Why is Route Planning Important for Courier Business?

The advancement of technology has given an exceptional boost to eCommerce. Every day, an increasing number of people turn to online stores to purchase everything from gadgets to groceries. 

The global e-commerce logistics industry is expected to become a 2,734.6 billion US dollar market by 2032. The success of eCommerce depends immensely on the delivery process implies how important stellar delivery services have become for enhanced customer experience.

With the growing demands, a courier business must serve more customers living in dense urban areas. As a result, global retail eCommerce sales are expected to grow by 50%, from $4.9 trillion in 2021 to $7.4 trillion by 2025. 

It’s no surprise that the number of delivery vehicles will skyrocket and release approximately 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. 

We are already tormented by alarming issues like air and water pollution, global warming, ozone layer depletion, etc. Now increased vehicle emissions will worsen the situation. 

At the same time, with an increased number of customers and delivery vehicles, a courier business can face complexities in managing the operation. 

If appropriate planning is not done, inefficient delivery processes will waste resources like fuel. 

And with the ever-increasing fuel costs and losses in the last-mile delivery process, it’s no wonder why a courier business can struggle to survive in the market.

But there is always a solution.

Route planning- determining the most effective route to minimize delivery time and cost. It helps businesses decrease delivery time, reduce fuel consumption, lower costs, and enhance customer experience. 

Courier businesses with low workloads used manual route planning to optimize their delivery process. The method worked great for some time, but it has also proved inefficient.

Why Manually Assigning Routes Not Efficient? 

Traditionally, courier businesses relied on tons of paperwork for route planning. However, as technology penetrates every aspect of the courier business, route planning is on the path to becoming more automated and efficient. 

While working with pen and paper used to work in the past, a courier business will not able to attain sustained growth with the same moving forward. Here are some of the drawbacks of using a manual route planning system. 

High Fuel Costs 

A significant drawback of manual route planning is it wastes company resources. It leads to ineffective routes, fails to detect high traffic, and often leads to unproductive task assignments for drivers. 

This increases the fuel consumed by the delivery vehicles; consequently, the operational costs also touch the sky. 

In addition, harsh driving conditions may result in accidents and damage to lives and property, making a more significant loss and increasing the chances of legal hassles to a courier business. 

Late Delivery 

Delivery time is crucial for a courier business because it determines customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, manual route planning almost always consumes more time because it fails to resolve the optimized delivery routes. 

Additionally, the system can’t inform about the real-time traffic, weather conditions, or driver locations, which further delays the delivery. 

Moreover, emergencies and unexpected circumstances force the business to spend more time replanning and readjusting.

Reduced Efficiency 

Unproductive routes that exhaust precious time and fuel make the delivery process exceedingly inefficient. Manual route planning can’t find cost-effective routes in a densely populated city, harming the operational efficiency of a courier business. 

In addition, despite hours spent on route planning, manual methods fail to assign tasks to the driver smartly. Also, it fails to collect real-time business metrics required for intelligent decision-making.

No Real-Time Updates

High volume delivery and complex routes lead to dynamic problems during the delivery process. A courier business needs real-time visibility of routes and drivers to solve problems and make efficient decisions. 

Real-time visibility not only helps in monitoring and tracking the drivers but also connects the administrators to the delivery fleet. 

Customer Dissatisfaction 

Manual route planning causes late deliveries that make customers unhappy, especially when they are paying premium delivery charges for an order. 

In addition, customers want to track and remain updated about the delivery status of their orders. Unfortunately, the manual planning system fails to continuously update the customers about the order progress and inform them about the estimated delivery time, leading to a poor customer experience. 

What’s the Solution?

Traditional route planning strategies can’t help a courier business meet increasing demands in the future. 

Besides, there are several complex variables in the delivery process like customer location, delivery time, vehicle availability, driver schedules, traffic and weather conditions, etc. These variables make finding best routes challenging even for an experienced planner. 

Alarming operational costs, higher delivery time, and unhappy customers make manual planning methods obsolete in a market where there are intelligent solutions like route planning software.

Benefits of Using Route Planning Software 

It is difficult to achieve a delightful customer experience and cost-effective delivery operations with a traditional route planning process. However, with the right route planning software, you can achieve the desired results more quickly. 

Here are some benefits of a good route planning software:

Fast and Automatic Planning

Humans may take hours to plan with pen and paper and assign roles to the driver, but the software does the job in seconds. 

The software utilizes high-tech algorithms to make calculations, speeding up the planning process and saving time for the employees.

Moreover, delivery management software records all the data that gives you valuable insights for business intelligence like best delivery time, sales tracking, or determining the effect of a specific vehicle on the fleet. 

Increased Driver Efficiency 

Planning software tracks and manages driver rest times, excluding the absent drivers, preferred work hours set by the drivers, assigning the task to the right candidate, etc. 

It increases driver efficiency as the workload gets equally distributed among the delivery staff to ensure staff satisfaction. 

Reduced Operational Costs

A route planning software optimizes routes to shorten the distance driven by each vehicle, reducing fuel costs. An efficient solution can decrease logistics costs by an astounding 50% and lower planning time by 20%.

Shorter distances also mean fewer miles on vehicles, which reduces vehicle wear and tear, lowers maintenance costs, and increased vehicle life. 

Reduced Delivery Time

The more effective the routes are, the lesser time it takes for a driver to reach the destination. Good route planning software finds shorter paths to ensure timely delivery allowing them to deliver more orders in a day.

Also, operations never always go as planned. Traffic jams, new deliveries, or driver emergencies can alter the initial plans. Unlike manual planning, delivery management software helps you reoptimize the routes within seconds. 

The Best Route Planning Software

As eCommerce progresses, a courier business cannot survive in a hyper-competitive market without functional route planner software. It helps you optimize business operations by the optimal use of company resources and equips you to stand out from your competitors.

NetworkON is one of the fastest growing route planning software that uses AI for route optimization.  It offers a powerful dashboard to seamlessly manage orders, drivers, and customers. We use complex algorithms to automatically determine cost-effective routes for swift delivery.

Here are the in-demand features of NetworkON

•  AI-Powered Route Optimization: Calculates the most effective delivery routes within seconds, eliminating confusion and increasing a business’ operational efficiency.
• Fleet Visibility Management: Get real-time visibility of the fleet and routes to track and monitor drivers, solve emerging problems, and make enhanced decisions.
• Geofencing: Draw operational geographic areas for delivery partners to minimize order delays and enhance customer experience by always being on time.
• Performance Analytics: Get real-time data for differents metrics that help you measure your team’s performance and make better decisions on increasing system efficiency.
• Auto Assignments: Enjoy automatic assignment to nearest drivers and manage your fleet remotely using a robust cloud-based platform.

To know more about NetworkON features, visit this page.

Wrapping Up

With our cutting-edge Delivery Management software, you can rest assured you will have high operational efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced customer experience. 

Moreover, NetworkON helps you reduce your carbon footprint through its sustainable last-mile delivery solutions.

Get in touch with our experts for a demo and see how NetworkON can boost your courier business through. For more information, visit our website or email us at info@networkon.io.