Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/741843
commercial carrier journal | october 2016 61 Transportation companies of all kinds look for ways to gain the upper hand in e-commerce BY AARON HUFF P itt Ohio has one group of customers who want to know what time their shipments will arrive on delivery day. Others are content knowing their shipments will be there by the close of business. The Pittsburgh-based full-service transportation and logistics provider op- erates one of the largest less-than-truck- load fleets that offers next-day service in the Atlantic and Midwest regions. The number of customers in the first group is growing, especially if they ship to residential locations, says Geoff Muessig, chief marketing officer. That's because people are carrying their ex- pectations in the business-to-consumer world of e-commerce over to the busi- ness-to-business environment. When ordering online, many web- sites give a date and even a time win- dow when parcels will arrive in their mailbox or at their doorstep. Today, that same visibility is becoming more expected when consumers and busi- nesses order palletized freight for deliv- ery in a straight truck or tractor-trailer to their driveway or receiving dock. Last year, e-commerce accounted for 10 percent of all retail sales and 60 per- cent of retail sales growth. As more sales move through online channels, motor carriers and logistics providers are play- ing a critical role in the timely delivery of both products and information. More shippers are asking for added visibility of their shipments at every stage, from the point of sale to the "final mile" of delivery. This visibility extends further up the supply chain for LTL and truckload shipments from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers and warehouses – and eventu- ally to the consumers at home. Point-of-sale visibility Some routing software systems used by private and commercial fleets can pro- vide an estimated time of arrival when an item is sold. These systems contin- uously optimize routes as new orders arrive and use historical data to predict future orders and arrival times. Retailers and private fleets use TMW Systems' final-mile routing product, Appian DR Track, to provide their customers with a delivery ETA at the point of sale. Once the delivery date is confirmed, the Appian system contin- uously updates the ETA as new orders arrive, and later as a truck is loaded and departs for delivery. The real-time ETA status can be sent to e-commerce websites using Appi- an DR Track's standard application programming interface for real-time shipment visibility. "With our open API, anybody can design any type of system pretty easily to pull data in and out quickly," says Brian Larwig, vice presi- dent of optimization for TMW Systems. Paragon Software Systems has an end-to-end order fulfillment system, Paragon HDX, designed to allow fleets to provide customers with shipment visibility at the point of sale and throughout the delivery process, says Retailers and private fleets use TMW Systems' final-mile routing product, Appian DR Track, to provide their customers with a delivery ETA at the point of sale.