How Good Logistics Makes eCommerce Companies Great

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Tips for improving the last mile of delivery.

According to the National Retail Federation, the eCommerce industry is growing at an incredible rate of an estimated 8-12 percent in 2017. Total retail sales are expected to grow 3.7-4.2percent in 2017, excluding cars, gas stations, and restaurant sales, according to CNBC. And consumer expectations are also getting more demanding, with a recent report finding that 70 percent of executives see supply chain costs continuing to rise as they scramble to provide the delivery options demanded by customers. With 70 percent say that the cost of fulfilling and delivering online orders erodes gross margins, according to the Seventh Annual State of the Retail Supply Chain report from the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), what can eretailers do to help improve the last mile of delivery for efficiency and cost-effectiveness?

According to route sequencing and optimization software platform provider Route4Me, when you have a route planner, it’s much easier to satisfy these demands. Using a route planner can help retailers:

• Plan routes effortlessly. Route planning can be complicated, particularly when drivers must figure in traffic, weather, construction, customer availability, and other factors. Using a Using a road trip planner with multiple stops ensures that your routes are accurate and efficient, ensuring timely delivery. And while manual route planning can take hours, a driving route planner can do the job in just 30 seconds.
• Catch mistakes before they cause problems. Typing in “Road” instead of “Drive” could cost your drivers valuable delivery time, putting them behind schedule and wasting resources. Using a route planner app helps to catch errors before they can affect the route. And when paired with the best route mapping software, you can connect to your eCommerce platform and access customer data directly, saving time and eliminating the risk of data entry errors.
• Track your drivers and vehicles. Real-time vehicle tracking capabilities ensure that your drivers are where they are supposed to be and how fast they are getting there. This allows you to check in with a particular driver to ensure that they are staying on schedule.

In just one example of how such platforms can help, online ethical food retailer Ten Mile Menu recently adopted dynamic route planning and scheduling software from Maxoptra and has seen significant reduction in the time it takes to route and schedule its weekly deliveries and in the actual delivery times, as Van Fleet World reported.

Steve Sidhu, founder of Ten Mile Menu, said: “Since implementing Maxoptra, the time taken to plan weekly deliveries has been reduced by 75 percent, and the time taken to complete the delivery schedule has been slashed by up to an hour and half a day. Interestingly, on our rural routes, the changes made by Maxoptra were relatively simple, but they have had a big impact on efficiency and idling times and, without Maxoptra, the planning of city center routes would simply be impossible.

“As we continue to expand, I am confident that Maxoptra will come into its own as a management tool. From any connected device, anywhere in the world, I will be able to keep an eye on deliveries, making sure drivers stick to their schedules and exhibit appropriate driving behavior.”