Six Reasons Why and When Do You Need Route Planning?

According to one source, the worldwide eCommerce logistics industry will expand to around 770.8 billion euros by 2026, owing to an increase in online sales.

The decision to upgrade your business according to modern e-commerce logistics proved fruitful. 

You can sell more goods online than in your store outlets. You receive orders every hour and the workload is immense, but you are happy with the outcome.

One fine day, you decided to calculate the profits. Although you are making more sales, the profit seems low comparatively!

Why is it so?

The business is running online, and you are packing, shipping, and delivering orders one after the other.

Take a security check! Is someone stealing all your money?

What if you notice that it’s not just the money but your time and energy? 

Who is causing all this chaos? Is it your packing costs or vehicle maintenance costs or the delivery driver’s fault?

Or is it you who is at fault because, amidst all this delivery management process, you choose to stick to the traditional delivery process?

Keep reading to know the fault and why and when do you need route planning.

From Order to Delivery

The movement of goods from the sorting to a cost-effective route to the distribution centers involves a long processing chain. Delivery turns out to be an essential part of the whole process as it is a direct interface between the customer and the brand. 

Some businesses lose money in the last-mile delivery process because they stick to traditional delivery methods.

Reasons Why Traditional Delivery Methods Lead to Loss:-

1. Delivery duration

Changing trends have changed customer demands.

Earlier when one used to wait a whole week to get the package delivered, nowadays its a matter of hours. That’s where the businesses that still deliver with the old speed get disregarded by the cost-effective route for transporting sellers providing faster delivery, keeping in mind the value of customer experience.

2. Multiple deliveries

It’s okay for a small business to make limited deliveries within the duration provided. But it is not possible to handle increased orders and still make profits with traditional delivery systems in such cases.

Making multiple deliveries on the same route might lead to revisiting the exact location at different times, leading to driver frustration and pressure on the firm.

3. Fixed routes

Traditional delivery methods were once the successful delivery method, but according to today’s demands, a shift from these methods is a must. Fixed routes are never a sure delivery route considering traffic congestion, strikes, etc.

It is crucial to stay updated with optimized routes and pay attention to route planning beforehand. 

What Is Route Planning?

Route planning refers to the most cost-effective route for transporting goods/orders with multiple stops. E-commerce logistics and transportation companies mainly use it. 

It finds the most efficient routes and reduces overall transportation costs. 

Route planning and optimization have a lot of benefits to count as they can handle the most complex delivery operations.

Why Do You Need Route Planning?

Most of us use Google Maps for our day-to-day commuting. 

Could it be for a traffic check or the fastest route calculation? Route planning is just like Google Maps but with a broader specter of use. 

It can provide you with more than accurate time traffic updates and the shortest possible routes.

1. Dynamic Route Planning

Creating several stops on the same route for multiple order deliveries on the same route is known as dynamic route planning.

Dynamic route planning can be optimized based on real-time traffic-related and weather issues. 

The real-time data optimization helps in reducing time on the road, hence reducing fuel costs. Route planner further ensures on-time delivery and customer satisfaction. 

Route optimization can be considered an essential element for the food delivery company. They are under pressure to make on-time, fast, yet cost-effective delivery to ensure that the food reaches the customer in the most presentable temperature and way.

Only an intelligent route planning software can do complex route planning for such businesses.

It’s not only the food delivery business but certain other businesses like fresh flower deliverers, grocery deliverers, and many more that work with a deadline to reach customers on time. All these businesses can be at an advantage by using good route optimization software to make efficient route planning.

2. Multi-stop Routes

It is a point of utmost loss when one has to deliver orders one after the other at multiple locations in a given time. Unplanned routes lead to such situations. One can plan delivery routes based on certain factors:

• Number of orders to be delivered
• Vehicle capacity 
• Workforce availability
• Delivery schedules
• Customer expectations

One can save a lot of money, time, and energy by using route planning software on regular basis.

The key benefit of a route planner app is that it provides real-time tracking like Google Maps. But it also uses the information provided, like the number of packages to be delivered, efficient route for delivering multiple orders having similar locations, and saving you fuel costs.

