Unless you sell tractors and lawnmowers or back-yard trampolines, the chances are good that your customers come from all walks of life and live in all types of homes. From rural countrysides where the nearest shopping center is miles away, to suburban towns where neighbors know neighbors, the last mile of delivery for their e-commerce purchases is relatively straightforward.
But you probably also have potential customers in urban areas living stacked one on top of another in doorman-attended highrises. These customers are much harder to deliver to. Consider how your overall sales could improve if you were able to provide a safe, accurate, and timely delivery service to urban consumers?
Neighborhoods in concentrated markets have an ongoing problem with delivery services from major shippers. Traffic tie-ups. Apartment access. Lobby looters and porch thieves. They all cause tension between the shipper and the recipient, especially when shipping is often promised with two-day and even single day turnaround times. That's why Amazon, who came up with same-day delivery in the first place, has had to put limitations on its same-day delivery promise for some locations.
Millions affected, and possibly buying less.
Millions of online shoppers who live in urban, multi-unit apartment buildings — but who don't have a doorman and who can't take off from work to accept a package — struggle to receive deliveries. According to a recent survey by Security.org, 38% of respondents believe they've had packages stolen from their residences after the packages were delivered. That's nearly four out of every ten people affected by package theft, considered larceny in the US..
Many cities are noticing an upward trend in residents reporting that they've been the victim of package thefts. In Los Angeles, for example, the LAPD reports that incidents of packages stolen from lobbies, stoops, and porches have exploded by nearly 600% since 2010.
Porch theft may impact shoppers in another way that can severely affect your business. With a fear of having packages stolen upon delivery, customers may be less likely to keep spending. In fact, a 2017 Shorr survey also found that 41% of people have avoided purchasing certain items online so that they can limit their exposure to package theft.
Serving e-commerce customers the old fashioned way.
Today, direct sales companies and multi-level marketing (MLM) businesses are shaping new solutions to fill these modern delivery voids. Targeting difficult-to-deliver-to markets, they build conveniently located brick-and-mortar customer pick-up centers to allow customers and distributors to pick up products they've ordered online. This enables MLM companies to turn around potential customers who may have been unable to receive shipments to their doorsteps. In most cases, the products are available on the very same day that they were purchased.
Conveniently, that's what we do. Cura Resource Group was designed to fulfill the needs of direct-sales brands who want a brick-and-mortar presence in an urban market, but who aren't in the business of developing and managing real estate. MLMs, especially, can benefit from setting up pick-up centers in difficult-to-deliver-to markets in several ways:
- Instant Expertise: The MLM maximizes profits since the pick-up center can accept cash payment. In fact, Cura Resource Group can process in-store transactions with cash or credit cards, fulfill phone orders, and provide "click-and-collect" online ordering with in-store pick-up. In some cases, the MLM can avoid gateway payments (applied to most e-commerce transactions).
- Maximize Profits: The MLM maximizes profits since the pick-up center can accept cash payment. In fact, Cura can process in-store transactions with cash or credit cards, fulfill phone orders, and provide "click-and-collect" online ordering with in-store pick-up. In some cases, the MLM can avoid gateway payments (applied to most e-commerce transactions).
- Eliminate chargebacks: MLMs can avoid chargeback fees as well as the actual chargebacks that occur when a customer says they never received the product or disputes a purchase outright.
- Customer base expansion: By establishing a physical presence in an underserved community, an MLM company reaches untapped customers and gets free advertising/brand recognition since their name appears on the physical pick-up center location.
If you serve customers in an urban market affected by last-mile delivery voids, you’ll be pleased to know that creating your own customer pick-up center may be the solution. By partnering with Cura Resource Group, we can help you quickly reach new customers and establish your brand in underserved markets. Currently, we have centers up and running in urban areas of New York City, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Puerto Rico. Where can we build for you?
Contact us to discuss your distribution & delivery strategies and find out how we've helped companies grow their business by utilizing local brick-and-mortar pick-up sales centers.
