical that they be
properly handled. For that reason, for its first
23 years in business, Windowrama handled all
of its logistics in-house with its own set of
employee drivers.
