Truck and Track Autumn 2025 www.truckandtrack.com 30 INTERMODAL TRANSPORT SOFTWARE Retailers and wholesalers can cut costs, optimise routes, and stay in control with the right technology for route planning, route optimisation and transport execution. The most important way to keep customers happy is to make sure they receive their goods quickly, conveniently and securely. For retailers, that means delivering orders directly to customers, and for wholesalers, getting raw materials or finished products for sale to retailers when they need them. To do this, you need to ensure that you have good delivery processes in place, from planning to execution. And, as supply chains become more complex and demand continues to be volatile, the only way to really achieve this is by incorporating cutting-edge technology. Fail to plan, plan to fail As the old saying highlights, planning is one of the most crucial stages in the delivery process. Whilst on the surface retail and wholesale delivery might seem like a simple case of order in – goods out, the reality, as we all know, is more complicated. For starters, there is the challenge of ensuring you have the goods when you need them. For a wholesaler, this is especially important as any delays in deliveries will have a knock-on effect on the whole supply chain. However, with high volatility in demand for different goods coupled with disruptions to global supply chains, it can be a challenge to meet the request at the right time. With many retailers working on a just-in-time model, where goods are delivered only when they’re needed, this requires even stricter planning to ensure deliveries can be fulfilled. In these situations, technology that provides flexibility around planning and last-minute changes is essential. For retailers, one of the biggest challenges is meeting the consumers’ demands for speedy delivery. As expectations for one- or two-day delivery increase, ensuring that they can fulfil the orders in time requires real planning. The most expensive part of this challenge is last-mile delivery. Because retailers’ businesses are based around high volume and frequency, it makes planning more complex. And beyond deciding the route, retailers and wholesalers need to also factor in how the goods will get to where they need to: ■ Will they be delivered by their own fleet of trucks? Will thirdparty carriers or crowd-sourced deliveries (those contracted out to individuals with their own vehicles) deliver them? Or will it be a combination? ■ How many trucks, and therefore drivers will be needed? What size trucks are required? Are there size restrictions on the route? ■ Are refrigerated vehicles needed for a particular delivery? ■ For international deliveries, what regulations need to be factored in when selecting the vehicles and drivers? With so many considerations to factor into planning, designing efficient routes manually can be challenging. Advanced route optimisation technology helps streamline the process and improve efficiency. Efficient deliveries are all about smart road logistics
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