Despatch Accuracy

Whether despatch is managed in house or managed by a 3PL partner, eCommerce relies on accurate delivery of goods to the consumer. If this fails, profits are quickly lost.

The cost of reverse logistics, replacement goods and extra despatch can easily outstrip the profit of any transaction. And that’s before we factor in the loss of brand reputation, team morale and other intangibles.

Even a firm working on a 99% accuracy rate can be losing a lot of money. In an operation where the turnover is £200M a year, the 1% error rate means £2M sale worth of stock is being mistakenly sent, to be later returned and a further £2M sale worth of replacement stock being sent out. If packaging and delivery costs are quarter of the sale price (e.g. £5.00 on a £20.00 basket) the two despatches could be attracting associated costs of another £1M per annum.

How can despatch accuracy be improved with surveillance?

1. Video evidence is a powerful way of proving what was sent and disproving claims of errors
2. Being able to track the exact person / part of the process that caused the mistake allows systemic problems to be quickly addressed.
3. Freight carriers can be monitored by cameras at loading bays and ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) allows vehicles to be associated with particular despatches
4. Integrating the loading dock VideoAudit surveillance cameras with scan events in your WMS (warehouse management system) allows handling to be viewed on video…by consignment.