On November 26th, in exactly 10 days, a new edition of the Black Friday.

El Black Friday or Black Fridayor is it a commercial event of American origin that is held every year for a day: always on the last Friday of the month of November.

On the occasion of the opening of the Christmas shopping season, great discounts and offers are offered throughout Black Friday in large and small stores, both electronic and traditional.

Black Friday and the Last Mile

Given the enormous impact of this “Black Friday”, a large part of businesses are positively affected on this day, especially e-commerce. According to studies shown in Lobocom,”E-commerce companies increase their turnover by 35% on average during the week of Black Friday”. In addition, the fact about the comparison with Christmas shopping also stands out, “since The benefits may even exceed the Christmas campaign”.

In this regard, it should be noted that the month of November is the month of the year with the highest number of sales, thus surpassing the hitherto unbeatable months of December (Christmas campaign) or January (sales campaign).

In this way, and taking into account the great benefits and business repercussions of this important date, it is essential to formulate a strategy prior to Black Friday, in order to guarantee success in our company.

Preliminary market study

As we mentioned before, a prior approach is essential in addition to creating a strategy focused on Black Friday. Here are some of the key aspects you should consider when carrying out a previous study:

· Knowledge of market trends: know what the dynamics of the market are in terms of purchasing patterns, products or services most in demand or, even, purchase method (in-store pickup, home delivery, etc.), among others. Knowledge of all or some of these trends will help us to establish a more precise and, consequently, more beneficial strategy.

· Analysis of our consumers: in relation to market trends, it is also essential to know our own users or potential customers in depth. Knowing what they want, what they need and how they want to achieve it will provide us with a lot of information to direct a focused and efficient strategy.

· Black Friday marketing strategy: knowing the market and our potential consumers will help us to implement a marketing strategy focused solely and exclusively on Black Friday. Strategies such as email marketing campaigns in the previous days, publications on social networks or even banners and pop-ups within the website itself may be considered.

How to prepare your logistics last mile for a successful Black Friday

Given the enormous success of this “Black Friday” and the great impact on sales in practically all the stores participating in this “black day”, it is essential to establish a logistical preparation prior to this day.

For users, it is increasingly important to speed and efficiency in your purchases. Make a quick and convenient purchase: from anywhere (at home or from the beach) and receive it in the shortest possible time. This entire process is one of the most important aspects for users and one of the most difficult logistically for any company.

For this reason, implementing tools that facilitate logistics operations and, above all, help to efficiently manage delivery routes is vital on such a special date.

Here's how you should prepare for Black Friday in your store:

· Using specialized software in the last mile: the implementation of tools on such an important date as Black Friday will be a fundamental part of your company's commercial success. Tools such as SmartMonkey Planner they will help you to cope with this frenetic sales day in addition to Increase profits, because with Planner you'll plan routes in an intelligent way: the program itself will result in the fastest and most efficient routes in a matter of seconds. With efficient routes, you will not only have economic savings, due to lower fuel consumption, but also time savings, since you will carry out the most optimal route.

· Direct communication channels with your customers: direct communication with users is essential, since in the midst of the digital age, we are used to being constantly connected and informed. With the use of software such as Planner, your customers will be able to receive direct and real-time information about your purchases. For example, your customers will be able to know at all times where their order is or when they will receive it, among others.

· Transportation: given the enormous sales forecast on this date, it is necessary to take into account the company's logistics and transport capabilities. If, as we mentioned before, the increase in sales is greater than 35% compared to other days, we must weigh what the transport needs will be in order to operate successfully. To reach the total of the operation, you must Increase transport of the same exponentially: increasing one third of available transport, at least 10% if sales exceed 35%.

· Logistic staff: in the same way as with transport, it will be necessary increase specialized logistics staff to be able to carry out the day in a satisfactory manner. Taking into account that the increase in sales will be 35%, the available logistics staff must increase by the same number or, at least 10% less. Therefore, the workforce should increase by 25%-35% for that day.

But there are 10 days left, am I still on time?

Of course! One of our greatest achievements at SmartMonkey is, precisely, having launched it to the market the most user-friendly last-mile management tool on the market. In fact, a recent case is that of the Portuguese company Prio, a company that has been able to start optimizing production routes with literally 1 meeting and a 20-minute demonstration.

