Route Delivery Across Australia
Every business is striving to deliver products and services faster and faster every day. The economy and market in which customers make decisions to purchase is often based on timeliness. Many brick and mortar businesses have both options available, immediate receiving of goods or shipping them out. To compete with giants like Amazon who offer next day or two day delivery, you have to be organized and have all the tools needed to execute delivery to build your business.
The Challenges
Australia is the fourth largest growing market of online shoppers. In addition to the orders you receive in your store that need to be delivered, there is an opportunity for great profit. To take advantage of this, businesses need to have a plan ready, to get products and services out to customers. The three major obstacles that need to be overcome are:
Product availability is huge, especially when dealing with your online customers. There is an investment in having a large inventory that you may not realize a return on for days, weeks or worst case, even months. Targeting your customers, marketing to your target groups, and using the data to produce more of what people want is the key to success.
Delivery speed is also a factor when people make purchases because often they will pay for additional shipping, but you also don’t want to price yourself out of business. The faster you can get your products to your customers, the more loyal customers you will earn. Especially if you are able to under-promise and over-deliver.
Often with faster delivery, costs are increased. More man hours, higher fuel costs, and more repairs on vehicles add up to a lower profit margin for you. It is critical to keep costs minimal while delivering excellent service to your customers. There is a fine line between sacrificing service in favor of lower costs that every business must toe.
Keep in mind the Law of Diminishing Returns which is a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.
The Solutions
Market research is extremely helpful when deciding which products to have in volume. There are many information systems that can help you track trends and purchases through the year. Watch for upswings for certain holidays and local events that increase or decrease your sales. Also, because things fluctuate throughout the year, it is important to always have your finger on the pulse of the business. Just because you are experiencing success today doesn’t mean things won’t change in a month or two.
One solution to both delivery speed and keeping costs down is using a route planner. You may think, how can I solve both of these with just one solution? Quite simply, if you have a route planning software, you can not only save fuel, wear and tear on vehicles, and man hours but speed up the delivery process as a whole. Take a look at the two routes below, the first one is a standard route from Google Maps, the other is an optimized route by MyRouteOnline.
Australia route with Google Maps
The total distance of Google Maps route is 1108 miles and would take approximately 21 hours and 7 minutes to complete. Round trip would be 5 full days work for one of your drivers, and it would be 8 delivery stops total.
Australia route with MyRouteOnline
MyRouteOnline route would be 18 hours and 48 minutes and only 950 miles, a savings of just over 2 hours and 158 miles. In only one route! Can you imagine the savings over hundred of routes, over the course of a week, or even a year? All that savings drop straight to your bottom line.
Using a multiple stop route planner can not only speed up your delivery times, but save you hundred and even thousands of dollars in the long run. Whether your deliveries are a three miles away or three hundred, there are too many benefits to using MyRouteOnline for any business to deny. Try it free today!