Digitalization
One of the main fears and brakes faced by SMEs in the face of digitalization is Integrate technology. The dichotomy between choosing an all-encompassing solution, or specific solutions for each problem. The benefit of the first option is that you're dealing with a provider, everything is talked about, and you shouldn't have too many problems. The problem is that it probably doesn't solve your processes in the best way and you have to make a lot of effort to adapt your business to the solution. The other option, small experts, usually provide a better solution for each process, but there is a difficulty in getting applications to talk to each other. This means that two companies collaborate, integrate and that can be a challenge.
More complex systems and technological solutions are increasingly required to optimize operations. The trend of one-fits-all (one solution for everything) is increasingly difficult to find and as companies grow they require more specific solutions, so integration projects are becoming more common, but above all, more necessary.
To give great examples, one of Inditex's great successes has been to have a single centralized stock between warehouses and stores, which allows us to have the status of each of the pieces of clothing in real time and achieve greater success in an omnichannel environment where the customer purchases online, is sent from several centers to be consolidated in the store and for the customer to pick up at the store buying an accessory that he found by chance. But something like that is not only available to large companies, SMEs also have a lot to say, and their scale makes them projects much easier, faster and cheaper to implement.
The benefits of integrating systems are direct improvements in productivity and in the quality of the service they provide, standardized and optimized operating processes, ease in internal processes, reduction of errors and also homogenization of data.
Why is it presented as a brake or challenge, or Why does it bring so many headaches for companies? Mainly because many companies do not have the experience, the resources to develop these projects internally or personnel with the knowledge to lead a project of this type. The solution, outsourcing these projects, and without good advice the project can be a big headache. For this reason, looking for a supplier who knows the business, the tools to be integrated and who has experience in similar projects are the key to success for an integration project to be successful, to develop quickly and on budget.
Unfortunately, sometimes digitalization brings high costs that companies don't want to face because of the doubt if there will really be a return on that investment. Digitalization with common sense, improving and streamlining processes undoubtedly generates great investment returns. For this reason, it is essential that companies have an orchestrator that understands the need of the business, the company's processes and those points that hold back the organization in order to optimize them through digitalization. The partner will actually implement that improvement, but it requires high-level coordination that will be the key to success.
Strategy, knowledge and execution.
Nowadays, execution is the easiest part of all. There are different types of integrations depending on the available systems and the objective. The most used are those of APIS (Application Programming Interface) where data is transmitted from one side to the other quickly and securely. It is the most used since it is simpler to perform and offers great performance. These are used to enter information to our platform. On the other hand, the most used to extract information is integration by Webhooks, in which the external system receives data when there is an event on the platform.
At Routal, we are constantly working to make integrations an opportunity to further streamline company processes, digitize and automate tasks that don't add value, and concentrate the work of employees on those points where a person actually provides the most value.
Quaker State Success Story: Integrating SAP
Quaker State is a leading company in the distribution of oils and lubricants for vehicles in Mexico. In 2020, they needed to standardize their merchandise delivery procedure and homogenize their operations so as not to rely on one or more people for the replacement of personnel. Faced with this situation, they implemented the Routal solution.
Thanks to the Planner intelligent route planner, they were able to unify processes into one, in addition to generating a single procedure that would be available to any worker regardless of their level of training.
Prior to the integration, the delivery routes were carried out manually, they spent hours daily in the planning process, there was little monitoring of the operation, and obtaining any report on performance metrics was an investment of tens of hours, which greatly limited the ability to make improvement decisions.
Once the integration of their SAP system with Routal was implemented, route planning began to be carried out in an automated manner and in minutes. The risk on the figure of the route planner and the dependence on that person was completely reduced. The creation of metric reports was also automated to improve the control and monitoring of their distribution processes, and most importantly: the data were reconciled and validated. Thus, the entire process was standardized and optimized.
”Routal Planner is essential to us. It saves us planning time and makes us more competitive against our competitors” Your Manager has your opinion.
Lácteas del Jarama Success Story: Integrating AS 400
Lácteas del Jarama It is one of the most important dairy companies in Spain, it was the first company to introduce mozzarella in our country and its history supports it as one of the main dairy companies in the food service sector.
The successful implementation of Routal was due to the successful integration of its ERP system, an IBM AS400, an extremely robust but difficult to integrate system. To be able to count on a partner like Nakima helped to be able to carry out the integration in just 3 weeks of work and thus reduce the start-up time to just over a month.