Don't be less, and do like Prio. Try Planner and start enjoying all the benefits.

Create a schedule in a few minutes with this step-by-step

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Do you want to know more about Black Friday and what are the forecasts for the 2021 edition? Go to our article Black Friday: 50 days until the biggest logistics challenge of the year and find out.

The trend towards digitalization has brought new forms of purchase among users, thus giving rise to Ecommerce.

El e-commerce or Ecommerce is defined as the purchase and sale of products or services over the internet.

Currently, the relationship between Logistics and the Ecommerce has become so important that the first has become one of the fundamental pillars of the second, since the logistics industry is indispensable for the success of ecommerce. For this reason, for companies that focus their business activity on Internet sales, logistics is one of the most careful processes, since the satisfaction of their customers and the shopping experience will depend on it, especially on last mile.

Advantages of Ecommerce

Below, we show you what are the main advantages of implementing a ecommerce compared to a traditional business with the help of the specialized blog Ecommerce News:

• No geographical limitations
• wider range of products and services
• Reducing costs
• Greater ease of purchase for users in addition to a saving in time spent on the purchase
• Easier to develop marketing strategies
• Increased transparency and information for customers
• Possibility to offer a comparison of products with respect to their prices and characteristics
• No time limit

Ecommerce and the Last Mile

La Last mile corresponds to the final stage of the delivery of the order. It is one of the steps that increase logistics costs the most, due to factors such as traffic, urban limitations or inefficient routes in daily deliveries (which will later result in delays in orders, among others).

How to optimize the management of the last mile?

• Establish strategies in the delivery conditions: use collection points after failed deliveries, direct communication with the user about the status of the package, etc. Also, with regard to transportation, grouping orders by area or the use of light vehicles with better urban mobility.
• Use transportation route management software: optimize the routes that are going to be taken in the distribution of packages so that they are as efficient as possible. With this, we will achieve not only a significant reduction in fuel costs, but also a reduction in the time spent on routes and, consequently, an increase in profits. In addition, optimizing routes will make your company a much more sustainable company.

With SmartMonkey Planner you can enjoy all the advantages offered by a ecommerce thanks to our advanced software, which allows you to establish direct communication with your customers, have traceability of deliveries, optimize routes, and much more!

Try it for free!

Do you want to know what are the 5 key tools for an ecommerce? Go to our article Ecommerce: 5 essential tools to survive in 2021 and find out.

The unstoppable growth and digital business transformation is undeniable, a fact that has completely changed the existing relationship between companies and consumers. Currently, it is necessary to implement strategies and have the necessary resources to improve the customer experience. To do this, it is essential to ask the following question: What do customers want? With the answer, we can begin to prepare a strategy based on Customer Centric.

Recent studies such as that of the company Deloitte confirm that the companies that implement strategies based on Customer Centric are 60% more profitable compared to those that haven't implemented it. If you want to be part of that successful majority, keep reading this article and we'll tell you how.

What is Customer Centric?

The concept Customer Centric — literally translated as “Customer at the Center” — responds to the customer-oriented strategy through which an organization places the customer at the center of the company with the objective of focusing all processes and operations on users.

Thanks to the implementation of Customer Centric, with actions aimed at customer satisfaction and loyalty, among others, clear objectives such as loyalty are established and benefits such as increased sales are achieved. All of this stems from the idea of satisfying customer needs and, consequently, establishing a long-term relationship.

In short, the Customer Centric philosophy has been gaining more and more ground in companies, linking their customers to decision-making and subsequent development of the product or service, in order to offer a better value offer.

Customer Centric Benefits

· Increased user satisfaction: placing the customer at the center of the company's interests, as a key part of the operation, will make them feel much more satisfied due to their prestigious position.

· Customer loyalty: as we mentioned before, with the implementation of customer centric your customers will be more satisfied. As a result, by having happy customers, you will be able to make them loyal to your company.

· Improving the corporate image: placing your customers at the center of the company's activity or operations will significantly improve their image of your company.

· Positive publicity: taking into account good results in parameters such as user satisfaction or even the rate of improvement in the corporate image, it will be possible to obtain feedback in the advertising of our company. A satisfied and happy customer will be a company's best prescriber.

