WASHINGTON, D.C. - It takes more than a tracking number to get billions in online holiday sales to the nation’s 37 million apartment residents. In fact, one in four apartment communities (24 percent) use specialized software just to manage residents’ packages on-site, according to the new National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and Kingsley Associates 2014 Package Delivery Survey.
According to the survey, a typical apartment community can receive as many as 100 packages a week - a number that can double during the holidays. Last year consumers spent $2.3 billion on Cyber Monday alone.
“Residents rank a package delivery holding area as the second most popular community amenity behind fitness centers, so there’s a huge incentive for apartment community managers to wrangle the growing volume of deliveries,” said Rick Haughey, NMHC Vice President of Industry Technology Initiatives. “A lot has to happen behind the scenes to make sure the package gets from the delivery truck to the resident’s home. This survey offers a first peek into the logistics and new technologies around package delivery.”
When a resident orders an item for delivery, in 77 percent of apartment buildings surveyed, package carriers will try to deliver to the door first versus going straight to the management office. That number drops to just 20 percent of high-rises. If the resident isn’t home, package carriers will take it to the management office 70 percent of the time - leading to a huge volume of packages for the community manager to handle.
“Managing deliveries is a real issue facing the industry. There is inherent risk and valuable time associated with sorting, storing and notifying residents of package deliveries at the community-level. Senior executives are clearly taking note of the escalating staff hours spent managing the process, particularly during holidays,” said David Smith, COO and Vice President, Kingsley Associates.
What happens to all those packages that carriers can’t deliver directly? Many apartment firms are turning to technology to tame the package beast. Nearly a quarter of properties use software to track packages and notify residents. For high-rise properties, fully 60 percent are using specialized software.
The solutions are new, however, and not yet widely adopted. Overall, apartment management is just as likely to notify residents via text or email (26 percent) as they would use the phone (26 percent). Manual methods like oOld fashioned paper notices are used 18 percent of the time.
A new trend for apartment managers is the use of package lockers. About one in ten (9 percent) use a locker system that allows residents to pick up their deliveries at their own schedule.
“When you receive 200 or 300 packages a week, it puts tremendous pressure on the staff to manage the influx of deliveries. And with 90 percent of retail sales still taking place in brick and mortar buildings, we’re only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of e-commerce,” said Haughey. “Moving forward, we’ll see more use of technology and automation that not only manages the volume but gives the residents flexibility. Online shopping and technologies like instant streaming put the control in the consumers’ hands. Picking up your packages will ultimately be no different.”
More information about the survey can be found at www.nmhc.org/packages
Download the infographic here.
About the survey:
The survey was fielded in October with 2,758 community managers from 28 leading firms responding.