The internal leadership clearly identified the need to eliminate steps in the process that would focus logistics personnel on what really provides value: “Deliver quickly, with the lowest cost and offering the best possible service”.
The experience of working with professionals who are experts in this type of project means that companies can think further and want to improve other processes that seemed impossible to improve.
At Routal, we work to streamline integration processes through partners with a lot of experience in all types of technologies and businesses, achieving success so that projects are successful.
Try Routal for free for 10 days click here.
Tugou, a scheduled delivery company, was looking for a solution to optimize its home delivery routes in Peru. They found SmartMonkey, tested the platform, and stayed with us. Discover the benefits and savings they achieved with SmartMonkey.
Tugou was born in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic to meet a need that entrepreneurs had. The starting point was to migrate from a trusted taxi service to a professional service, with transparency and confidence that your products will arrive in a timely manner. They sought solutions that would allow them to differentiate themselves from the competition as an added value and for that they explored digitization and route optimization tools. They tried two or three alternatives, and after a few months they found SmartMonkey on the market, tried the solution and stayed with it.
There are several reasons why they decided to choose Routal. First of all, in terms of user, administrator and end customer it is easy to use and friendly, therefore the learning curve of anyone who comes to work is short, and this It helps to reduce costs also in the case of staff turnover. On the other hand, it is competitive in the market in terms of investment. The Gorilla license offers in one what other companies offer in separate modules at a higher cost.
Daniel Campos, operations manager at Tugou, comments: “It's a platform that we use 24/7, which has been very supportive, and that in a very short time we have gotten to know thoroughly. It's a very webapp Intuitive and this is very important for someone who uses it on a daily basis.”
As for the tool, they believe that it is relevant to versatility in the planning modules to add restrictions: weight, volume, and distinctive load characteristics. Also important to them is the agility in route planning and visibility in real time, being able to see where the vehicles are located and at what times the deliveries are taking place.
The ability to have simultaneous access to the platform to see the programmed route is something that stands out: “We are 4 people who have access and we review the routes daily. It is one of the differential characteristics and very important to us. Also the fact that for the driver it is a webapp (and not an App) and it is easier for them to view it. Apps sometimes need minimal capacity on mobile phones, next-generation phones, use more battery and data. It's something that drivers value a lot,” explains Daniel.
Email and SMS notifications and alerts build trust with the customer and thus reduce failed deliveries substantially. Thanks to the platform, customers can be sure that their products will arrive at their destination.
“The speed of planning daily routes allows us to look at other business opportunities, for example, adding more customers or outsourcing to other companies.”
Regarding this time savings, Daniel comments: “It is something that we have found that the ease and usability of the platform is opening up the field for us to create an additional line of business to create routes for other customers, other companies that don't have the time or prefer to outsource the service. Otherwise, without this extra time, it would be very difficult for us to venture into other types of businesses.”
Tugou found a solution for their route planning and optimization that provided them with concrete savings in costs and time. This translates into improved productivity and business expansion.
See the results they obtained by optimizing delivery with SmartMonkey:
- -15% fuel: effect of savings on travel
- -25% reduction in unit travel
- -60% planning time
- -33% fleet: thanks to the optimization of the platform that allows you to make the same deliveries with fewer vehicles
- -55% investment: lower platform cost for the same benefits or features. (in a single module, without having to pay extra).
If you too want to reduce costs and save fuel Try SmartMonkey free for 10 days.
Watch the video of the case told by his operations manager Daniel Campos and his business manager Henri Malleux:
If you want to know other success stories, I recommend reading A La Casa Delivery in Chile.
From entrepreneurs to SMEs: how A La Casa Delivery began distributing its own products out of necessity and today it has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs from all over Chile. From market need to a growing business.
In 2019, Angela and Ignacio moved to Chile and began selling their products. Little by little they grew and came to make more than 20 deliveries per day. At that time and after trying different transport companies, they discovered that they were not satisfied with the delivery services available in their region. They didn't offer the service that their products required and saw the possibility of differentiating themselves by offering a better delivery service, so they decided to hire a person to make their own deliveries. The birth of a business out of its own need.
Over the months, they began to offer other entrepreneurs the service of home delivery with their delivery person. Thus, almost in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, it emerged A la Casa Delivery, a last-mile courier/delivery company for entrepreneurs and SMEs in Chile.
