A prominent DTC company, a US-based ecommerce sports retailer, knows a lot about home runs – it’s hit its fair share of them. From organic growth to partnerships and acquisitions, from market expansions to product diversification, the company works tirelessly to find new and engaging ways for fans to connect with their favorite teams.
As an e-commerce company, the brand knew merchandising and inventory selection were both essential and exciting to its customer base. But they knew maximizing last-mile delivery efficiency is just as essential to help grow business by reducing logistics expenses — plus it helps ensure a better customer experience with fast, on-time delivery. (After all, if that brand-new jersey doesn’t arrive in time for the big game, why bother keeping score?)
The company found it needed to increase its delivery speed while efficiently integrating with warehouse operations — all at scale. With that in mind, the company took its need for improved last-mile delivery to the all-star team at Roadie. There, logistics experts developed customized Roadie Direct™ and Roadie SmartSort™ solutions with consolidated routing allowing the company to offer ultrafast delivery options for its customers. And when these efforts brought the unexpected benefit of reducing carbon emissions, Roadie knew a new sustainability solution was in play.
Changing how the game is played
Unlike other large retailers, the ecommerce company’s direct-to-consumer approach means the company has no brick-and-mortar storefronts. While this structure generally reduces overhead for the growing number of businesses that choose it, it also eliminates an important component in many retailers’ last-mile delivery strategies. Since 2020, major retailers like The Home Depot, Walmart and Tractor Supply have invested billions in in-store order fulfillment upgrades. These changes have turned neighborhood stores into mini distribution centers conveniently located near their existing customers, making fast deliveries easy.
But without physical storefronts, the retailer needed to add a specialized local next-day delivery solution to its roster — one that could integrate with its existing fulfillment centers and capitalize on efficient route consolidation efforts.
With that mandate, Roadie developed a solution to make the most of the retailer’s established facilities and processes. Integration was smooth, with the Roadie SmartSort™ app used to pre-sort orders in-house for driver pickup, combined with routed deliveries fulfilled directly from its warehouses. The new setup made a big difference in how the ecommerce company played the ultrafast delivery game.
Leading the league with efficient route consolidation
Off the bat, the Roadie system and Roadie SmartSort™ app made a huge impact on efficiency and delivery speed.
Prior to this arrangement, most of the company’s fulfillment teams were used to loading items onto traditional carrier trucks. These would then travel to offsite sorting centers for additional handling before being sent off for home delivery.
Under the new structure, the company could consolidate orders within 50 miles of a fulfillment center into batches of up to 30 deliveries. These batches could each be handled by a single crowdsourced driver in the same day with no additional supply chain touchpoints.
What used to take days to sort (and re-sort) merchandise before delivering to customers now takes only a couple of hours, with just two to three employees managing the entire process in-house. More to the point, what used to take more than half a million driven supply chain miles to deliver now takes less than 72,000 miles on the road. The Roadie platform with its proprietary and highly effective route consolidation reduced the retailer’s delivery mileage by a whopping 86%. And if that standout performance wasn’t enough, Roadie’s biggest player was just stepping up to the plate.
Knocking sustainability out of the park
When this company first approached Roadie, the brand already had some sustainability projects underway, like reducing packaging waste and engaging in sustainable production processes. But while their initial focus was on delivery speed, the Roadie team also observed a positive environmental impact made by the company when using Roadie solutions. In a recent survey, Roadie found that around 50% of industry leaders are considering route optimization to reduce emissions, which has a bigger impact than other low-emissions initiatives like EVs.
Initial analysis of the retailer’s last-mile delivery with Roadie found that the program measurably reduced carbon emissions, reduced miles driven and increased delivery speed. For delivery routes with just three stops, carbon emissions were reduced by 35%. But when a driver picked up a 30-stop delivery route, emissions — like mileage — dropped by 86%.
Though preliminary, these results show outstanding potential and can make an immediate impact on a retailer’s overall sustainability scores.
At scale, the cost and time savings with middle-mile consolidation can be significant, affecting everything from processing, handling and shipping fees to fleet management and customer satisfaction. But this impressive sustainability byproduct reveals just how easy it can be for businesses to move the needle on their sustainability goals. While the general consensus is that green technology costs more, in this case, there was no additional investment. Plus, the brand benefited from ultrafast delivery with happier customers and a better customer experience.
Put Roadie in your bullpen for an all-star performance
Partnering with Roadie helped position this retailer as even more of a heavy hitter. For Roadie, it’s proof positive that the company’s new Roadie Green™ offering has a strong lineup for logistics, technology and sustainability.
As Roadie begins a larger low-emissions rollout with its new Roadie Green™ solution, enterprise clients will get the chance to find similar successes, beginning in limited markets including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Visit here to learn more about Roadie Green™.
