Grocery Gateway Guarantees On-Time Delivery with Cube Route On Demand Logistics Management Solution

Cube Route today announced that Grocery Gateway, operated by Longo Brothers Fruit Market Inc. and Canada's leader in online sales of home-delivered groceries, is using Cube Route's on demand logistics management solution to optimize its routes for maximum efficiency and gain real-time visibility into its delivery operations. A combination of sophisticated routing, tracking, planning and dispatching functionality provided by Cube Route enables Grocery Gateway to guarantee on time deliveries to the door within a specific 90-minute window - much narrower than most retail delivery operations.

Grocery Gateway's delivery fleets make close to 500 stops per day to meet the needs of 15,000 active customers. To ensure that orders are delivered on time and that it can quickly respond to last minute customer requests or cancellations as well as unpredictable delays, Grocery Gateway needed optimized routes and real-time visibility into its delivery operations.

"With its Routing Service, Cube Route enables us to cost effectively optimize our routes and improve our drive time consistency, which has increased our driver satisfaction," said Kurt Mann, Manager of Operations for Grocery Gateway. "Our tight delivery windows and the large, densely populated delivery area we serve made our logistics planning, routing and tracking an incredible challenge. With Cube Route however, we can track our drivers throughout the day and adjust their routes on the fly to ensure we meet our narrow delivery time windows."

The Cube Route Visibility and Routing Solution provides Grocery Gateway with a real-time view into its delivery fleets, enabling the company to consistently meet its promise of a 90-minute delivery window. With access to historical delivery data that can be analyzed, Grocery Gateway can now also maximize its route efficiency. Cube Route also provides Grocery Gateway with a dedicated routing consultant as part of its outsourced Routing Service. The consultant is responsible for optimizing the online grocer's daily routes by taking into account geographic zones, time windows and other physical constraints. Since deploying the Cube Route solution, Grocery Gateway has improved its on time delivery performance by 14% and is exceeding its yearly stops per paid hour by 12.4%.

As a hosted solution, Cube Route eliminates the complexity of installed software for Grocery Gateway. "Cube Route minimizes the demands that our route planning and delivery operations place on our I.T. staff. Since Cube Route uses a 'software as a service' model, there is no support required for installation, maintenance, upgrades or equipment. As a result, our in-house I.T. team can focus their attention on our core infrastructure," explained Mann.

Using GPS-enabled mobile phones, Cube Route initiates visibility the moment a Grocery Gateway driver departs for the first stop. This automatically updates the planned route and all its associated metrics. Drivers simply push two buttons on the phone on completion of deliveries to report back to head office. GPS pings are also sent from the phone, automatically updating the location, speed, and direction on maps that can be accessed anywhere through a standard web browser.

"Grocery Gateway has dynamic and complex delivery requirements, and both customer service and cost controls are critical to their business," said Alex Walker, CEO of Cube Route. "By taking the time to understand and address the challenges in their business, we are helping them fulfill their delivery guarantee to their customers, while driving efficiencies across their business."

About Cube Route

Cube Route provides on demand logistics management solutions to help transportation and distribution organizations lower their operating costs, improve customer service and reduce operational complexity. Offered on a pay-as-you-go subscription basis, Cube Route's solution for last mile logistics is used by organizations such as Peapod, Bad Boy Furniture, Stewart Foodservice and Stephenson's Rental Services to cost effectively manage and achieve visibility into the entire delivery process. From sequencing routes for optimal efficiency and tracking drivers in real time, to analyzing and applying historical data to boost operational performance, Cube Route delivers the most value at the lowest total cost of ownership. Cube Route's innovative offering has been recognized in 'Top 100' award listings in publications such as Supply & Demand Chain Executive, Food Logistics and Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies. For additional information on Cube Route visit www.cuberoute.com or call 1-877-227-6883.

About Grocery Gateway

Founded in 1998 and acquired by Longo Brothers Fruit Market Inc. in 2004, Grocery Gateway is Canada's leader in online sales of home-delivered groceries. The company offers more than 7,500 grocery items on its website, including fresh meats, produce and organic products. Designed to help busy families save precious time, Grocery Gateway has over 100,000 registered customers throughout the Greater Toronto Area.