· Business opportunities: knowing in detail the concerns and needs of customers will not only help to increase their satisfaction but also to exploit all possible business opportunities. Through calls, surveys or even through support channels, we can detect all these needs and treat them as information that can be implemented.

How to implement the Customer Centric philosophy in your company

Taking action and implementing such a novel strategy and approach as Customer Centric is not easy. Therefore, below we show you by the hand of Zendesk What are the key aspects you should consider to carry it out:

· Take actions to receive Feedback from customers: measuring your satisfaction in addition to knowing first-hand what your feelings are regarding a service or product is key to being able to improve. Use the feedbacks as a premonitive formula for solutions to potential problems, it will make it possible to identify unmet needs in advance.

· Instant communication: as we mentioned before with feedback, having direct and instant communication with your customers is a key factor for their satisfaction and success, since you offer them security and transparency regarding your product. At SmartMonkey, we are very clear that communication with customers is very important and, therefore, we have our email platform. Thanks to the email platform, you can keep your customers informed at all times with the possibility of directly sending all the information necessary to monitor the full service in real time.

· Synchrony between departments: all departments of the company must be aligned with the continuous improvement of the customer experience; all must aim to provide the best possible experience to customers through support, information or improvements at the product level, among others.

· Loyalty programs: the most satisfied and loyal customers will be the best ambassadors of our brand. In this way, it is important to consider a loyalty strategy so that the customer feels part of a community as well as feeling the center of it.

· Appropriate interaction and support: it is essential to offer customers all the interaction and support they need with our company. Therefore, offering a multiplicity of channels to adapt to the needs of each user is key, since the objective will be to facilitate communication.

· CRM: it is necessary to have a customer data manager in order to be able to know in depth what the needs of each of them are; having the right tools will make customers have a better service and are more satisfied. In addition, with a CRM you can manage the analysis of all the information collected from your customers and extract, among others, buying trends.

Do you want to know other market trends? Go to our article Reverse Logistics: what it is and what are its benefits and discover one of the latest trends.

In general terms, it could be said that logistics is the set of all those processes necessary for a product or service to reach the end user; it mainly covers transport, storage and distribution operations.

In turn, and due to the constant change in processes and ways of doing things, largely due to technological advances, different modalities in processes coexist, such as reverse logistics.

La reverse logistics It is a very broad concept that can encompass a myriad of activities since, for example, some of them have ecological purposes (with the objective of avoiding harm to the environment) or others for commercial or productive purposes only, since their actions are interconnected to market supply.

So... What is Reverse Logistics?

With the rise of the already known ecommerce, logistics processes have been forced to adapt and update themselves to new trends and market processes in order to maintain competitiveness vis-a-vis other companies. One of the aspects in which logistics has had to adapt the most due to these b2c stores is, precisely, in the logistics of returns or returns (those users who have purchased an item online and want to return it directly).

In this way, reverse logistics can be defined as the set of practices and processes responsible for managing the returns and returns of those products purchased by users. These returns or returns are managed from the points of sale of the products to the manufacturer itself (to carry out the repair, recycling or disposal of the product at the lowest possible cost).

In addition, logistics is already another process and of vital importance when planning the supply chain for the satisfaction of the end customer.

What are the differences between regular logistics and reverse logistics?

The infrastructure required to manage reverse logistics processes is, as a general rule, the same as for any other logistics process in use. However, we can find differences both in its planning and in its monitoring: the operation is different, since now the customer is the one who can act as a “warehouse” and wait for the collection of their product for subsequent evaluation and economic compensation. In this way, new adapted processes must be considered and taken into account, such as the user's pickup or the treatment of the return product.

Types of Reverse Logistics

According to the article on Reverse Logistics From the company Imatica, specialized in IT services and management software, two types of reverse logistics can be differentiated due to the difference in their approach or objectives.

Business: consists of managing the returns that customers make to inventories or manufacturers.

Eco-friendly: one of the priorities of reverse logistics is precisely the reduction of the environmental impact caused by business activities. For this reason, its use for waste treatment, such as recycling, is also very popular (discarded objects are grouped together for their subsequent recovery process to promote their use).

