During the global pandemic, Netlift, which is known for its expertise in daily carpooling, has adapted its route optimization service to support the local economy and offer a solution that makes delivery easier for businesses that want to deliver their products to customers’ homes.
Netlift’s agility and flexibility were once again proven. In only a few days, the team was able to modify the carpooling and errand-sharing platform in order to present an efficient solution for delivering orders. Netlift’s service was offered and successfully implemented in Montreal where many businesses were able to continue to sell their products in spite of the quarantine. Netlift’s route optimization solution quickly sparked interest on the other side of the ocean. Netlift was contacted by a butcher, Mr. Éric Dulat, in Nevers, France, and put all of the elements into place to make his order deliveries more efficient.
In just 72 hours, Mr. Dulat had communicated his needs to Netlift, which was able to program everything; then he was trained and up and running to begin his deliveries in no time at all. As of the first day using the solution, he had reduced his delivery time by 50%, which in turn allowed him to increase his online orders by over 22%.
“I take between 20 and 40 orders per day, either online or via telephone. Deliveries can take four hours on the road each day to distribute my products in Nevers and the agglomeration. Now, Netlift saves me half the time on deliveries and can predict my daily route down to the minute,” explained Mr. Dulat.
"I take between 20 and 40 orders per day, either online or via telephone. Deliveries can take four hours on the road each day to distribute my products in Nevers and the agglomeration. Now, Netlift saves me half the time on deliveries and can predict my daily route down to the minute"
Marc-Antoine Ducas, CEO of Netlift, added: “Netlift has specialized in daily carpooling, hygienic transportation and route optimization since 2012. Our team rolled up its sleeves to adapt the platform to support businesses so that we could help them deliver their products to their clients. We are really pleased to be able to contribute to supporting businesses during this trying time for everyone.”
The delivery solution is simple: the merchant enters the deliveries into their Netlift administrator account, the Netlift mobile application is then used by the delivery person so that they can follow the optimal route and know the order in which the deliveries should be made. The delivery person only has to press a button on the app when they leave the business heading towards the first delivery address. When they do, a text message is sent to their client to advise them that their order is on the way. When the parcel is delivered, they press on a button to confirm the delivery and advise that they are on their way to the second address. That client then receives a text message, and so on.
Depending on the number of orders that need to be delivered and the various vendors’ resources, the Netlift’s route optimization system allows deliveries to be made by volunteers, the vendor or taxi drivers.