As quarantine restrictions in Chile increased more and more, the demand for delivery due to online purchases increased considerably, and deliveries per day became almost 600. Ignacio planned routes every night so that he could have it ready in the morning, and this required several hours. That work became unsustainable, inefficient and created a lot of problems. For that reason, they looked for a tool that could simplify their route planning work, which Ignacio did manually every day. After analyzing several alternatives, they discovered Routal.
After a demo, they started using the platform and solved their doubts thanks to the videos and articles from Routal. In just a few days they implemented the tool and started using it on a daily basis. Planning routes became a job of just a few minutes for Ignacio. In addition, I could obtain all the information in real time about the vehicles on the road and thus be able to resolve any incident that arises.
With the new addition of direct communication with the customer through SMS notifications, they were able to give more visibility to the recipient and thus reduce the number of failed deliveries. This directly influenced customer satisfaction, improving the score in the surveys that are sent after each delivery made.
Como A la Casa Delivery, hundreds of SMEs that benefit from the implementation of a digital solution for route planning and optimization, offering a better, more efficient and environmentally friendly service. If you are in charge of logistics for a small, medium or large company, we can help you digitize your operations in a few minutes, so that you can use your time on other more important tasks to boost your business.
Click here if you want to try SmartMonkey's Planner free for 10 days
Do you want to switch to an electric vehicle but are not sure yet? We can help you make the transition easier than you think
By December 2023, all municipalities in Spain with more than 50,000 inhabitants must have Low Emission Zones (ZBE). This presents a challenge for all logistics companies that carry out daily distribution work in the country's cities. Many of their vehicles will become obsolete and their routes will have to be modified, they will have to adapt their fleet and migrate to more efficient vehicles such as electric vehicles.
“If low-emission zones are going to be mandatory and logistics are being sought to become increasingly sustainable... why aren't companies yet adopting electric vehicles for their operation?”
The answer is “the costs”. At first glance you may think that the purchase price of the new vehicle is much higher, but the main reason that prevents the adoption of these vehicles is the cost of changing the way you manage your company's daily operations. Making management changes is always complicated, especially when we have been doing things the same way for many years.
When companies decide to switch to an electric fleet, their distribution routes can no longer be the same. Why? For the autonomy of electric vehicles and their refueling. The routes must be adapted to the new limitations that these cars have together with those of the business. A new restriction added to the already complex route planning that makes many electrification projects dismissed a priori.
Another important point is the charging time of the batteries. Unfortunately, it is not possible to charge the vehicle at the same speed as the liters of diesel flow. You'll think of Tesla SuperChargers, but something little known about EVs is that they have a very limited amount of the number of fast charges they can do over their lifetime. For example, a Tesla Model 3 can only do 200 fast charges over its entire battery life. Therefore, planning charging times will be just as important as another variable to consider.
In situations of maximum availability, 24-hour shifts or continuous work, it will be more difficult to fit this type of vehicle (with current technology), but the vast majority of companies will be able to overcome these limitations and manage them perfectly, as long as it is done in an intelligent way.
A route optimizer may be the solution to this problem. With SmartMonkey you can plan your routes in seconds, incorporating vehicle mileage restrictions and working hours in order to obtain the most efficient routes adapted to electric vehicles (and other fuels). In addition, the optimizer will tell you when you can use fewer vehicles to achieve the same deliveries, and thus make your operation even more sustainable.
A success story is the Palliative Care Team (C2P2) at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. This equipment has electric vehicles and combustion vehicles. Because of their operations, they visit patients more than 200 km from the hospital, but the large volume is concentrated in a relatively short radius of ~50 km. Being able to limit routes according to the vehicle's range is allowing them to avoid being “strapped” or to greatly limit the use of electric vehicles when in doubt, with the increase in CO2 emissions. One less problem to consider. Now we plan routes in minutes with total confidence and from the hospital's control center they can track operations in real time.
Let us help you with the change: try Routalkey for free for 10 days and you'll see how you can improve your operations by introducing electric vehicles to your fleet (and drivers will thank you).
The last days and the first days of the year are crucial in any area, both personally and in business. We take the opportunity to take stock of everything that happened in the previous year and, we also took the opportunity to set new resolutions for the following year, in order to improve and prosper in the nearest future.