Benefits of Reverse Logistics

The benefits of reverse logistics are diverse, since they can have both an impact on a better corporate image of the company as well as contributing to a cost reduction. In addition, it is also necessary to highlight the enormous environmental benefit in ecological reverse logistics thanks to practices such as recycling.

Economically, this type of logistics can be significantly beneficial since it is reduced both in time and in costs because there is no need to invest in new materials in the production chain.

Also, and taking into account the typology, “ecological inverted logistics” promotes environmental protection as long as practices such as recycling are carried out (raw materials are created from waste, thus generating a second life cycle for products). All of this also contributes to the improvement of the company's corporate image, since all actions that take advantage of sustainability are increasingly recognized and better valued.

For all these reasons, reverse logistics must be increasingly optimal and efficient, since the management capacity that any company has to manage services such as product returns or customer returns will determine its business success.

As with traditional logistics and last-mile delivery services, reverse logistics also requires tailored planning and optimization, since the user's requirements will be the same: a satisfactory experience both in terms of quality and economy with timely collections and quick returns.

In order to plan reverse logistics that meets the needs of users, it is essential to adopt a last mile management software that allows the efficiency and optimization of all the resources available in your company.

With Routal Planner you will get specialized software that can carry out the different operations that involve reverse logistics, such as the collection and return of products, thanks to optimal planning of the process and with real-time monitoring of its development. Below, we show you a short video in which we show you how to carry out this type of operation in a simple and, above all, efficient way thanks to the use of Planner.

Optimizing the use of resources, especially those that have an environmental benefit, is, to an increasing extent, an extended challenge for society, especially in the logistics sector.

Due to the complexity of logistics operations, many companies face the challenge of reducing costs while being forced to optimize the use and management of resources, as in the case of energy. All of this combines not only environmental awareness and concern, but also a concern to remain competitive with other companies.

In this article, we analyze the importance of implementing actions to ensure the good use of energy resources to achieve a more sustainable future within your company.

Current Situation

The service sector, also known as the tertiary sector, is one whose economic activities are based on the distribution and consumption of goods in order to meet user demand. In turn, this sector encompasses logistics and transport as a subsector, key industries for the development and good functioning of those more developed economies.

However, the logistics industry is a sector in which there is a lot of competition and, given the increasingly specific requirements of users, the improvement of energy efficiency within the logistics process itself has become a key factor for logistics companies to continue with a tight price offer without detracting from the quality of their service.

For this reason, it is essential to implement solutions capable of integrating energy saving mechanisms into their logistics processes in order to achieve resource optimization in addition to remaining at a demanding competitive level such as logistics.

In line with this, according to statements made by Fernando López Zamora, Head of Development at EDF Fenice Ibérica, at the conference”Energy efficiency in logistics facilities” energy efficiency is “a tool for competitiveness and sustainability for companies”.

Emphasizing the fact that “today's industry must prepare to compete tomorrow. And energy and the environment are at the center of this transformation. Therefore, this preparation implies that there is a digitalization of the logistics industry with digital technologies that improve the efficiency of facilities and processes; that are committed to sustainability with efficient uses and consumption of resources; and that they invest in competitiveness to be able to produce the same thing while consuming less”.

Measures

Fleet Management System: the incorporation of specialized software for fleet management will allow the planning of shorter and more efficient routes, in addition to also achieving greater and better use of resources, since it will be possible to take into account the capacities of the vehicles, among others.

Warehouses: The incorporation of automated warehouses has established itself as an efficient solution for energy optimization because it ensures greater use of resources, both spatial and operational (intelligent warehouse management systems).

Electric vehicles: The electrification of vehicles is becoming increasingly popular thanks to a significant improvement in technology, the reduction of the final cost for users together with a lower cost of use and the absence of limitations on use (large city governments have implemented what are known as Low Emission Zones in order to restrict access to cities to all those vehicles that are the most polluting). Initiatives such as that of the company Avia, who have recently developed the EV12 model, a vehicle specifically developed for the city with 100% electric propulsion, making it an environmentally friendly vehicle.

