Shailu Satish, Co-Founder and COO, DispatchTrack
Today’s food and beverage distributors face serious challenges. These companies operate in highly competitive markets with demanding service and price expectations. Distributors not only ensure they can meet the demands of grocery stores, restaurants, and more for just-in-time delivery and high levels of customer service, but they do it without shipping costs spiraling out of control. is needed. . At times, these hurdles may seem insurmountable, but real solutions exist that can help distributors become smarter, more agile, and more data-driven.
Last-mile delivery is one of the most complex and time-consuming aspects of the supply chain for food and beverage distributors, as well as one of the most expensive. 53% of total shipping cost. Managing orders, routes, and drivers can be a tedious and inefficient process. The main reason for this is that it is difficult to predict the impact of changes, such as moving customers from one route to another. This difficulty is further exacerbated when different teams (sales, shipping, merchandising, etc.) make decisions independently.
At the same time, the fact that the last mile is so complex means that large amounts of data can be generated. If you have a way to leverage that data and gain insights through analytics and performance tracking, you can turn the last mile into a strength rather than a weakness.
break down barriers
To harness the power of distributed data, you must first eliminate planning and information silos between different departments and make all your data accessible through a single interface. This means connecting shipping, sales, and merchandising, but it also means finding ways to connect planners and managers with drivers, salespeople, and other field personnel in real time.
By centralizing your distribution data, the right solution allows you to:
- Automatic shipping cost calculation: When shipping data across multiple functions is centralized in one place, the right software can calculate equivalent shipping costs per route, per stop, per case, based on things like expected fuel and labor costs. Estimates can be made automatically. You can make data-informed decisions about your route by prioritizing profitable stops.
- Smarter, faster routing: AI and machine learning capabilities and scalable software architectures enable you to more accurately estimate delivery arrival times and plan routes faster when planning routes. This allows you to efficiently update routes as conditions change, rather than just having to keep an eye on them every time a new customer joins the roster or an existing order changes.
- Improved customer visibility: If you collect real-time delivery data and centralize it within one platform, you can provide the same level of visibility to your customers by enabling automatic delivery alerts and real-time tracking.
By breaking down the barriers that separate the right data from the right people and processes, you can enable smarter analytics and performance tracking across your delivery operations. You can make data-driven decisions about how to address business challenges, faster than if you had to hunt around for the information you need before gaining insight. .
From there, analytics and performance tracking can be applied to various aspects of a distributor’s business, directly impacting the bottom line in many ways.
- Planning efficiency: Having the right data reduces the time it takes to create a plan, saving planners and other office staff time. Additionally, the planning itself becomes more efficient, which directly translates into lower shipping costs.
- IT integration: By ensuring you have the right systems in place – systems that effectively connect your shipping and sales/merchandising processes – you can reduce spending on redundant solutions.
- Customer retention: Being able to reliably deliver at the right time, even in the face of volatility, can give you a significant competitive advantage in the eyes of your customers. Investing in customer service is critical because it costs more to find a new customer than to retain an existing one.
- Reduced interruptions: The more robust your predictive capabilities, the easier it will be to develop plans that actually lead to execution. Delivery delays or failures can result in short- and long-term losses. That’s why it’s so important to have the tools you need to avoid disruption before it happens.
Last mile delivery doesn’t have to be as complex and difficult as it once was. By implementing a distribution logistics solution that incorporates analytics and performance tracking tools, distributors can gain better visibility into their operations. Combining real-time and historical data can inform decision-making, allowing you to streamline operations, satisfy customers, and strengthen your business through increased profitability.
