Last-mile delivery is also being transformed in the country, with contactless service being pushed to the forefront to satisfy consumer demand for more convenient and safer ways to receive their orders. KFC recently partnered with Neolix, a Chinese self-driving company, to offer “stores on wheels” with touchless menus and scan-and-pay capabilities.

Google announced a partnership last week with Ericsson to provide last-mile 5G, albeit on a much smaller scale in conjunction with Telecom Italia. The bigger picture: Carriers are still building out their 5G networks, which still do not generate substantial revenues. Partnering with cloud service providers helps cover development costs.

Olsavsky said the company is investing heavily in last-mile delivery efforts, which is in line with recent moves from the etailer.

“Ensuring a good experience can be difficult when many factors are outside of your control, including issues that occur in the last mile of video delivery,” Susman said. “But technology can help to solve those problems.”.

It has allowed the retailer to connect that last mile between their storefront and the consumers when they can’t get in the door.”. McGowan said Snap has tested some type of AR lens with most of the big-box retailers in Canada. Toys R Us and other retailers in Canada have used Snapchat’s portal lenses to simulate a store tour.

Improved last-mile delivery comes with traffic congestion. One-click payment comes with the potential for increased returns. “There are also a lot of externalities that are becoming a bigger part of the discussion,” Profitero’s Anderson said.

We then created our own logistics network, Meli Net, and for the first time, we began to handle products directly by setting up cross-docking, warehousing, fulfillment, and last-mile operations.

Arsen Avakian, co-founder and CEO of Cooler Screens, a digital merchandizing and media platform that replaces traditional cooler doors in retail stores, called digital store signage “the last-mile of advertising”—a highly effective dynamic marketing vehicle right at the point-of-sale (POS). It also reduces friction as customers traverse the aisles.

But Amazon has hardly rested on its laurels as a best-in-class provider of fast and free delivery; instead, it’s doubled down by investing in fulfillment centers and last-mile delivery to turn free two-day shipping for Prime members into free next-day shipping.

Despite substantial 2019 investments in last-mile logistics to enable next-day Prime delivery, Amazon encountered immediate service disruptions during the early days of panic-buying. As huge demand collided with supply chain and labor constraints, Amazon needed to staff up, retool warehouse operations, and temporarily deprioritize delivery of nonessential goods.

“Unless a retailer has its own last-mile delivery capability, I don't see it being able to do much other than setting expectations with its customers that delivery times will be longer. Even a company like Amazon can't keep up—and it owns thousands of last-mile delivery trucks.”.

Grocery companies—and more specifically their systems and services—have really been put to the test amid the pandemic. Many grocers are having trouble keeping items on the shelves. And even the most prepared are encountering issues with supply chain logistics.

The one key area for us is last mile delivery. We’re building out our third automated microfulfillment center in Washington, DC. That’ll be our third center with microfulfillment, and there’s going to be a lot more automation.

Several approaches aim to cut delivery time by establishing more pickup points, making collection easier or tackling last-mile logistics with different vehicle types. For example, many retailers are experimenting with pickup at selected partner stores in urban areas that are, by definition, close to many consumers.

Amazon’s sizable 2019 investments in scaling warehouses and last-mile logistics for next-day Prime shipping put the company in a position to reasonably support the recent demand spike.

Last-mile automation, specifically in the form of unmanned delivery, is much closer to reality than one might think. Several companies, including Kroger, Amazon, FedEx and Ocado, are in advanced stages of development and testing of autonomous delivery vehicles.

It’s much easier to coordinate between warehouses and grocery stores than it is among warehouses, grocery stores, packing operations and last-mile delivery services. The more handoffs in the process and the more time from store shelves to customers’ refrigerators, the greater likelihood that an issue will arise.

“They have been very aggressive in expanding and innovating in every aspect of their online grocery supply chain, from warehouse automation to click-and-collect operations to last-mile delivery. As the country’s largest grocery chain, Kroger’s influence on the development of this category will continue to be felt.”.

Amazon’s investment in warehouse and last-mile logistics for next-day and same-day Prime (not to mention removing its $14.99 monthly fee for Amazon Fresh) eliminated barriers to online grocery delivery. The buildouts of click-and-collect operations by Walmart and various national grocery chains helped propel that behavior forward.

The dominant theme of the 2019 online holiday shopping season is the shortened calendar, and its effects are felt most acutely among logistics providers—particularly for last-mile delivery.

This past holiday season had fewer challenges in this regard: expanded capacity by the logistics providers, Amazon’s added capacity for last-mile deliveries, and no late-season weather events. “This was also the first year where FedEx made Saturday and Sunday standard delivery days for the holiday season,” Jindel added.