Wishlist Delivery Business Case Study

Key Result

83%
Reduction of Time in Route Planning
2x
Growth in Order Fulfillment
15%
Increase in Profit

The Challenge

Wishlist.Delivery is a food delivery business based in California that started off as a side gig in December 2019. By the end of 2020, it had turned into a full-fledged business, but it brought a unique set of challenges that Wishlist.Delivery would soon grapple with.

It specializes in delivering time-sensitive food packages, particularly catering to food prep makers in the local Bay Area. With the expansion in the client base, Wishlist.Delivery found themselves wrestling with critical issues.

They found manual delivery route creation to be an extremely laborious and time-consuming task as it involved fighting against traffic, last-minute changes, and order fulfillment challenges. Every minute spent planning routes was a minute taken away from serving their clients and customers.

The challenges faced by Wishlist.Delivery were denting their business in multiple ways:

The most labor-intensive task was creating efficient route plans for deliveries on a daily basis. The manual delivery route planning process took more than 3 hours to complete and relied on guesswork and contemplation to avoid traffic, which often proved to be a nightmare.
As their business expanded, Wishlist.Delivery encountered difficulties in efficiently managing multiple drivers. Calculating service time for each stop was not clear, and this scalability challenge posed complexities that needed to be addressed for sustainable growth.
Wishlist.Delivery faced challenges in accommodating new orders and last-minute changes during order fulfillment. Adapting to these changes made it difficult to take more orders and meet customer demands, leading to inefficient deliveries.

We know that there had to be a better solution for creating efficient routes that were not guess-and-check. So, we started using Google Maps and tried to work our way through what would be most and least efficient. But we also had a problem with the number of stops that we could put in.

Phred Swain Sugarman — *Phred Swain-Sugarman*
Wishlist.Delivery

The Solution

Phred was looking for a solution that could streamline their delivery and order fulfillment operations. After trying several options, she stumbled upon Upper, which completely transformed their business. She found Upper to be an affordable and easy-to-use software that she can rely on without much effort.

Phred said, “We looked at a lot of software and found Upper to be very easy to use and affordable.” Further, she acknowledged the importance of having technical support while implementing new software. She told us, “The technical team at UpperInc is incredibly easy to reach, incredibly supportive, and knowledgeable. So, we always feel comfortable reaching out at any time.”

Supercharged delivery with automated route planning and optimization

Upper offered a straightforward and automated solution for route planning and optimization ability to add 250+ stops. Wishlist.Delivery found that it streamlined the entire delivery process with a level of efficiency that was lacking before.

With all the essential information consolidated in one place, they could create optimized routes effortlessly. Phred liked the efficiency they achieved, “Upper’s route planner has really optimized and made the whole process efficient. We have all the information in one place. We know that it generates routes that are going to be most effective.”

Upper made their delivery process fast and efficient. It created optimized routes considering traffic, weather, road closures, and other delivery constraints. It provided timely customer notifications and estimated time of arrival to keep them updated. Phred told us, “Since using Upper, my partner and I feel confident that we’re serving our clients and our customers well.”

Insightful delivery reports for an inside look at the process

Upper’s delivery reporting feature provided Wishlist.Delivery with invaluable insights. They now had access to crucial data like stop durations and travel times between stops, which they had never looked into before.

Phred was able to provide valuable insights to their clients. She told us, “I was surprised at how helpful it was to have those reports, that data on how long it takes certain stops, how long it takes between things, we can communicate to our customer.”

Armed with this information, they could communicate effectively with their clients, suggesting optimal customer placements for enhanced efficiency. Upper enabled Wishlist.Delivery to manage multiple drivers with ease, something that was previously challenging to achieve.

Reports helped us communicate to our customers that if they have some clients on your waitlist, these are the places where they can put them, and it can be most efficient. And they really appreciated that, and we ended up being able to do that

Handle last-minute changes like nothing with improved delivery management

Wishlist.Delivery became confident once they realized that Upper could handle their scaling operations.

With the efficiency and route optimization capabilities of Upper, Wishlist.Delivery was not only able to accommodate last-minute changes but also take on more orders with confidence. This, in turn, translated into increased profitability, a testament to the software’s positive impact on their bottom line.

According to Phred, “Upper is incredibly helpful with last-minute changes which we couldn’t do before. We couldn’t take them, and couldn’t accommodate clients like we wanted to.” With Upper by their side, Wishlist.Delivery gained confidence in the efficiency and accuracy of their routes, ensuring they could consistently provide reliable delivery services to their clients and customers.

Our clients were making more money and we were able to maximize our routes instead of driving 20 minutes to someone and 10 minutes to another. We have a pretty much max at 5 minutes per for our biggest customer. It gets a lot of people in our 4-hour window.

The Impact

The adoption of Upper by Wishlist.Delivery yielded transformative results by addressing their key challenges fundamentally. The impact was far-reaching, touching every aspect of their operations, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

The most profound impact that Wishlist.Delivery experienced was the rigorous amount of time and effort saved each day. What was once taking 3-4 hours daily is now taking around 30 minutes to complete.

The efficiency and route optimization features of Upper resulted in the creation of the fastest and shortest delivery routes. This ensured timely deliveries, accommodation of new orders, and improved efficiency.

The data-driven approach adopted by Wishlist.Delivery didn’t go unnoticed. The reports provided by Upper gave them insights that had never been discovered. These insights enabled them to communicate effectively with their clients, offering suggestions for optimal customer placements to enhance efficiency.

Performance Metrics

Metrics	Before Upper	After Upper
Time Spent on Route Planning (per week)	21 hours	3.5
Route Efficiency	71%	99%
Orders Handled	Limited	Increased capacity to handle more orders
Customer Satisfaction	70%	90%
Profitability	8%	15%
Customer Satisfaction	72%	98%
Response to Last-Minute Changes	Challenging	Swift and efficient response
Service Time Spend at Each Stop	10-15 minutes	5 minutes

Wishlist.Delivery’s journey has evolved from a challenging endeavor to a thriving food delivery business. Today, the team has gained confidence in serving their customers well and taking growth challenges head-on with Upper by their side