3. Vehicle Maintenance Costs

Certain businesses involve traveling above 200-1000 miles per day. Such long distances can cause significant changes to the business as it involves fuel costs, vehicle capacity constraints, fleet operating costs, travel time, transportation costs, and en-route wear and tear. 

Route planning strategies are a must if a business wants to cut down on all extra costs. 

But if one sits down to plan the entire route manually, it turns out to be time-consuming, and this method leads to going on fixed routes with no real-time data about the current condition. 

Avoiding route planning not only reduces delivery performance but also affects fleet management. 

So, it’s better to use advanced delivery route planning software to find efficient routes. 

Route mapping becomes easier, delivery services enhance, you can cover all your destinations, and it becomes easier to handle business operations in time.

4. Multiple Drivers

A confused driver with no proper guidance/information about rerouting or multiple delivery tactics will increase delivery costs for the company and serve no purpose.

You must keep the delivery driver informed about the real-time route dynamics, multiple delivery locations, and the most efficient routes. 

How is this achievable?

A specific delivery window is a must to keep the driver updated and keep the update of the driver. An advanced route optimization software can provide proper route optimization for the customer locations. 

An efficient route planning software can provide the fleet manager with a live tracking portal of all routes and drivers, allowing the manager to manage and update routes and providing the delivery driver with all routes and addresses.

A well-established system demands accurate route planning software to ease the delivery management’s work and add to its profit levels.

When Do You Need Route Planning?

The need for delivery route planning is based on two fundamental reasons:

1. You are growing e-commerce, and dealing with many delivery problems.
2. You want to cut down on your extra delivery charges.

Now let’s break down the points mentioned above to shortlist the pointers you need route optimization software for.

Need for Route Planning

1. Delivery route planning:

You need an advanced route planner app when you want to preplan the routes your delivery drivers shall be taking to complete the process in time. Delivery route planning is a significant part of the process as it ensures smooth and on-time delivery of the orders to the customers, ensuring a good customer experience.

Route planner shall help trace out the most cost-effective/optimal routes. Finding appropriate delivery routes is considered the most hectic part of the whole delivery process. It involves a lot of searches and is most likely to disturb the whole chain by being unavailable for travel. To ensure no last-moment chaos, one must use delivery routing software capable of handling advanced algorithms.

2. Reduce time on the road:

The delivery personnel can face a setback by getting stuck while finding a delivery location on unfamiliar roads. It will take a lot of time to find a way out of hundreds of routes and increase fuel consumption. One needs to include an optimized route in the planning process to avoid such circumstances.

3. Route sequencing:

Every order counts to be necessary, no matter how near or far the location is. Identifying and placing such locations in the sequence of their distance can help avoid revisiting the exact location. Route planning will keep them intact with the optimal route and ensure that orders are delivered within customer delivery deadlines.

4. Save money:

The most considerable benefit of using a route planner is that it can save a significant amount of money. The route planner does so by cutting down the extra fleet costs involved in covering extra miles or because of delivery delays. They are reducing fuel costs add-on to the savings.

Planned routes give a clear idea about the number of vehicles required to complete the delivery, and fleet managers can appoint the delivery drivers accordingly, reducing salary outgoing. Dynamic routing gives a live update of actual routes and locations, reducing delivery times.

5. Schedule gaps:

Using a route planner, one can optimize orders and deliver them well in advance in case of a schedule gap. Scheduling gap will save time to tackle future orders and enhance customer service because who doesn’t like an early delivery!

6. Better planning strategies:

All you need to master the skill of finding an efficient delivery route is intelligent route planning software. It will provide you with the most effective route planning strategies, saving your planning time.

But tackling such complex algorithms of e-commerce is not every application’s cup of tea. To make sure that you invest in the right app, you should know the software that keeps on updating with the latest trends.

Plan Your Routes with Upper Route Planner

Upper Route Planner is the recommended delivery management solution for delivery businesses to plan and optimize their delivery routes efficiently. 

It is an advanced multi-stop route planner that can help you in many ways. It can automatically optimize routes, considering service time, time windows, real-time traffic, and avoiding ferries, tolls, and highways.

With Upper Route Planner, companies can focus on the core business operations and cut down on manual planning and scheduling hours while the algorithm takes care of the rest.

So the next time you doubt when and why you need route planning, visit the Upper Route Planner website and get your answers.

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