Solutions 4 Delivery’s approach has yielded significant results for both its business and its food delivery clients across Europe.
The combination of the Maps JavaScript API’s real-time traffic and the Directions API’s route optimization enables a more efficient workflow that yields an average 23.5% reduction in the number of delivery runs using Solutions 4 Delivery’s POS system.
Because the end-to-end process is connected in today’s POS system, accurate location intelligence enables Solutions 4 Delivery to optimize seemingly disparate operations. These activities include the order of cooking meals, bundling those meals into delivery runs, and selecting the right vehicle for each run (with the choice between fast cars or nimble bikes determined by traffic congestion and street layout).
“The result of Google Maps Platform integration is simply faster delivery and lower overhead,” says Maxim. “Cutting delivery runs by nearly a quarter has yielded cost savings of 10% by requiring fewer drivers and vehicles.”
Meanwhile, ETA accuracy is a key differentiator between success and failure in food delivery. For Solutions 4 Delivery, the Distance Matrix API and Traffic Layer in Maps JavaScript API produces an average 3% improvement in ETA accuracy over all markets served. In less developed markets like Romania, the ETA boost is much higher, at an estimated 17%, as Maps Javascript API’s Traffic Layer brings clarity to unstable road conditions.”This brings a huge boost to customer satisfaction,” says Maxim. “In Romania, if we give an ETA that’s slightly longer than usual, and the ETA is spot on, the customer is still happy. What they hate is being told one thing and getting another. Google Maps Platform allows our clients to meet expectations every time.”
For Solutions 4 Delivery, one unexpected advantage of Google Maps Platform is decreasing the training time food chains require to onboard new staff. The POS systems built by Solutions 4 Delivery provides the intuitive Google Maps user interface (UI) that employees already use in their daily lives.
That means the tablets and mobile apps on which POS systems communicate have the familiar feel of Google Maps features many younger workers have used most of their lives. It yields an estimated 60% saving in training time, which also translates into cost savings.
“When we look at who is working in these stores, it’s mostly tech-minded young people, the new generation, and for them it’s pretty difficult to understand the older legacy-based POS systems,” says Maxim. “So we created a system that was way simpler to use with Google Maps UIs, which they already know from using Google Maps on their smartphones. For them, our POS system is as easy as navigating with Google Maps on their mobile device.”
