Image Courtesy of Best Buy
August 21, 2024
How Will Real-Time Tracking Affect Retail Delivery?
Best Buy has launched a new live tracking feature for large deliveries like TVs and appliances, using AI to provide real-time updates. Customers receive a four-hour delivery window on the day of their delivery with a link to track the driver’s location and estimated arrival time on a map.
With this feature, customers no longer need to wait around all day for a large or expensive package to arrive. “Our new live-delivery tracking experience removes the frustration so many of us have felt when we’re given a window of time to wait around at home for an appointment or a larger delivery to arrive,” Brian Tilzer, chief digital, analytics, and technology officer at Best Buy, said in a statement in the company’s announcement. “We know our customers’ time is extremely valuable, and we’re proud to bring a level of convenience to technology delivery and installation that nobody is currently providing.”
The launch reflects Best Buy’s shift toward leveraging technology to improve customer experience, aligning with its new focus on technology discovery and personalized engagement. Alongside this, Best Buy is revamping its app with features like personalized home pages and video shopping experiences. The company is also investing in AI technology and expanding its workforce to better support and engage with customers.
According to delivery company GoPeople, integrating real-time delivery tracking within a company’s e-commerce logistics can significantly boost transparency across the entire delivery process. “With the ability to track their parcels in real-time, customers gain valuable insights into the journey of their orders, from dispatch to doorstep,” the company noted. “This increased transparency fosters trust and reassurance, leading to greater consumer satisfaction.”
This delivery method also helps create a positive post-purchase customer experience. Per a Salesforce study, “80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.” The study also found that 88% of customers are more inclined to make repeat purchases when they receive excellent customer service.
Additionally, real-time tracking may help alleviate impatience and give the perception of faster delivery for consumers due to their ability to track their own packages.
Similar to Best Buy, when a package is delivered with an Amazon vehicle, the retailer allows customers to track their packages in real time using Amazon Map Tracking. Other carriers, however, don’t provide the same feature, so when UPS, FedEx, or USPS delivers Amazon packages, customers can’t use Map Tracking.
Though there seem to be many upsides to offering live tracking, the primary obstacle to retailers would most likely be the cost of adding the service.
However, a better mentality may be to see it as “an investment, not a cost,” according to Tive. Imagine a logistics company that has real-time visibility into the location of every shipment. While the investment required isn’t always low-cost, it’s a transformative move that delivers long-term rewards. By utilizing real-time tracking and monitoring, retailers can cut costs, enhance efficiency, and maintain customer satisfaction.
Discussion Questions
In what additional ways can retailers leverage real-time tracking technology beyond delivery to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience?
How does real-time delivery tracking technology impact the balance between cost and customer satisfaction, and what could its long-term effects on retail competition be?
How might advancements in AI and tracking technologies alter consumer perceptions of value and drive changes in retailer strategies?
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Amazon has had real-time delivery functionality for quite a while. It is useful for planning when you need to be home or get ready to accept a delivery. For little packages this may not matter so much, but for Best Buy’s more expensive products and installation services – when someone needs to be present – it is a very useful tool. With better route planning and AI tools we will probably see this functionality rolled out more, although it’s not going be used for every delivery.
This is really important tech, as the inconvenience of having to wait around for important packages can actually be a purchase deterrent. I expect more and more retailers to offer this.
Agreed, and it’s particularly important when the package contains an expensive item!
I totally agree. As a consumer, when I purhase a high ticket item, on delivery day, I want to know exactly where it is and when it will be delivered. The inventory tracking feature will provide a boost to customer satisfaction and we will likely see more retailers jump on this bandwagon.
Real-time tracking is a retailer’s investment in trust and loyalty. Consumers gain a clearer view of when they need to be home (and perhaps even how they can protect against porch pirates). It’s respectful of consumers’ time and it can encourage repeat business.
Real-time tracking, when its working effectively, makes “real-time” life, much easier for everybody. It allows everyone in the process, delivery to reception, to stay on top of our tasks and projects, and make informed decisions in the moment.
Furthermore, it allows us to collaborate more effectively with our colleagues and work together more efficiently.
For example, a logistics company implemented real-time tracking for its fleet of delivery trucks, which led to a significant reduction in delivery times and improved customer satisfaction. Drivers were able to adjust routes based on real-time traffic data, while dispatchers could monitor shipments and provide accurate updates to clients. This seamless communication and coordination resulted in a more streamlined and efficient delivery process.
Amazon uses the technology Alexa to inform customers when a package is on its way; it is nicely integrated into the process.
Real-time tracking has a significant impact on operational costs as well. Companies can save on fuel expenses and vehicle maintenance by optimizing routes and reducing idle times. In addition, increased efficiency can reduce labor costs and overtime hours. Db
Considering the industry standards for providing real-time inventory visibility and transparency in the supply chain for customers and store associates, any retailer or DTC brand that does not offer these capabilities is already operating at a significant competitive disadvantage. By providing real-time inventory visibility, Amazon, Best Buy, and other leading retailers have helped to transform the retail industry, driving innovation and setting new expectations.
In our digital and mobile-first society, customers expect access to inventory levels across stores and DCs and the option to choose their fulfillment method, which ranges from BOPIS, curbside pickup, shipping, and picking up the product at a third-party location. Convenience is key, as retailers can drive greater customer engagement by attracting them to the stores and providing the products within hours versus days.