Benefits of saving energy

With the implementation of more sustainable measures that help to save energy in the normal operations of any company, great advantages will be obtained for your company as a result:

1. Lower costs: The change in perspective on logistics operations, making it a much more sustainable sector, also bring economic benefits, since planning efficient routes will increase productivity while reducing fuel costs, among others.
2. Decrease in the carbon footprint: Thanks to new ways of proceeding in logistics, such as the use of electric vehicles or the optimization of routes, the impact of logistics operations on the environment is reduced, thus minimizing the known carbon footprint and improving the quality of life in cities.
3. Improving the corporate image: Today, organizations understand sustainability as a priority issue, and this is reflected in their value proposition. For this reason, more and more companies are taking sustainability into account in their activities and, also, as a value proposition in their marketing and communication strategies.

How can you add to energy savings in logistics? With an effective use of resources and logistics processes, such as planning more efficient and shorter routes or the use of less polluting vehicles. All of this will not only contribute to environmental efficiency but also to greater economic profitability for companies. If you want to know more about logistics and sustainability, don't miss our article about Green Logistics.

Get on board with energy efficiency with Routal Planner for 30% more efficient and sustainable route planning.

Find out how to improve logistics productivity in 4 simple steps

La productivity It is an essential indicator for analyzing the state and quality of logistics management of your company. Here are some of the recommendations that will help you increase logistic productivity of your company

Use of metrics and KPIs

To evaluate logistic productivity and process performance, the use of KPIs is essential (Key Performance Indicator). These indicators will help you measure and quantify your company's performance and compliance with established objectives. According to the article Logistics KPI: discover how to increase the productivity of your company from the technology consultancy Enzyme Advising Group, the incorporation of these parameters is an essential component in the success of any company.

It is recommended that when defining the logistics KPIs, they are developed based on the S.M.A.R.T. (Smart, Mmeasurable, Achivable, Realistic and Time-Bound) model:

• Specific: in line with your company's mission, vision and strategy.
• Measurable: Quantifying results will be key to strategy planning and subsequent decision-making.
• Achievable: define objectives as long as they are acceptable and real
• Realistic: objectives should be defined according to the capabilities and particularities of the strategy
• Time-limited: objectives with a limited period of time.

Within the KPIs, it must be taken into account which ones can be useful within each of the phases of the logistics process. This will make it easier for you to extract performance data from each department. Here are some of the most important in the different phases of the logistics process:

• Purchase and inventory: it is essential to measure the service offered by our suppliers and carry out an inventory in order to have a good organization (know the content, avoid possible errors and even reduce costs)
• Distribution: Quantifying the orders to be placed and evaluating the productivity of your employees will increase the efficiency of your warehouse
• Transportation: automating tasks related to transportation, thanks to the use of software specialized in route planning and optimization, will make the last mile an efficient and optimal process for your customers
• Order and delivery management: It is necessary to know times and quantities when carrying out a delivery service, since it will depend on increasing management and operational performance

Increase customer satisfaction

Prioritizing a stable relationship focused on customer satisfaction is the first step and an essential step to achieve success and thus increase logistics productivity.

To establish a good relationship with your customers, you must offer optimal communication throughout the process: it offers direct access, real-time monitoring of information, includes alerts, etc. It is also essential to guarantee adequate technical support: the resolution of incidents or questions that may arise quickly and effectively is essential for the satisfaction of your users. All of this will make them have all the information they may require and will help them build a much stronger relationship with your company, which will also have an impact on logistics productivity.

Optimizing resources: transport and logistics productivity

The optimization of resources when it comes to transportation is essential for the benefit and efficiency of your company, since it will help to control the traceability, trajectory and tracking of shipments. In addition, planning delivery routes efficiently and optimally will result in significant economic and time savings. Therefore, the use of specialized route planning software such as Planner, from SmartMonkey, will be a key element in increasing the logistics productivity of your company.

Design of planning systems, logistics scenarios and efficient warehouses

It is essential to have a good warehouse design, since it will have a direct impact on the supply chain and its effectiveness because this will help to manage one's own supplies properly and to greater logistic productivity.

The design or redesign of the warehouse should take into account key aspects, such as the prior analysis of the warehouse's space needs and associated areas, together with a previous study also of the expected inflow and outflow.

Do you want to know more aspects of the logistics market? We recommend that you read the article Digital transformation in the logistics sector: the 5 keys to achieving digital success to learn about the latest trends in the sector.

If you want to increase the logistics productivity of your business, join Planner and reinforce the scalability of your company.

