Home delivery services-logistics

Introduction

Enormous growth has been witnessed in Home Delivery Services in recent years, bringing with it both opportunities and challenges to companies offering such services.
Companies have had to review their logistics strategies to take into account this growing trend and, as the demand for home deliveries continues to increase, they are focusing greater attention on improving the performance of their delivery services whilst at the same time striving to make his aspect of their business more cost efficient.
In this assignment I will discuss the elements that contributed for the growth of Home Delivery services, the factors to be taking into consideration before launching this kind of service, the costs associated with failed deliveries and some of the challenges that a company might face when introducing Home Delivery service in the UAE.

The growth experienced in Home Delivery services and factors in generating this growth.

Home delivery services involve transportation of goods through transportation networks and delivering them to customer’s disposal. The providers of home delivery services have design and operational expertise which enables them to provide the solution needed by their customers with full integration of customers supply chain (Plunkett 2009, p.16). The major services delivered by the home delivery services providers include: operation of home delivery service centers, managing customer orders from source to home, operating central warehouses, provision of technology for visibility and control, transportation from source to delivery or at the customers door step, and managing reverse flows and value added services (McKinnon et al 2010, p.48).
The services have been of mutual significance to customers as they ensure that there is elimination of all the countless hours spend by customers shopping for their goods such as groceries and household supplies, standing in line and fighting