Locus Recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for Last-Mile Delivery Technology Solutions Report

We are excited to announce that Locus has been mentioned as a Representative Vendor in the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for Last-Mile Delivery Technology Solutions (LMD).

This is the fourth year for Locus being mentioned in different Gartner® Market Guides. Recently, Locus was also recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for Multicarrier Parcel Management Solutions, 2024 (MCPMS).

Speaking on the development, Nishith Rastogi, Founder and CEO of Locus commented, “We believe this acknowledgment by Gartner underscores our commitment to technological innovation and excellence in logistics operations. For close to a decade, we have been extremely proud of setting new benchmarks for last-mile fulfillment and elevating the quality of customer experience in this complex but crucial domain. We are excited about the possibilities that AI holds in developing new standards of last-mile excellence and customer experience, and we look forward to developing a new generation of leading-edge solutions to set these benchmarks and unlock real-world growth at scale.”

The 2024 Market Guide noted that “New digitalization initiatives, the increasing adoption of e-commerce, and the need to optimize transportation costs to improve the end-consumer experience and increase brand engagement are some of the challenges LMD solutions must solve. Pre- and post-purchase processes have been impacted by those challenges, requiring organizations to adopt technology that enables optimized delivery orchestration to provide more comfort, options, and a better experience overall to the end consumer.”

Enabling last-mile delivery excellence with Locus

As per the 2024 Gartner Market Guide, “The standard capabilities of these software applications can be depicted in two bigger groups, last-mile delivery and customer experience, and the interaction stages in which they are effective (prepurchase, operation optimization and communication, and postpurchase).”

For close to a decade, we believe that Locus has developed market-leading solutions that provide exceptional value in last-mile delivery and customer experience. It has evolved to work as a standalone solution, or enhance the capabilities of existing TMSs.

AI-powered decision-making and not just visibility with intuitive user experience are at the core of Locus’ dispatch management platform. Leveraging the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), it digitalizes and automates all aspects of the last-mile fulfillment process, including the experience that the end consumer receives. From capturing an order to its final delivery and helping manage any returns, the status of every delivery can be optimized and tracked in real-time.

At the pre-purchase stage, Locus’ Delivery Linked Checkout module allows customers to choose from a wide variety of flexible, convenient, and predictable fulfillment options, including curbside delivery, or in-store pickups. It also offers sustainable delivery slots for the more environmentally-conscious consumer.

Want to know how Locus can bring excellence to your last-mile operations?
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In a lot of cases, address quality can be poor because of inaccuracies, incompleteness, or not enough details that make it usable for delivery. Our Geocoding solution helps reduce the number of delayed deliveries by improving the accuracy of addresses by converting them into precise latitudes and longitudes. It ensure this with an algorithmic approach that incorporates confidence scores and historical learning.

At the Delivery Orchestration stage, where the planning and processing of orders takes place, our advanced Order Management module assigns orders that optimize fleet utilization for costs, order volumes, and customer preferences. The solution can also reschedule or redirect deliveries once an order has been made. If your business operates with a mix of captive, contracted, and outsourced fleets, the Locus platform can select the optimal mix for efficient fulfillment and customer experiences. When it comes to streamlining returns, it assigns them to vehicles that are on their way back to their origin.

Demand spikes occur multiple times in a year and without warning, which can be met effectively by outsourcing a part of your fulfillment needs. Challenges around finding and managing multiple carriers becomes a key challenge. With ShipFlex, you can also access a global network 160+ carriers, ranging from international shippers to hyperlocal ones, with a simple API plugin. You can choose the right carrier at the right price and service levels by selecting parameters that matters the most to you.

One of the key solutions of the platform Locus’s Route Planning module. It empowers your fleet to deliver more with routes optimized by advancedAI/ML algorithms that take into account 180+ real-world constraints for scheduled, dynamic, and recurring fulfillment models. As it continuously learns and improves it route planning capabilities from past deliveries, this ensures that each delivery is better than the last.

Some operations require specific skill sets to get the job done. Our Capacity Management solution matches drivers to vehicles and tasks also considering their availability by accounting for leaves, both planned and unplanned. It allocates these tasks by considering several factors such as existing workloads, pre-negotiated contract terms, and hours of service that ensure efficient and equitable distribution of work.

At the post-purchase level, Locus ensures that its solutions offer the best-in-class customer experiences. Our white-labeled Tracking Page provides a holistic post-purchase experience and reduces support costs with centralized order tracking and multi-channel, two-way communication channels that fosters trust with greater transparency. From SMSes to Whatsapp, web and push notifications, any of these mediums can be used to give proactive updates, especially in case of delays. It can be used to improve existing fulfillment processes by collecting valuable feedback.

The Driver Companion App is a trusted tool for drivers on the ground that simplifies and automates daily decision-making and task handling. As the single source of communication for drivers, it becomes a crucial source for delivery updates, on-road traffic escalations, on whether routes are bein adhered to, and communuicating delivery confirmation. To that end, it can collect necessary proof of delivery information that is crucial to elevate both operations and the customer experience.

With Business Insights, you can bring greater efficiency to all-mile operations by locating opportunities through data-driven analytics and insights, and intuitive dashboards that combine geospatial information with 250+ operational metrics. You can even get access to data reflecting the sustainability of your operations and take concrete steps to improve it.

Ready to turn your last-mile from a cost center to a revenue generator?

Sources:

Gartner, Market Guide for Last-Mile Delivery Technology Solutions, Oscar Sanchez Duran, Carly West, Nathan Lease, 18 June 2024.

Gartner, Market Guide for Multicarrier Parcel Management Solutions, Simon Tunstall, Brock Johns, Oscar Sanchez Duran, 27 May 2024.

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