If you're still one of the few laggards resisting digital transformation, you need to read this article. Learn about the path to logistical success

The profile of new users in the growing digital era stimulates the fact that companies are being pushed towards digital transformation (also known as logistics 4.0), in order to adapt their businesses to the new social, business and technological reality. In this way, users have adopted digital culture in their environment thanks to the incorporation of new tools, which often allow greater speed, efficiency and even user autonomy.

For all these reasons, most companies in practically any sector have already begun to adapt to this new era. This transformation triggers new business opportunities, revenues and even increased efficiency. In this way, all those companies that are successfully participating in the digital transformation process will be better positioned in the market given the competitive advantages compared to other non-digitized companies.

How to apply digital transformation strategies in logistics

Below we show you what are the most important aspects for proper business digitalization in logistics. All initiatives must take into account the particular situation of each company considering the difficulties it faces, the opportunities it has in its sector and the objectives it sets itself. Therefore, it is advisable to go step by step:

Strategy: it is very important that the company's strategy is aligned with the challenges of digitalization. Digitalization can be a very important lever in the strategy because if you only invest in technology without clear guidance, the result is usually not as expected.

Starting point and objectives: it is necessary to carry out a prior analysis to assess the current state of the areas most affected in the company due to the imminent digitalization.

Partida Budgetary for digitalization: the company's internal procedures or bureaucratisms should not be an impediment to making the investments in technology necessary for digital transformation. One of the pillars of digitalization lies in the simplification and automation of many processes, which is why it is often welcome.

Talent 4.0: it is essential to bet and invest in those employees who have specialized training in supply chain management, in addition to also having advanced skills in software and digitalization.

Metrics and KPIs: it is essential to analyze each stage and measure its results (KPI) in order to make the best decisions that increase the efficiency of our company.

LEAN method: Prototype, measure, and iterate. It is necessary not to approach the project in a very ambitious way if the company does not have the human capital with sufficient experience in this type of project. It is preferable to start with small projects that give confidence in the execution and management of change in the company itself.

Technological tools: key factors of logistics 4.0

Once analyzed what are the strategies to be implemented towards logistics 4.0, it is now necessary to know those technological tools and key factors in order to carry it out.

Cloud Computing: Cloud computing technology is a pillar of digital transformation since it allows you to store data online, thus allowing different sectors or departments to share information without the need for a software or storage system.

Management software and systems: The implementation of new technological solutions (software) that help to systematize management will promote the automation of some processes that until now were mostly manual, such as planning delivery routes. Thanks to the use of our tool SmartMonkey Planner efficient route planning is already a reality for many small and large companies, such as the case of Alfil Logistics or Pink Basket, among others. Do you want to know more about the benefits of intelligent route planning? Read the following article and discover the success in Success Story: Alfil Logistics — Alfilxpress.

Big Data: With the incorporation of Big Data, companies have the possibility of being able to work with a large volume of data in a much more strategic and analytical way, thus allowing them to more easily forecast market demands and trends or transport weaknesses and needs, among others.

Internet of Things: It allows the interconnection between the different items in the same system in order to act collaboratively and intelligently. This, within the logistics chain, represents a great benefit already implemented in a large part of the process chain.

Advantages of digital transformation logistics

Automation in logistics processes: Especially in inventory, warehousing and route planning, among other processes.

Extensive data collection across the supply chain: measurable and analyzable

Predictive maintenance based on collected data

Advanced control in all processes and digitized quality system

Management system for digital performance

Bigger and better user experience — end customer

In short, the adaptation of the logistics industry to this new digitalization is crucial for the evolution of the sector, not only because of the threats to those companies that are unable to adapt, but also because of all the competitive advantages that will be obtained by all those companies that know how to take advantage of existing opportunities.

Do you want to know more trends in the logistics market? We recommend that you read the article Green Logistics: discover what it is and how to join the current market trend to learn about the industry's latest complaint.

If you want to be part of the digital transformation and technological advances in logistics, join Planner and reinforce the scalability of your business.

Don't be left behind and join the latest trend in the sector with Green Logistics

In the last year, especially marked by the pandemic resulting from COVID-19, a new trend has become popular in the logistics industry characterized by greater environmental responsibility in terms of resource use and process management. This trend is what we now know as Green Logistics.

