There’s no doubt about it – digital sales are booming. Even before the pandemic, online shopping quickly became the norm for consumers. But stay-at-home mandates drove e-commerce sales to grow at a pace never seen before. That trend continues today.
In fact, e-commerce sales jumped 9.5% during the 2022 holiday season compared to the previous year.
The question is – are you prepared? If you haven’t already, it’s time to start prepping your trucks to keep up with the ever-growing world of digital sales.
The Rise of Online Shopping and the Digital Marketplace
Online shopping is convenient and offers consumers a much wider selection of goods than local stores. In addition, as shipping and logistics have improved, online shopping has become even easier.
Today, 70% of Americans are shopping online, or about 230 million people.
For fleet owners, the rise of online shopping and the bustling digital marketplace presents a lucrative opportunity for growth. But it also presents its own set of challenges for both fleet owners and truck driving professionals.
The Challenges of Meeting Digital Sales Demand
A greater need for shipping services is excellent for fleet owners, but such a spike in demand can also be problematic for fleets that aren’t prepared for it.
A boom in digital sales is leading to:
- Fleets being overworked
- Logistics becoming too complicated
- Not having enough drivers to meet demand
Businesses are feeling overwhelmed and unprepared for a spike in digital sales.
What can businesses do to keep up?
How to Prep Your Fleet to Keep Up with Digital Sales
While it may seem like an overwhelming task, there are steps you can take now to help keep up with increasing digital sales.
These steps will help you prepare your fleet so that you’re ready for unexpected increases in sales and an overall higher workload.
1. Improve Your Logistics Strategies
Logistics will play an integral role in ensuring that you meet the demands of higher digital sales. In addition, improving your logistics strategies will ensure that your goods arrive on time using the most efficient route.
If you’re not improving your logistics, you’re going to fall behind and lose business as a result.
Logistics can be improved in a number of ways, including through the use of:
- Route planning and scheduling solutions
- Implementing fleet management software
- Automation to streamline tasks
TCI Transportation offers solutions to improve your logistics, or we can take care of all the logistics for you with our Dedicated Transport program.
2. Maintain Your Overworked Fleet
Higher demand means more strain on your fleet. As a result, maintenance will be more crucial than ever if you want to keep up with digital sales.
Our Contract Maintenance program at TCI Transportation can help keep your fleet in the best possible condition.
Preventative maintenance is the key to ensuring that your fleet can meet the growing demand of higher digital sales. If you take a “break/fix” approach to maintaining your fleet, frequent breakdowns will eat into your time and profitability.
Emergency roadside maintenance costs fleet owners at least $450 per incident – and that’s just for the repairs themselves.
Breakdowns and premature equipment failures can also mean:
- Delaying projects
- Having to rent last-minute replacements at an added cost
- Costlier repairs
Regular, routine maintenance can help ensure that your trucks are running optimally. It also allows you to detect issues early before they escalate into a bigger, more expensive problem.
At TCI, our Contract Maintenance program will keep your fleet up and running, with:
- Oil, filter, and lubricant changes
- A complete preventative maintenance program
- Tire servicing
- Fuel program
- Transmission, rebuilds and in-frame repair work
- More
Many of our shops are up and running 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, so we’re here when those emergencies do arise.
3. Outsource Fleet Management
When your workload increases, fleet management becomes even more challenging. To meet demand without compromising on quality and efficiency, consider outsourcing your fleet management.
Our Dedicated Transport service is a form of outsourcing in that you offload the logistical responsibilities of your fleet to us.
With Dedicated Transport, you take advantage of our reliable fleet, experienced drivers, and supportive team. Essentially, you can expand your fleet without the added cost and time of purchasing new trucks.
We assume all operational responsibilities, including:
- Potential liabilities
- Regulatory compliance
- Driving, hiring, and compensation
- Routing and scheduling
- Potential liability
Our team will work with you to find a solution that meets your needs and budget.
There are many advantages to outsourcing:
- It allows you to focus on core operations, like growing your business, managing orders, and improving customer service.
- A professional third-party will assume operational responsibilities, saving you time, stress and money.
- You gain peace of mind that shipments will arrive on time.
When you’re stretched to your limits, outsourcing makes sense. It allows you to handle larger volumes of sales without having to make a big time or monetary investment.
Prepare to Meet the Digital Demand
As more consumers become accustomed to online shopping, digital sales will continue to increase. Fleets must be prepared to meet growing demand through the use of preventative maintenance, outsourcing fleet management and improving their logistics strategies.
TCI Transportation’s Dedicated Transport and Contract Management programs can help businesses meet higher demand without compromising on quality or efficiency. Contact us to learn more about our services. Our team will work closely with you to find a solution that will meet your needs and budget.
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