Delivery Planning: Definition, Significance, and Best Route Planning Software to Implement It

Getting your deliveries right is about balancing three crucial aspects: speed, profitability, and affordability, but it’s easier said than done. 

Without ensuring high delivery speed, you may lose out on customers who demand ultra-fast deliveries at competitive prices today.

If you reduce delivery costs to present yourself as affordable for customers, you may have to sacrifice a significant portion of your profit margins.

Without significant profits, you may not spare the extra budget to cover the high costs of providing quick delivery options like same-day delivery.

And with no such options at ‘affordable’ prices, you can’t expect to stay profitable and keep delivering orders fast, only to lose more business and profits.

It may look like a never-ending cycle unless you tap into delivery planning, that can be the key to breaking it. 

This blog discusses delivery planning, its components, its importance, and some prominent delivery route planning options. 

So, let’s start.

What is Delivery Planning?

Delivery planning can be referred to as planning routes and logistics for product delivery. It is used by businesses that deliver products to ensure fast and efficient deliveries to their customers.

A delivery plan is used to sequence the work. It specifies when deliveries will take place and when the project will be completed. It also considers people’s availability and capacity, as well as a rough estimate of whether the work can be completed in that amount of time.

Main elements of the delivery planning process

When evaluating your delivery operations, you should consider the following factors.

1. Delivery efficiency

It should help keep your transportation costs low while increasing your earning potential. It should come up with the most optimized routes so that your drivers deliver the products in a short time.

2. Balanced workload

It should offer a balanced workload for your delivery fleet so that no one on your team feels burned out. A good delivery-planning system will help you focus more on strategizing than delivery.

3. Customer experience

Your delivery strategy should help you deliver products to customers on time or within the specified delivery window. This is essential for customer satisfaction and positive feedback.

4. Route optimization

Effective delivery planning should assist you in reaching maximum capacity without overburdening your drivers or forcing them to work overtime. It should consider the capacity of each vehicle in a fleet and distribute the deliveries accordingly. 

Importance of Delivery Planning

For online businesses, having excellent delivery planning is essential to be competitive in today’s market. The number of digital buyers worldwide is increasing yearly, and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to $6.54 trillion US dollars in 2022. 

Buyers want everything from food to equipment delivered to their homes, and they are willing to pay more if you can deliver their order quickly. About 80% of shoppers are willing to pay a premium for same-day delivery.

If you don’t have a good delivery plan in place, you won’t be able to exceed or even meet your customers’ expectations, and you might lose them forever.

That’s why, integrating route-optimization software in your business can assist you with planning deliveries that will lead to faster deliveries and customer retention.

6 Best Delivery Route Planning Software

Here, we’ll look at six delivery routing apps and how they help businesses in the delivery space and help you decide which one is best for your own.

1. Upper Route Planner

Upper Route Planner is a user-friendly route planning and optimization software with a simple interface. It is created using a human-centered design approach to make route planning easier at every stage of the process.

Upper serves multiple industries, including food delivery, pharmacy delivery, courier delivery, and retail delivery.

Upper Route Planner helps you reduce the time and costs associated with complex delivery tasks by recommending the most efficient route. Users can generate multiple routes for multiple drivers at the same time.

Features

• Excel Import 
• Route optimization 
• proof of delivery
• Single click dispatch
• Route scheduling
• API integration

2. RouteXL

RouteXL is a multi-stop route planner that finds the best route for deliveries, pickups, and services. Smart algorithms sort addresses to minimize their duration, and the optimized route is generated. You can then email or print the route to your drivers.

The downside of RouteXL is that it does not support real-time optimization or automatic updates, so if any changes occur, your drivers must be reactive rather than proactive.

RouteXL isn’t the most powerful tool available, but if you’re a small single-driver company with fewer than 20 stops per month looking for a simple solution, this app may be all you need.

Features

• GPS monitoring.
• Task distribution.
• Cloud-based automated system.

3. MapQuest

MapQuest is similar to Google Maps but allows you to enter more addresses. You can upload addresses using copy/paste or a spreadsheet, just like the other options on this list. 

Your route is then optimized for free, and stops are reordered to make it as efficient as possible, giving you the option of traveling in the shortest amount of time or the shortest distance.

What distinguishes MapQuest is the ability to configure your route as a round trip, accounting for the real-time visibility of your driver to return to the warehouse. 

The drawback of this app is probably the pop-up advertisements, which can be frustrating. Otherwise, if you only have one driver and less than 25 addresses to deliver to, MapQuest is a good free option.

Features

• Driver tracking
• Real-time tracking
• Import routes 
• Map options (satellite or street view)

4. TourSolver

TourSolver is a cloud-based fleet management and dispatch planning system. It can assist delivery companies in managing and optimizing their supply chain deliveries, callouts, and collections.

TourSolver allows businesses to export agent itineraries and schedules in Excel, iCalendar, and PDF formats which can be emailed to team members. 

The most unique feature of TourSolver is its simulator, which allows businesses to assess time, mileage, and cost savings from optimized routes. It also offers features such as routing, dispatching, and employee management.

Features

• Integrated customer reference table
• Notifications by e-mail and SMS
• Geographical territory management
• Personalized satisfaction surveys

5. WorkWave Route Manager

WorkWave Route Manager is a top cloud-based route planning software that lets you plan routes for delivery people and field service providers, track drivers, and stay connected in real-time. 

Any business can use it to plan around service time windows and customer requests, manage schedules/routes as needed, confirm driver ETAs, and much more.

WorkWave allows delivery drivers to sync updates to the office via the mobile app to manage the business remotely. They receive routes, capture last-mile delivery proof, and mark orders as rescheduled or skipped. When GPS tracking is enabled, planners can track delivery processes and routes and maintain complete visibility.

Features

• Easy API integration
• Accurate GPS tracking
• Routing and scheduling
• Real-time monitoring

6. Onfleet

Onfleet provides the most advanced route planning features promises leaner operations, smarter decisions, and an outstanding customer experience.

One feature distinguishing Onfleet from competitors is the ability to create individual driver profiles, each with its start and end location, shift schedules, and vehicle capacity. This is a critical feature for businesses looking for a scalable solution.

Once you’ve entered your driver information, Onfleet will optimize your routes so you can dispatch your drivers. Drivers can access the Onfleet app on their mobile devices, and you can track their progress from the web dashboard.

Features

• Predicts ETAs
• GPS tracking
• Customer communication integration
• Automatic status update

Plan Your Delivery Routes Instantly on Upper

Upper is an intuitive delivery route management software that can assist delivery businesses in planning and optimizing their delivery services efficiently. 

Upper Route Planner can help businesses focus on their core operations by reducing manual planning and scheduling hours while the algorithm handles the rest.

By using Upper’s route planning feature, you will save time, deliver more orders, and increase profitability. Its delivery scheduling feature allows you to schedule deliveries months in advance, aiding delivery planning.

Sign up today and take advantage of the 7 days free trial. Plan your deliveries to improve the efficiency of your business.

Delivery Planning: Key to Streamlining Deliveries

Fast and efficient deliveries are essential for delivery businesses to be competitive in today’s market, but planning deliveries do not have to be a monumental undertaking. With the right software, delivery and route planning can be a breeze. 

At Upper, we strive to assist businesses of all sizes in perfecting their deliveries and keeping their customers satisfied. Our most advanced features, such as route planning, route optimization, and route scheduling, can assist you in achieving success in delivery planning. 

Start your 7 days free trial today.