At SmartMonkey we want to help you have a very prosperous and beneficial next year for you and, therefore, we are going to help you with what we do best: last-mile logistics.
If you haven't yet considered what resolutions you need for 2022, don't worry, we'll give you the keys. Below, we show you what logistics purposes you need to set for a successful 2022 for your company.
Logistic Purposes for 2022
- Improve customer satisfaction: User satisfaction with the service we offer must be one of our greatest objectives as a company. To do this, we must carry out actions that directly increase satisfaction and one of the key aspects for this is communication. Direct communication with users is essential, since in the midst of the digital age, we are used to being constantly connected and informed. With the use of specialized software, customers should be able to receive direct and real-time information about your purchases. For example, your customers should be able to know at all times where their order is or when they will receive it, among others. Therefore, it is essential that you incorporate mechanisms or tools that allow such direct communication and, therefore, increase your satisfaction.
- Reduce failed deliveries: One of the big puzzles for most logistics companies and the carriers themselves is failed deliveries. For this reason, it is essential to make every effort to reduce this rate to a minimum or even disappear in the coming year. But you may wonder, and how do I do it? Well, as we mentioned before, the communication is key. If you establish direct communication channels with your customers, not only will their satisfaction with your company increase, but you will also reduce failed deliveries, since you can set a schedule or ensure that your customer will be at home a few minutes before receiving the package. It's that simple!
- More sustainable logistics: La Green Logistics refers to all those efforts and actions aimed at measuring and minimizing the impact of logistics on the environment. In short, a set of initiatives to reduce the environmental impact derived from logistics activity. By implementing measures such as the reduction of plastics in packaging or the incorporation of specialized software to obtain efficient routes, we will make our operations increasingly sustainable, bringing us ever closer to the famous “green logistics”.
- Reduce route times: Have the route planning service, in order to ensure the correct management of the operation taking into account parameters such as mileage or travel time. With the right software, this will be an autonomous task, in which you will not have to invest time and with an optimal result, since it will always offer you the most efficient route.
- Proactive monitoring: La proactive monitoring It is the live monitoring of the daily planning of services and deliveries that warns of possible failures and errors while allowing us to react and adapt operations in a satisfactory manner.
Start the year fulfilling your resolutions and have a year of business success within your reach thanks to SmartMonkey Planner. Enjoy a free 10-day trial period.
Before setting resolutions, it is time to take stock of the previous year to evaluate everything that happened and give rise to reflection. Learn about SmartMonkey's 2021 balance sheet in the article 2021 balance sheet: Routal's success story.
With the rise of e-commerce and, especially, after the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery of Last mile has become increasingly complex.
This is a stage that is still present, as many companies struggle to cover each and every one of the customer's needs: satisfactory and fast deliveries, contactless, flexible deliveries or with an efficient reverse logistics policy, among others.
In order to meet all of these expectations (and many others!) , logistics companies are required to redesign their last-mile strategy in order to continue in an increasingly competitive market. It is therefore essential to consider new ways of proceeding with last-mile delivery, since traditional logistics models have become obsolete, since they will not be commensurate with the current expectations of users.
In this case, the scanning is the key piece of this puzzle, since it will be what will allow your company to keep up to date within the sector. In this regard, articles such as the The digitalization of the Logistics Sector, everything you need to know about the company of the company Spring Professional, emphasizes the importance of digitalization in a sector as challenging as logistics.
Here are the aspects you should consider when selecting appropriate and efficient last-mile management software.
Easy deployment
There are countless tools on the market that aim to manage the last mile. However, not all of them meet the first essential requirement: easy implementation.
By this we mean to easily incorporate software, without the need to invest significant human, technical or temporary resources. You should buy software that makes your work easier and doesn't increase it, logical, right? Choose a tool that is easy and quick to implement, which in a matter of a few hours you can use at 100%, without having to invest too much time in explanations or meetings. Choosing complex tools makes it harder for people who have to use it on a daily basis to be more difficult to adopt and tend to keep doing things as usual.
3-in-1 tool
The last mile encompasses many processes, all of them of equal relevance. Therefore, it is very important that you consider choosing an appropriate software that covers all possible needs. The three fundamental pillars you should look for in a route manager are the following:
Planning: it must have the route planning service, in order to ensure the correct management of the operation taking into account parameters such as mileage or travel time. With the right software, this will be an autonomous task, in which you will not have to invest time and with an optimal result, since it will always offer you the most efficient route.
