Retailers Want Shipment Visibility, Narvar Wants to Give It to Them

Supply chain visibility continues to hamper businesses and their consumers. The current situation that has seen record numbers of cargo ships sit off the coast of California most of the summer and into the fall has exacerbated the problem.

Shippers simply don't know where or when their goods will arrive, and that means the end consumer is left in the dark.

In 2019, a MIT Sloan School of Management survey found that 75% of companies considered supply chain transparency helpful in building trust between themselves and the consumer, but the report noted that 81% of companies polled in a separate survey said they did not have full visibility, and 54% said they had no visibility.

For e-commerce brands, the problem is particularly acute when visibility does not mean tracking a single container but could mean tracking a single package. Post-purchase experience firm Narvar is trying to change that, on Tuesday launching a tracking service called Monitor.

Monitor provides detailed tracking information across a brand's entire delivery network, including real-time data collected from integrations with UPS UPS, to help proactively detect and address supply chain issues before they become customer experience problems.

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"This holiday season, brands need to get ahead of their logistics issues or face disappointed shoppers. The last 18 months have revealed just how complex and fragile the supply chain is, and too many retailers lack critical visibility into their own delivery network," said Amit Sharma, founder and CEO of Narvar. "For the first time, Narvar will provide real-time data from UPS, combined with retailer fulfillment details and data from other carriers. With this comprehensive view, Monitor empowers brands to deliver peace of mind to their customers during this challenging time."

Monitor combines real-time delivery data from carriers with advanced machine learning models across Narvar's Post-Purchase Platform, which powers customer experiences for more than 1,100 global brands including Gap GPS, Urban Outfitters, and Cole Haan. The company said Monitor offers a 360-degree view of package logistics, personalized insights, and actionable intelligence in a single dashboard.

Monitor offers: 

• Real-time visibility into shipment status and carrier network performance — a single source of truth.
• Actionable intelligence to uncover early signals of delivery disruptions to proactively communicate with customers, preventing poor experiences. 
• Personalized insights through customized dashboards, reporting, and emails to ensure every retailer's business priorities are met.
• Category benchmarks to help brands understand how their fulfillment performance stacks up against the market.

Deloitte is predicting holiday retail sales will increase between 7% and 9% over 2020, with e-commerce expected to grow between 11% and 15% this year to reach at least $210 billion and as much as $218 billion. Total retail sales are forecast to be $1.28 trillion to $1.3 trillion. The ability for retailers to effectively track their items is more important than ever.

"Monitor solves these problems by unifying retailers' delivery networks into a single view, which allows brands to not only address delivery network issues but also to provide accurate order status information to customers," Narvar said in a release. "Monitor will equip brands with the real-time status that can be used to proactively turn a delay into a positive customer experience by offering timely communications and peace of mind, as well as discounts or other loyalty-building incentives."

Click for more articles by Brian Straight.

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