Before getting into the mechanics of SDD, let’s understand how the regular express parcel service works for the same city delivery.
Once a shipment is manifested, the shipment is picked up at a scheduled time. The shipment is then taken to the closest sorting hub – typically on the city’s outskirts. Then the shipment is sorted along with other shipments, bagged, and ferried to the relevant last-mile delivery center. At the last-mile center, the shipment is assigned to a field executive who delivers the shipment.
In the best case, same city delivery is possible on the second day (Day 2) – that means if a shipment is picked up on Day 1, it is delivered on Day 2. By design, until a shipment reaches a sorting center, it cannot be routed to the appropriate last-mile delivery center. A typical hub and spoke model works on scheduled connections between different facilities.
For an SDD promise, you’ll need to use an alternate model and bypass this regular flow. There are two options here:
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Option A:
Attempt a consumer delivery directly from the warehouse or pickup location. Clients are experimenting with this option by using the services of hyper-local delivery operators who provide a point-to-point pickup and delivery service. However, this model is constrained by coverage radius – typically less than 10 km – and they are expensive.
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Option B:
Connect directly from the in-city warehouse to the last-mile delivery center. This bypasses the traditional sorting hubs. gtv电竞世界dota has adopted this model, which increases coverage while reducing costs.
In cities where we have enabled SDD, we have set up a network of in-city warehouses or micro fulfillment centers (MFCs). In each city, the number of in-city warehouses ranges from one to four. SKU-level inventory with limited days of cover (DoS) is stored at these locations and visible on the brand’s website – via integrations with our systems. The serviceability of different pin codes for SDD and the corresponding order cut-off information is also relayed on a real-time basis. The end consumer is able to see the order cut-off details and select the SDD option. The slower – next-day delivery option – can also be displayed.
Once an SDD order is placed, it is routed to the nearest in-city warehouse where the pick-pack operation is completed. Post that, all the shipments are sorted and bagged for the relevant last-mile delivery center. The bags are dispatched via a milk run model to all the last-mile delivery centers. These bags then enter the regular last-mile delivery flow with a clear priority for that same day’s evening delivery run. The milk run and last-mile delivery runs are dynamically planned based on the daily load patterns using our proprietary route planning tools.
We have designed our network based on the last order cut-off at 3 pm. Beyond this, delivery will be attempted the next day. Over a period of time, as we get more scale/volume, this cut-off could be extended. The consumer would receive the order by 9 pm on the same day.