5 real-life applications of UX design in logistics processes

Each time we shop on Amazon, eBay or any other website, we expect the orders to be delivered right at our door within several days. Besides free shipment of things we buy online, we want to keep track of delivery and be able to easily return what we bought in case we don’t like it.

Today’s customers require seamless and more transparent buying experiences, which businesses can deliver by designing customer-centric supply-chain networks and automating logistics processes.

According to the Statista report, e-commerce sales accounted for around $2.3 trillion in 2017 and are expected to reach $4.5 trillion in 2021. This means that the need for fast and automated delivery services will be on the rise.

In recent years, the traditional logistics industry has undergone massive changes. Such modern digital technologies as cloud, IoT, drones, robotics, and others have made it more advanced and agile. Yet, little attention has been given to the role of user experience design in improving the supply chain solutions. It’s becoming more and more challenging to meet customers’ expectations in delivery, return policies and payment options.

And UX designers can help at every stage of the supply chain. It includes developing smart warehouse and transport management systems for employees and supervisors as well as user-friendly tracking apps for clients.

Warehouse process improvement

When it comes to warehouse management operations, standard ERP solutions are often cumbersome as they don’t provide real-time visibility into warehouse activity, worker locations, and performance metrics.

Warehouse employees and supervisors require better tools built with a design thinking approach to be able to assign tasks to workers based on their locations, perform remote QA inspections, and track real-time metrics. The idea is to connect workers and supervisors on the same mobile devices that have a familiar user interface to improve their productivity.

Relying on warehouse management systems that are not user-friendly often results in reduced employee productivity, lower user adoption, increased number of support requests, and disappointing ROI. So if you think that user experience of your warehouse management software will not have any impact on your business, think again.

UX plays a central role in designing innovative, user-friendly software solutions for effective warehouse management.

First of all, UX designers have to perform an in-depth analysis of the major warehouse and distribution operations. Then they come up with multiple user flows taking into account all the delivery and storing details. Based on the user roles and flows, designers create the wireframes of the main pages and interactive prototypes. As soon as the wireframes are approved, UI mockups are designed.

For instance, Bitlog, one of the successful products on the supply and logistics market in Sweden, put much emphasis on UX design when developing its solutions. The company hired professional UX designers at N-iX to automate daily operations of the warehouse employees and increase efficiency. So the main task of the UX team was to study warehouse processes very carefully and design the apps in a way that would ensure the hassle-free experience of their employees. Ultimately, such an approach resulted in better customer experience.

Smart traffic network design

According to data by Honeywell, the delivery of an item to a customer makes up 50% of total logistics costs on any shipment. It is a burning issue for every retailer to figure out how goods can be distributed from supply points to demand points quickly and at the lowest possible costs.

It’s true, the supply chain is fraught with many challenges, including congestion in urban areas, distance in remote areas, invalid or incorrect address details, a lack of human presence to sign for deliveries, etc. However, big data in UX design can change it all. Data-driven decisions are crucial for the efficiency of the supply chain from optimizing driving patterns to predicting vehicle malfunctions. With the help of Location Intelligence (LI), you can keep your customers happy with more accurate time window estimates and less missed appointments.

Efficient inventory management

Stocking the right amount of inventory is important. If you order too little, your customers will shop elsewhere. If you order too much, you risk running out of storage space. If not done right, inventory management can be one of the biggest cost drivers.

An effective inventory management system with smooth user experience can be your effective way out. It can provide you with basic inventory tracking, order management functionality, integration possibilities, and data visualization. Manual tracking, by contrast, is time-consuming no matter whether you maintain handwritten records or enter information into a computer spreadsheet.

Designing a user-friendly inventory management system will allow users to visualize their inventory levels and keep track of real-time sales statistics and order trends. They can easily see what items are moving and which ones are sitting on the shelf taking up valuable space and resources.

Intelligent tracking and effective returns management

From the customers’ perspective, it is essential to keep an eye on every stage of the product delivery and be able to communicate with a supplier in real-time. Thus, order tracking systems should provide customers with the visibility of what happens behind the scenes. It includes the status of the order from initial order to the warehouse where the order will be packed, and finally to the places in which the order will be picked up by a carrier and then delivered to a customer. The system should be integrated with other platforms such as warehouse management, inventory, and the carrier’s tracking systems. This will provide the visibility into the order status and location as it moves towards the customer.

On the other hand, a retailer’s return policy is as important as the delivery process. No-hassle returns are a part of the shopping experience and play a central role in the customers’ decision to buy. Although resources spent on returns have been viewed as unrecoverable losses, retailers should strive to make a return as simple as making a purchase while keeping costs down. Surprisingly, by offering a convenient and automated online return system, you can only increase your sales. For instance, after adopting generous returns policies Amazon and Zappos found that their customers with the highest return rate are also their best customers bringing the company the most money.

Building a UX team

Logistics and supply chain are not the most innovative industries. And even when the companies realize the importance of UX design in the solutions they develop, they face the challenge of finding qualified UX designers.

As businesses often partner with third-party vendors to develop their software, they might want to outsource UX expertise as well. This is apparently the smartest way to go since it allows focusing on the core business expertise and eliminates the headache of building the team in-house. But which model is the most cost-effective when working with UX design team?

When it comes to software development, dedicated development team model is the golden standard. However, as a rule, you don’t need full-time UX designers for a very long period on a project. Therefore, it is a common practice to extend the development team with UX designers during the certain project phases, and there are a lot of software outsourcing vendors that offer such a ramp-up. This way you can take advantage of all the benefits of UX design and deliver a truly customer-centric logistics solution without your costs going through the roof.

Conclusion

As trends show, many supply networks will be established at a regional level. Customers will be more likely to buy online from local shops. Particularly, this is true of generations Y and Z who don’t like to carry things they buy. Thus, they shop online and require same-day delivery even if it presupposes extra money. Customers also continue to demand greater transparency and control over of the logistics process and want to intervene in the delivery process more often.

This adds to the complexity of designing a smooth user experience. Suppliers need to anticipate consumers’ behaviour, model the network, create ‘what-if’ scenarios, and adjust the supply chain immediately as conditions change. By integrating data across the entire supply chain, the user experience can be significantly improved through optimization of warehouse and inventory management and reduction of delivery times.