Tracking: In the same way as planning, being able to monitor the operations in real time will be very useful for you to be able to face changes or possible setbacks that arise.
Communication: Being able to keep your customers informed at all times to notify them of the change in the status of the service or even that they can monitor their service in real time is already another requirement of any platform. Transparency and direct communication with users is essential for their satisfaction with our company.
Flexibility
As we mentioned before with the planning and monitoring process, there may be changes throughout the operation that hinder the success of the operation, for example, a change of schedule. Therefore, it is necessary to have a tool that has sufficient flexibility to be able to make such changes throughout the operating process, such as being able to modify schedules as needed or to transfer a service from one driver to another, among others.
Honest costs
Sometimes it is likely that we are very clear about the needs of our operations but, on the other hand, we do not choose the right software because they can have exorbitant costs or hidden costs of implementation, training or integration. It is important to prioritize when choosing a tool that adapts to the costs of our operations and has a fixed price per license.
Many software charge their customers for services performed with countless extras. Imagine that you have hired a last-mile management tool that charges you for each service performed and, in your case, you have had a very good month with many services. Would it really be a successful month for you? Because a large part of your income would go to software and not to you. So now you know, you don't have to share your successes, be smart!
Guaranteed support
Everything mentioned so far wouldn't make sense if you don't have the support you need, especially when you're starting out with the tool. Look for a last-mile manager who can guarantee you adequate and personalized support at all times. Run away from big corporations with answering machines and choose help One to One.
And now that you know everything to look for in specialized software in the last mile, don't you know where to start? Choose the one that Do everything. Impossible? Not at all! With SmartMonkey Planner you have all these features and many more.
If you want to position yourself at the top of logistics, join Planner. In addition, you can sign up now without obligation, we have a free 10-day trial period.
Do you want to know if you make some of the most common mistakes in the last mile and how to fix them? Go to our article The 4 mistakes to avoid in the last mile and we explain it to you.
The unstoppable growth and digital business transformation is undeniable, a fact that has completely changed the existing relationship between companies and consumers. Currently, it is necessary to implement strategies and have the necessary resources to improve the customer experience. To do this, it is essential to ask the following question: What do customers want? With the answer, we can begin to prepare a strategy based on Customer Centric.
Recent studies such as that of the company Deloitte confirm that the companies that implement strategies based on Customer Centric are 60% more profitable compared to those that haven't implemented it. If you want to be part of that successful majority, keep reading this article and we'll tell you how.
What is Customer Centric?
The concept Customer Centric — literally translated as “Customer at the Center” — responds to the customer-oriented strategy through which an organization places the customer at the center of the company with the objective of focusing all processes and operations on users.
Thanks to the implementation of Customer Centric, with actions aimed at customer satisfaction and loyalty, among others, clear objectives such as loyalty are established and benefits such as increased sales are achieved. All of this stems from the idea of satisfying customer needs and, consequently, establishing a long-term relationship.
In short, the Customer Centric philosophy has been gaining more and more ground in companies, linking their customers to decision-making and subsequent development of the product or service, in order to offer a better value offer.
Customer Centric Benefits
· Increased user satisfaction: placing the customer at the center of the company's interests, as a key part of the operation, will make them feel much more satisfied due to their prestigious position.
· Customer loyalty: as we mentioned before, with the implementation of customer centric your customers will be more satisfied. As a result, by having happy customers, you will be able to make them loyal to your company.
· Improving the corporate image: placing your customers at the center of the company's activity or operations will significantly improve their image of your company.
· Positive publicity: taking into account good results in parameters such as user satisfaction or even the rate of improvement in the corporate image, it will be possible to obtain feedback in the advertising of our company. A satisfied and happy customer will be a company's best prescriber.
· Business opportunities: knowing in detail the concerns and needs of customers will not only help to increase their satisfaction but also to exploit all possible business opportunities. Through calls, surveys or even through support channels, we can detect all these needs and treat them as information that can be implemented.
How to implement the Customer Centric philosophy in your company
Taking action and implementing such a novel strategy and approach as Customer Centric is not easy. Therefore, below we show you by the hand of Zendesk What are the key aspects you should consider to carry it out:
· Take actions to receive Feedback from customers: measuring your satisfaction in addition to knowing first-hand what your feelings are regarding a service or product is key to being able to improve. Use the feedbacks as a premonitive formula for solutions to potential problems, it will make it possible to identify unmet needs in advance.
