You Don't Need A Good Multi-Stop Route Planner — You Need A Great One

What’s the difference between good and great route optimization? A good routing solution might help your drivers deliver to more stops each day, it might boost efficiency, and it might even save time in planning. But a great routing solution has the power to transform your delivery operations from the moment an order is placed to the five-star review from a happy customer.Industry-wide, last mile costs are roughly half of total supply chain costs. Inefficiencies must be eliminated to avoid hampering growth and driving up operating costs.

However, that's a lot harder than it sounds. The difficulty of creating the most efficient path between a series of stops, called "the traveling salesman problem," was first articulated in 1832, but it took more than a century — into the 1960s — for mathematicians to find solutions that laid the groundwork for today's optimization software.

Using a modern multi-stop route planner can solve the complexities and inefficiencies inherent in delivery. It can empower retailers and carriers to boost customer satisfaction and profit margins and allow them to grow. The best route planners build on recent advances in AI in ways that earlier mathematicians could not have imagined.

What Is a Multi Stop Route Planner? 

A  route planning app digitizes itineraries and automates route planning.

Google Maps is a classic example of a basic route planner. Drivers who are touring a new area, running errands, or avoiding construction zones can use Google maps to find the quickest way of getting to their destination. Basic route planning apps like Google Maps offer convenience for everyday drivers, but they don't have the sophistication or computational brawn needed to optimize commercial delivery routes. Multi stop route planners, on the other hand, offer power benefits to commercial fleets — from lowering fuel consumption to meeting customers’ expectations for timely deliveries and increasing capacity utilization.

An enterprise-scale route planner will ingest orders from elsewhere in your IT stack (e.g. an ERP or POS system), and then automatically sort the stops into efficient routes and sequences according to parameters specified by the user. For example, routing engineers can ask for the shortest routes to minimize fuel consumption, or they can optimize for fixed delivery windows, for cost-to- serve or cost per delivery or other factors.

Different solutions will require different levels of manual effort to produce workable routes — a smart, highly automated sequence will require a few minutes of manual effort at most — and they’ll offer different degrees of flexibility. The ideal route optimization solution offers you the freedom to specify your routing needs on a granular level, sit back and let the algorithm work its magic, and then easily make adjustments as needed.

Why Businesses Invest in Route Planning Solutions

The continuing growth of e-commerce has not only increased the variety and volume of online orders, but shoppers have also increased their demand for great delivery services.

Previously, shoppers didn't mind waiting for seven to 10 business days to receive their packages. Nowadays, many consumers demand next-day — or even same day — delivery. Plus, the majority want free shipping and will abandon their shopping carts if they are delivery fees.

Consumers also have little patience for delivery delays or issues. At the same time, nearly all consumers say that they are likely to be loyal to a brand that offers them a great delivery experience.

The new mantra for delivery operations is to offer the two "F's": Fast and fabulous. 

In other words, businesses invest in route planning partially to increase efficiency, but one of the most important motivating factors is actually customer experience. Not only does the right routing solution help you delight your customers by speeding up delivery turnarounds, it also ensures that deliveries arrive right on time. When it comes to customer satisfaction, there’s really no substitute for on-time delivery.

Must-Have Features for Multi Stop Route Planners

A multi-stop route planner should factor in a wide range of logistical challenges and business constraints. These can include pickup time windows, service time windows, inventory details, distance, time spent on-site, cost structure, vehicle capabilities, driver skill set, special handling requirements, and resource availability.

The larger the delivery operations, the greater the complications indelivery route optimization. Firms that are making hundreds of deliveries per day usually manage multiple pickup destinations and work with multiple fleets. The right  truck routing software can make sure that the right driver and right vehicle are assigned to the right jobs. 

That said, businesses must be careful in choosing their software. You have to ensure that you're getting a planner that can support your needs and goals. 

To that end, here are the must-have features shippers and retailers should look for in a route planning application:

Easy integration

The ideal truck routing software will simply workflow rather than complicating it. It should integrate into workflows easily and offer fast and hassle-free onboarding for contractor partners and in-house drivers. Aside from ensuring a seamless transition, software that can easily be integrated promotes business growth. Companies must choose a routing planner that has an easy-to-use interface and is capable of accommodating fast expansion such as the addition of new area coverage, fleets, and premium services.

Flexible route management

A powerful route planner should offer managers complete control over their fleets. It should  optimize routes automatically to empower seamless routing, dispatching, delivery management, and analysis. 

This feature lets you manage both internal and external fleets while taking into consideration factors such as driver availability, regulations and compliance, capacity, and costs. Your  delivery route software needs to be able to help you identify the optimal sequences, shipping methods, equipment, and vehicles for each load according to factors like item weight and bulk, cold chain requirements, and unloading considerations.

AI and machine learning

A route planning solution that uses machine learning and AI to analyze historical data will provide optimal route plans that can accommodate your firm's needs and goals. Machine learning helps you more effectively estimate how factors like traffic, driver skill, load type, and more will impact drive and service time — meaning that in addition to having an optimized sequence of stops, you can also have delivery ETAs that are actually accurate. This can have a huge impact on customer delivery experience — no one appreciates waiting around all day for a late delivery. 

Robust data analytics

Today's technologies allow for the collection of more valuable data than ever before.,and route  planning software is no exception. Planners should be able to gather data on drivers and deliveries across the entire last mile, with an eye towards measuring cost per delivery, on-time percentages and variations between regions, while setting their own KPIs to fine tune operations.

Real-time visibility

Of course, effective last mile technology often covers more than just finding the optimal path between stops. Fleet and delivery management have many moving parts. That’s why the right solution should have real-time tracking capabilities to enable all stakeholders, including dispatchers, fleet managers, delivery teams and customers to track the last mile as it unfolds. .

Real-time visibility capabilities offer accurate and up-to-date information regarding drivers and assets, so fleet managers can ensure that drivers are following route plans. This, in turn, allows fleet managers and dispatchers to make route changes on the fly when new conditions emerge — all while continuing to provide customers with accurate ETAs.

Last mile delivery operations lay a crucial role in the e-commerce market. Having a reliable, speedy, scalable multi-stop route planner is essential to increase operational efficiency, cut costs, and offer great delivery experiences that create strong brand loyalty.