First and Final Mile Optimization Saves Big in Fleet Network

December 20, 2022

COVID-19 brought massive global disruption that had rippling effects on the supply chain over the past two years. Home-bound consumers turned to online shopping in droves. Retailers and transportation providers scrambled to deploy first and final mile capabilities and meet the sudden demand for home delivery.

While there are numerous contributors to the disrupted market, the massive growth of e-commerce and subsequent demand for delivery efficiency made the last mile the first priority for today’s shippers.

Let’s take a closer look at the importance of mastering first and final mile logistics. We’ll also reveal how MercuryGate helps shippers drive strategic and tactical value at every step of the delivery process – through the lens of a customer case study.

The Last Mile is First Priority

Tech-savvy online consumers expect more from the delivery experience than ever before: speed, accuracy, assurance, and quality information. Deliveries should arrive quickly and when expected, every time.

Recent research highlights how delivery experience affects your brand’s image:

55% of consumers would switch to a competing retailer or brand that offers faster delivery.
74% of consumers would likely increase purchases with a retailer after a satisfactory delivery experience.

Late or missed deliveries can destroy customer satisfaction and eliminate repeat business opportunities.

With consumers expecting fast, flawless delivery, last mile capabilities will determine delivery performance well into the future. Route optimization allows companies to navigate disruptive markets and increase customer satisfaction while minimizing costs.

How MercuryGate Final Mile is Driving Strategic & Tactical Value

Today’s complex market dynamics demand advanced tactical solutions to deliver results in the last mile. First and final mile technologies for vehicle routing, scheduling, and dynamic optimization combat disruption and improve delivery outcomes. To address these modern challenges, MercuryGate acquired Cheetah Software in 2021, extending our platform to deliver intelligent first and final mile capabilities.

Mercury Gate Final Mile is an industry-leading optimization engine designed to help businesses and fleets do more with less. Less drivers, less vehicles, less time, and less people – operating under an integrated TMS and autonomous routing engine. MercuryGate Final Mile allows optimization and execution at every stage of the first and final mile process.

Customer orders: TMS integrations send order information directly to the Final Mile platform for execution.
Route planner: Orders move into the batch routing phase. The route optimization engine considers 200+ parameters, including appointment windows, equipment type, special handling requirements, and driver skill sets, to deliver the best possible routes for each available driver. Routes are then exported to warehouse planners for loading.
Dispatcher: Orders and routes shift to day-of activities, where invariably plans will change due to reschedules, cancellations, add-ons, driver delays, etc. The platform automatically adjusts routes to accommodate real-time disruption, or dispatchers can manually update routes to resolve urgent issues or manage priority shipments.
Driver: Final Mile mobile app provides real-time GPS tracking and instantaneous communication between driver and dispatch. Critical delivery updates are relayed throughout the organization.
Customer service: The Final Mile platform links information from the centralized system and mobile app. Customer service agents are always armed with the most up-to-date shipment and delivery information.
Reporting: All shipment information is fed into the TMS for relevant upstream reporting.

MercuryGate Final Mile technology drives strategic and tactical value across the first, middle, and, specifically, the last mile with an advanced route optimization engine that adapts in real time.

To demonstrate how MercuryGate Final Mile drives value and ROI, let’s look at some of the milestones achieved by our customer.

MercuryGate Final Mile Customer Case Study

This large international transportation provider wanted to centralize dispatch functions and fleet network.

With the advanced first and final mile solution, the customer massively restructured dispatch operations from 92 locations and 110 employees to one centralized location and six employees. This supported enormous cost savings on commercial leases and total labor costs. Additionally, the customer decreased a decentralized fleet by 40% while simultaneously moving twice the volume – driving more profit with fewer resources.

In addition to centralizing operations and building an optimized fleet, the MercuryGate Final Mile routing engine increased on-time delivery across the network, which led to a 68% decrease for inbound customer service calls. Since the solution provides real-time shipment access, customer service agents quickly access the information they need, decreasing the average call time from 17 to 4 minutes. These first and final mile improvements to on-time delivery and customer service efficiency create a better customer experience and increased profits.

Calculate your potential Saving While Using an enterprise TMS

Use Our Calculator

Unlock First, and Final Mile Optimization Power

The MercuryGate Final Mile platform optimizes first and final mile route activities, gives businesses access to shipments to manage exceptions in real time, and supports world-class customer service. To learn more about how shippers drive value with MercuryGate’s cutting-edge technology, download our e-Book or watch our Velocity webinar on demand.