· Instant communication: as we mentioned before with feedback, having direct and instant communication with your customers is a key factor for their satisfaction and success, since you offer them security and transparency regarding your product. At SmartMonkey, we are very clear that communication with customers is very important and, therefore, we have our email platform. Thanks to the email platform, you can keep your customers informed at all times with the possibility of directly sending all the information necessary to monitor the full service in real time.
· Synchrony between departments: all departments of the company must be aligned with the continuous improvement of the customer experience; all must aim to provide the best possible experience to customers through support, information or improvements at the product level, among others.
· Loyalty programs: the most satisfied and loyal customers will be the best ambassadors of our brand. In this way, it is important to consider a loyalty strategy so that the customer feels part of a community as well as feeling the center of it.
· Appropriate interaction and support: it is essential to offer customers all the interaction and support they need with our company. Therefore, offering a multiplicity of channels to adapt to the needs of each user is key, since the objective will be to facilitate communication.
· CRM: it is necessary to have a customer data manager in order to be able to know in depth what the needs of each of them are; having the right tools will make customers have a better service and are more satisfied. In addition, with a CRM you can manage the analysis of all the information collected from your customers and extract, among others, buying trends.
Do you want to know other market trends? Go to our article Reverse Logistics: what it is and what are its benefits and discover one of the latest trends.
On November 26th, that is, in exactly 50 days, a new edition of Black Friday will be held. A commercial event of American origin that has managed to establish itself with great force around the world in recent years.
Even with the Covid-19 pandemic very present and its inevitable commercial consequences, especially the disproportionate rise in sea freight prices (with a notable impact on trade between China and Europe), the traditional Black Friday will go ahead, despite the “metamorphosis” of the situation.
In this article, we offer you the keys and key aspects of the last edition of the most commercial Black Friday so that you can learn first-hand about the expectations and forecasts of D-Day logistics.
Collapse and rise in prices in maritime freight: How does it affect Black Friday 2021?
Over the past year and a half, electronic commerce has been faced squarely with different problems affecting its good development. One of the first setbacks for the ecommerce it has undoubtedly been a consequence of Covid-19: during the lockdown, many online stores were unable to meet the huge demand, thus causing various logistical problems and even the collapse. In addition, the now popular stranding of the Evergreen vessel and the consequent blockage of the Suez Canal, whose consequences were serious delays for many companies worldwide.
In the same way, in recent weeks, the well-known container crisis has spread, whose impact has shaken the world economy in addition to causing the closure of some ports, such as China. For the Asian country, the closure of a terminal of what is currently the largest port in terms of container traffic on a global scale has caused delays, difficulties as well as an uncertain future for all ecommerce, especially for the next edition of Black Friday 2021 and the Christmas season, the two periods with the highest number of sales in the entire year.
It should be emphasized that all of these problems in the logistics network have consequences not only in terms of delivery times, but also in terms of the final price for users (with a longer transport time, the higher the cost of transport).
And what's the alternative? Companies such as Alibaba have found air transport as a temporary alternative to be able to maintain their logistics operations, an interim solution that has allowed them to maintain the delivery times of their customers in the European market.
Forecasts for Black Friday 2021
Thanks to the article Black Friday 2021 statistics: 10 numbers you should know with the help of the company Oberlo, we offer you below a summary of some of the most significant statistics for the logistics sector ahead of the next edition of Black Friday.
Sales forecasts
Many users choose Black Friday as a special date to advance Christmas shopping with great discounts given the proximity between the two dates.
In fact, in the 2020 edition of Black Friday, sales were so high that they even represented 30% of annual revenue.
Despite not yet having forecasts for the Black Friday 2021 edition, from companies such as In Markerter estimate that in the United States alone, the increase in online sales by that date will be approximately 11.3%.
A third of Spanish adults plan to shop on Black Friday 2021
For this next edition of Black Friday, approximately 13 million Spaniards are expected to shop on the famous “Black Friday”. Of all of them, it is estimated that 78.41% will make their purchases in person while 21.59% will make them through e-commerce. With regard to age groups, it is estimated that it is precisely the generation that expects to spend the most throughout the day.