Some additional competitive advantages include:
Beautifully explained.
A few thoughts on how real-time tracking can be leveraged – both in terms of deliveries but also more broadly across the supply chain.
Providing customers with real-time tracking will become the standard for items above a certain value. It reduces issues and costs for all parties. Customers gain convenience by eliminating delivery uncertainty. Retailers eliminate the costs and poor customer experience of porch piracy while building customer satisfaction. Repeat purchases are a natural outcome of real-time delivery tracking.
Interest level is going to depend on what is being tracked. Running out of that important prescription and catching a flight in three days? I would be glued to the tracking app. Have a 90″ TV coming? Glued. Have a case of Rye Whiskey that needs a signature? Glued. Have some replacement filters for your house coming? Who cares.
DoorDash, Amazon, Uber, and Home Repair Contractors… all use versions of real-time tracking to keep their customers informed about the level of service expectations. We’re getting to the point where if I’m expected to be home to meet a repair person or have an installation, I expect some notification and updates on delivery. And, if an appointment ahead of mine takes longer than expected, mine needs to be pushed, I get real-time updates. I’m more likely to accept the changes and adjust my schedule when I have an expectation for a new time.
This is a good thing. A world without eight-hour delivery windows is a good thing.
It’s nice to see Best Buy in particular embracing customer-centric tech. Best Buy’s vague delivery estimates and unfulfilled promises are even more frustrating when applied to large, expensive purchases. Just this week I was reminded that Best Buy faces little-to-no competition in brick-and-mortar electronics (when consumers want to touch and feel products like laptops, for example). The business is Best Buy’s for the taking. Customer convenience upgrades keep shoppers playing on Best Buy’s platform and migrating to multiple categories. Well worth the investment.
I hope Best Buy is reading your comment.
Tracking in retail (all industries) is a requirement, and I might suggest you will soon see that same expectation in-store. If you look at all the analog equipment in-store needing transformation (radio headsets, overhead paging, call buttons), none of those provide line of sight or assurance to the customer their request is pending.
This is the truly useful application of technology to enhance service and the customer experience. Best Buy’s innovative approach to home delivery of “large items” is nothing short of brilliant. Back in the late 90s, I worked on delivery scheduling, delivery routing, and customer notification for ‘Nobody Beats the Wiz,’ facing the challenges of manual processes. Today, the technology utilized by Best Buy eliminates the stress of waiting for deliveries, offering a seamless experience for consumers.
While this technology may not directly boost sales, it leaves a lasting impression of exceptional customer service, fostering loyalty and generating positive word-of-mouth referrals for Best Buy. Kudos to Best Buy for prioritizing customer satisfaction through creative solutions like this.
Retailers and delivery companies that value their customers’ time should invest in sharing real-time package tracking. While a four-hour window is better than an all-day affair, these delivery windows can be much tighter based on historical data for the route/delivery area, the specific driver and vehicle, and the makeup of the load. Adding an intuitive, easy-to-use, and information-rich screen that could be interactive, such as updating delivery instructions, will increase customer convenience and engagement.
Good for Best Buy, but really this is table stakes. Their local competitor in the Twin Cities, Warners’ Stellian, has been communicating with customers (like me) on appliance deliveries in this fashion for years.
Also, what does AI have to do with any of this? Hook a bot up to the manifest the driver logs into / automatically updates in the mapping program and send a text update at key points. This is just buzzword spamming to make the process seem magical. Heck, I was part of a team at ConAgra back in 1994 trying to figure this out for bulk flour deliveries with early cellphone tech.
Real-time tracking technology is a confidence/trust builder. It allows the customer to know their package is on the way. It creates less stress and makes the customer feel good to know when their package is going to be delivered. And customers want to do business with the companies and brands they trust and make them feel good.
This technology comes with a price tag, and I’m sure many retailers and online stores won’t be able to bake it into their CX – just yet.
This is a valuable service and will help boost retailers reliability and is one of many tools which helps build trust, loyalty. Thanks to Amazon, it’s now more expected a service business should include this level of communication and insight to customers. Retailers who adopt this level of detail have a leg up on others.
Now if we could get the remainder of all service and delivery companies to provide this bare minimum of communication. In today’s day and age, its not acceptable to casually suggest a technician or delivery may arrive sometime in the span of 4-8 hours, and please wait around the house.
Retailers should use real-time tracking not just for delivery but also to optimize inventory, manage supply chains, and enhance in-store experiences.
Simply because, real-time data can prevent stockouts and ensure faster restocking which can improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
While tracking tech can be costly, it pays off by boosting loyalty and setting retailers apart. AI-driven tracking will likely push retailers to offer more personalized experiences, which will raise the bar for customer satisfacion.
In the long run, retailers who embrace the technologies will dominate the industry, while others who are reluctant will risk falling behind in the competition.
This is just BB copying one of Amazon’s many tracking initiatives that it has been offering for years. We have the the technology, now the only question is how long before every delivery company offers this?
I feel like this is not necessarily ground breaking business innovation, but yet a way to compete with Amazon as this is a service they have been offering for years. Good for Best Buy to invest to stay relevant. Now I wish they invested more in service in their stores to really win over the consumer.