In a global context in which climate change is already one of the main concerns for citizens, sustainability plays a leading role in the priorities of many companies. This concern also applies to many industries, such as logistics, due to the constant CO2 emissions produced while traveling. For all these reasons, sustainability is already a key element in logistics processes, which have been forced to generate while developing new models that integrate environmental vision into their processes.

Below, we explain what it is and how you can join the Green Logistics:

La Green Logistics refers to all those efforts and actions aimed at measuring and minimizing the impact of logistics on the environment. In short, a set of initiatives to reduce the environmental impact derived from logistics activity.

According to the article What is Green Logistics and what benefits does it provide of ESIC, various solutions are proposed in the logistics industry to make it more sustainable and, in short, it can become what we already know as Green Logistics:

Delivery in bicycles, electric motorcycles, tricycles, quadricycles, as well as in electric vans and cars: The use of these vehicles would significantly reduce the emission of CO2 to the environment and would reduce current levels of pollution within large cities.

Autonomous vehicles: Mobile autonomous driving lockers that carry the package to the place of delivery, where the vehicle stops, waits for the customer to pick up their package from the assigned locker with a pin code and follow their route until the next delivery (...). In this way, CO2 emissions would be significantly reduced and the delivery of packages would be expedited.

Urban minihubs: To reduce pollution in cities and traffic jams caused by the increasing number of vehicles that enter and leave them every day, it is proposed to place minihubs within cities that avoid such journeys (...). This reduces CO2 emissions and offers a distribution solution that is closer and more convenient to the customer.

Mobile fleet management: These are computer systems that allow us to adapt the route to customer demand on a daily basis, through the use of mobile minihubs that travel to the required delivery area.

Delivery robots: The robots, made up of a wheeled table where packages can be loaded, would follow the delivery people, helping them to carry the heaviest shipments (...). This system can be very useful in places in the center of cities where road traffic is prohibited.

Benefits of Green Logistics in your company

Optimization of resources: use strategies to make effective use of resources, such as shorter and more efficient delivery routes, making better use of vehicle capacities and keeping them in good condition, among others. An example of this is the success story of the company Alfil Logistics, since with an efficient use of their resources, they managed to improve their productivity by 15% for the urban distribution of goods in the city of Barcelona.

Reduces the harmful impact on the environment: Thanks to the use of new ways of proceeding in logistics (the Minihubs urban, electric vehicles or route optimization), the impact of logistics operations on the environment is reduced, thus minimizing the known carbon footprint and improving life in cities.

Economic savings: The new ways of doing things in the logistics industry, making it a much more sustainable sector, also bring economic benefits, since the use of electric vehicles, together with efficient route planning, can reduce and increase productivity while reducing fuel consumption, among others.

Improving your company's corporate social image and brand value: Nowadays, organizations understand sustainability as a priority issue, and this is reflected in their value proposition. For this reason, more and more companies are taking sustainability into account in their activities and, also, as a value proposition in their marketing and communication strategies, as is the case of Savinco

How to join Green Logistics?

With an effective use of resources and logistics processes, such as planning more efficient and shorter routes or the use of less polluting vehicles. All of this will not only contribute to environmental efficiency but also to greater economic profitability for companies.

Join Green Logistics with Routal Planner for efficient and sustainable route planning.

If you're still managing the last-mile routes of your ecommerce with Excel or Google Spreadsheet, don't worry, you're not the only one, but you probably need some help

Our goal is to make life in the last mile a little bit easier and more efficient. But before I go into detail, let me tell you the story of Eduard at Farmily.

Farmily It is a small business that distributes fruit and vegetables at home, direct from the farmer. I am a customer myself and I can say that I have eaten the best strawberries of my life. Even better than those in my small urban garden, which hurt my little pride as an amateur farmer.

As a good entrepreneur, Eduard decided to set up his own online store and manage the entire process: generating demand, preparing shipments and delivering to the customer. I was clear that if I wanted to provide a good service, I needed to control the entire chain. You can imagine that before Routal, management was completely manual. Several Excels, papers everywhere, the odd shipment lost, nothing that didn't happen to you.

For him, just organizing the routes could take several hours a day, sometimes it was hell when one of the delivery people failed him. One day that this work was unsustainable, delaying preparation in the warehouse and impacting the quality of the service and preventing customers from repeating. For Eduard, continuing to work in that way made it difficult for him to grow and did not allow him to live in peace.

