Improve your home deliveries
Increase productivity up to 35%
Increase the number of deliveries per route and reduce delivery miles per delivery without increasing drivers or vehicles.
Improve customer service and satisfaction
Provide accurate ETA’s, short delivery windows and delivery notifications with Track My Order mapping.
Reduce your route planning time
Optimised delivery routes are automatically calculated as orders are received, freeing dispatchers for service-related matters.
Gain a competitive advantage
Reduce costs, offer timed delivery slots at point of sale and delivery tracking on orders, with the option of environmentally friendly deliveries.
Meet evolving customer expectations for home deliveries.
As ecommerce continues to grow consumers are demanding more from their home deliveries. They are seeking convenience, speed, affordability and increasingly environmentally-friendly delivery options.
To better ensure customer loyalty, satisfaction and repeat purchases, businesses should focus on optimising their last-mile delivery processes to offer a better service to customers. Addressing the challenges below will keep deliveries on track and meet expectations.
Last-mile home delivery challenges to overcome
Visibility
Creating visibility both internally and externally within your delivery chain is essential for optimising operations and ensuring customer satisfaction. Investing in technology improves overall delivery performance and will build stronger relationships with customers.
Delivery costs
Businesses need to increase home delivery productivity and reduce delivery costs to stay competitive. Adopting the latest technology solutions for fleet operations will achieve significant cost reductions in last-mile delivery by increasing delivery density and reducing the miles per delivery.
Outdated technology
Planning home delivery routes on maps and using spreadsheets for schedules is an inefficient solution. The latest hardware and software technology advances for last-mile deliveries offers real benefits for the entire delivery operation The latest route optimisation software can reduce delivery planning time by up to 75%.
Low efficiency
Limited delivery options, manual planning, inefficient routes and poor customer delivery notifications results in operational inefficiency. Implementing delivery optimisation software has resulted in companies being able to increase their first time delivery rates and improve delivery productivity by up to 35% without expanding their fleet.
Delivery Options
Customers want to select their own delivery dates/times. Offering cost-effective delivery options at the point of sale means customers can choose what's convenient for them at a cost they are prepared to pay with retailers charging accordingly for delivery options. Some consumers will pay extra for convenience, having something delivered where and when they want, while price incentives can be used to encourage consumers to pick a “green” time slot, increasing delivery density, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Descartes Home Delivery Consumer Sentiment Study 2024
Watch the Descartes 2024 Home Delivery Consumer Sentiment study overview today to discover more in-depth findings from consumers about their delivery expectations and experiences.
Streamline Your Home Delivery Operations
Home delivery has become an essential part of modern business, but it's fraught with challenges such as driver shortages, rising fuel costs, and ever-increasing customer demands. Descartes offers a comprehensive delivery planning and scheduling platform to help you overcome these challenges and optimise your home delivery operations.
Our cloud-based solutions provide an efficient and scalable way to manage your home delivery operation. From route optimisation and scheduling with mobile applications for proof of delivery to driver and customer notifications that include post-delivery feedback surveys we offer the most comprehensive solution suite. The Descartes platform integrates with all leading ERP and warehouse management systems, ensuring a smooth workflow.
With the Descartes home delivery platform, you can:
- Improve efficiency: Optimise routes, reduce travel time, and minimise costs.
- Enhance customer experience: Provide more choice, accurate delivery time estimates and real-time tracking.
- Scale your operations: Our cloud-based solutions are flexible and scalable to meet your growing needs.
- Reduce costs: Save on fuel, labour (overtime), and operational expenses.
See below how our customers have achieved a 35% increase in home delivery capacity without adding more drivers or vehicles.
Ready to transform your home delivery operations?
Fill out the below form to learn more and schedule a consultation.
Customer Successes
“Descartes Reservations™ and Route Planner™ solutions were integral to our strategy of offering a more extensive, but unified delivery service. The advanced optimisation capabilities and architecture of the Descartes solutions were critical, bringing new delivery service options to our customers in an economically feasible way. ”
Andrew Gay - Systems Manager
Fulfilment costs reduced £1.8m
Increased delivery productivity 35%
Delivery windows provided at POS
“In the past year since having the Descartes' system our jobs per route has improved by just short of 10%.”
Martin Alldritt - Planning & Optimisation Manager
Jobs per route has increased 9.9%
Average mileage between jobs reduced
Improved Customer Service
“Since implementing the Descartes Route Planner™ solution, the time taken to route deliveries has reduced from approximately four hours a day to a matter of minutes, while the number of vehicles sent out each day has reduced by roughly 15 per cent.”
Dave Middleton, Supply Chain Manager, Ontex UK
Payback of the solution achieved within Months
Route planning reduced from hours to Minutes
Vehicles dispatched reduced by 15%