Average spending on Black Friday 2021
According to the company Deloitte, the average expenditure among Spaniards will be 127 euros during the Black Friday weekend, also including the well-known Cyber Monday. Thus, this average expenditure per person would mean that Spaniards will already spend 23% of the budget reserved for Christmas on Black Friday.
It should be noted that in other countries, such as Mexico, the average expenditure per citizen is 279 American dollars, a significantly higher outlay.
The best-selling products
The products most acclaimed by users for Black Friday are, first of all, technological products, with a total of 39.2% of total sales. Secondly, another big star of this important date are fashion products and accessories, with a total of 33.74% of sales. And finally, leisure and entertainment plans, which win the bronze medal in terms of sales, since they account for around 7.55% of the total.
Do you want Black Friday to be a success for your company? We have the solution! Visit our article Ecommerce: 5 essential tools to survive in 2021 to learn about the most interesting applications for your company.
Logistics trends in ecommerce
It is well known that parcel delivery companies have a lot of difficulty offering a good service during these dates. Neither infrastructures nor personnel are adapted to such a sharp increase in operations. For this and other reasons, a trend is starting to appear in large e-commerce. The internalization of delivery processes in areas with the highest order density.
Currently, only companies with a large number of warehouses (stores) and requirements such as the cold are betting on this change, such as Mercadona, which already distribute their own fleet of gas-powered vehicles. We will see this trend in big brands that are increasingly considering e-commerce. The objectives are clear, better services, lower costs, but also to achieve visibility in the offline world by being able to conspicuously label your vehicles that are constantly moving around the cities.
In these cases, we are looking at route planning tools such as Planner, are very useful for simulating different scenarios and finding optimal logistics performance and determining the return on investment in this type of project. Stay tuned, in future articles we will go into the details of this type of analysis.
E-commerce, or ecommerce it has only grown in recent years. And in 2020, it broke all records, largely because of the onset of COVID-19.
This trend, far from being one-off, is something that is here to stay. Forecasts suggest that in 2025 one out of every four purchases in the sector Retail will be online.
This change in consumer mentality has caused many traditional sales companies to switch to e-commerce.
This leap may be a bit dizzying, but there are many software companies that are doing their best to break down all barriers and make online sales available to everyone.
Therefore, if you want to sell online, and not die trying, here is a list of tools that will save you hours and hours of work:
1. Online trading platform
The most important thing to be able to sell online is (how could it be otherwise), a platform that allows you to display items and connect with potential buyers and make sales. An online showcase where you can include all your stock in an attractive way.
To do this, there are dozens of tools that will allow you to update your inventory, provide you with a secure payment gateway so you can carry out transactions and where you can find templates to create a personalized experience for your customers.
Here are some of the most interesting options:
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRP)
Customers are the core of your business. That's why it's essential to have tools that allow you to connect with them in an organic way and offer them channels where they can connect with you.
Having a CRP is an economic way to centralize all those communications, and also to obtain valuable insights with which to improve.
Here is a selection:
3. Shipping planning and management
One of the most important points of eCommerce is the delivery of products. A bad delivery experience can ruin the entire shopping experience. That's why it's important to make a good investment in logistics.
Depending on the type of eCommerce, we can talk about own logistics, outsourced logistics or a mixed profile.
In the case of outsourced and last-mile logistics, localized providers have emerged in recent years that offer quality services at reasonable prices.
In the case of having logistics within the company itself, it is important to have a service that performs route planning and optimization and that allows delivery people to capture evidence of delivery and track the route.
4. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Sooner or later, every growing company needs one of these. Enterprise resource planning software allows you to manage every aspect of everyday life. Consolidation of expenses, management of packing slips, personnel management.
In this regard, large companies opt for corporate solutions such as SAP, Sage... among others.
But there are also cloud solutions that, for a much more affordable price and with a simple configuration, will satisfy all your business requirements.
5. Warehouse Management Platforms (WMS)
If you have already gone through all the previous screens and your eCommerce has ceased to be a modest garage store and now you have your own warehouse, you probably need a warehouse management platform to have control of all your stock.
This type of software gives you a detailed view of all the available resources and a complete traceability of everything that enters and leaves your warehouse.
In some cases, this type of software comes as a module of the ERP itself. But there are also dedicated tools that will simplify the management and monitoring of your warehouses:
If you want to know more about logistics or ecommerce you can contact us through Of the chat and our team will be happy to answer all your questions.
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