The daily problems of managing an ecommerce manually last mile

• I spent many hours planning routes.
• The preparation in the warehouse was delayed
• The performance of the routes could be clearly improved (but I didn't have much more time)
• I didn't sleep well at night

Eduard wondered if there was another way to do things. You can imagine that living in the countryside (as a family of farmers) rethinking what was established was not very common in their environment but I was clear that I needed to change something. Fast.

I agreed with Eduard speaking through the Chat, (I recommend that you use it, we have experts in last mile logistics who can help you improve your processes) and he told me that he controlled Excel and that he managed the entire company with this tool but he didn't use any other application other than email and Whatsapp to communicate with the delivery people. Every day at Routal, we see hundreds of small businesses that operate that way and suffer with the manual management of their operations. There is life beyond the spreadsheet and it's a better life.

I encouraged him to Watch a video of less than 5 minutes upon how we could help you save time in your daily life. In addition, you could try the tool at no cost..

In less than 30 minutes I had understood how the tool worked and I had my next day's schedule ready and saved a vehicle. I'll let you imagine what happened the next day.

He came back, every day. Routal Planner became an indispensable tool for their daily lives. But Eduard wanted to save himself one more step. The step of having to download files and copying cells from one file to another. From the product team, we thought about how we could help so many users who use Google's online Excel and have to carry out that process every day. At that time (and a few hours of development later) the add-on was born that integrate Google Spreadsheet with Routal Planner for all licensed customers Gorilla 🐒

And Kong 👑

completely free of charge.

This integration allows Eduard and any Google Sheets user to easily and quickly import all stops/deliveries in a schedule with just one click. What used to be 10-15 minutes of downloading, adjusting and uploading is now literally 2 clicks (open the plugin, upload to the plan you need).

In this video you can see the entire process. Sit down, get ready, because 30 seconds are very intense (of which the upload time is no more than 10s).

Try it for free!

This is the story of a traditional small business that didn't want to settle and decided to improve its daily lives. I encourage you to follow in his footsteps and not stop growing like Eduard. I leave you with the most repeated questions that our users ask themselves and that we like to help them answer.

Don't I have time?

I understand it, I share it and I am convinced of it. You've come this far and others have done it. You know you need to do something different like Eduard did. As a teacher I had when “I didn't have time to do my homework” said: Time is relative, use it properly and invest it; it will give you back much more time than it will take away.

Will it be complicated?

If you are managing your business with Excel and are able to remember each of the pages, files and how they are organized, I assure you that Routal Planner will seem like child's play to you. If we can explain the operation in just 4 minutes, it won't take you more than 20 to get everything working (and if you have any questions you can consult our documentation or let us help you in our chat).

I'm too small for all this

That's one of the reasons why many users don't dare. They always expect to be bigger, better, better-looking. In my opinion, you manage to get bigger, offer a better service and get customers to repeat when you do things right. Excel is fine when you start, but not forever. Adding specialized tools that help reduce process times, increase performance and improve delivery convenience makes companies better, bigger and more beautiful.

We have customers who started with just 3 or 4 deliveries a day but wanted to improve the service. They wanted to save time, to let the customer know where the delivery person is, to have information at all times, and much more. All of this has allowed their customers to repeat. Improving has allowed them to grow and what used to be a vehicle is now more than 10 in just one year. You can do it, too, and it's easier than you think.

What does this integration allow?

With the Routal Planner route optimizer integrated with Google Spreadsheet, we allow any company that manages its daily lives using spreadsheets/Excel to continue operating in the same way while obtaining the performance improvements of a route optimizer. Savings of more than 30% of last mile operating costs, reduce planning times by more than 80% and improve the service delivered.

Facilitating data migration further helps reduce management and planning times, making it an almost automatic process. The goal is for you to spend time on tasks that really add value to your business. Technology must be on the side of users and that data flow without any friction.

How much does this plugin cost?

Free, nothing, Free. It is part of the license Gorilla 🐒

And Kong 🦍

, so you can try it with your trial account (🤫 you only have 10 days, make the most of them).

Contact us for more details and any questions or suggestions you may have!