WooCommerce Route Planner
If you run your online store on WooCommerce, automating delivery routes based on your orders can save hours of time. Check out how we can help.
SmartRoutes is the perfect partner for anyone using WooCommerce for their online shop or ordering system. It is perfect for managing deliveries and integrates with your WooCommerce orders to automate the entire thing. SmartRoutes is a route planning platform that helps businesses to create and manage last-mile delivery routes. The desktop and smartphone combination saves business owners and the transport, sales and customer service staff to save hours of time, and provides significant ROI in a short space of time.
With the explosion of eCommerce and home delivery over the past year (partially due to Covid-19, and businesses looking for new, online sales channels), many have adopted WooCommerce as their solution of choice for building and hosting their online stores. Other eCommerce providers too have seen a huge increase in home delivery, in particular, delivery route planners for Shopify have been inundated with higher volumes of orders.
Here's what we cover in this blog:
- WooCommerce stats
- WooCommerce Delivery Management with SmartRoutes
- How does a WooCommerce delivery route planning API work?
WooCommerce stats
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin for eCommerce websites and its features make the eCommerce building process easier and faster. WooCommerce has some incredible stats:
- Over 4 million websites around the world currently use WooCommerce
- The WooCommerce plugin has over 123 million all-time downloads
- WooCommerce has 28% of the e-commerce market as of January 2021
- 94% of WordPress online stores choose the WooCommerce plugin
- There are 980 WooCommerce plugins in the WordPress directory
WooCommerce offers multiple API integrations with third-party applications and software. This has allowed businesses to operate using realtime updates from their WooCommerce site. By integrating your route planner with WooCommerce, this allows you to automate your deliveries and improve the delivery experience.
WooCommerce Delivery Management with SmartRoutes
At SmartRoutes, we work with many businesses looking to implement a new website, and local delivery service. Each of these undertakings can be a big step for a small business, and managing the implementation of both at one time was a learning experience for many.
We identified an opportunity to unify these two solutions and make the transition as easy and seamless as possible. That’s why we created a custom WooCommerce API that can save teams hours in planning by passing orders from their store directly to their SmartRoutes route planning software. This allows the business to create optimized routes for admin staff and drivers, saving staff hours in manual planning and data input every week.
Let’s call it a ‘WooCommerce Delivery Route Planner’!
By integrating your WooCommerce online store with your delivery route planner, you no longer have to manually update order details and place them in the delivery queue. By removing this reliance on manual input, it reduces human error - making sure no orders are missed!
How does a WooCommerce delivery route planning API work?
The API works by pulling in orders directly into the plan screen as required based on the order status in WooCommerce (typically customers will create a specific order status in WooCommerce e.g. Ready for Delivery - and then we just import those orders). This can be very useful in situations like the need for same day delivery.
SmartRoutes Route Planning Software
Streamline your entire delivery process, all from one platform
This simple interface then gives businesses owners and in-house staff the ability to see orders, electronic proof of delivery and their routes by simply logging in to the Desktop Route Planner. Last mile carrier tracking is a great way to improve the overall delivery experience.
Once happy with the routes, they are sent to the Driver Mobile App, and they are ready to hit the road on their delivery route as soon as they arrive on-site. On the app, drivers can see all their stops, with names, addresses and customer and dispatch notes available for each at the touch of a button, and use Google Maps route navigation to complete their entire route.
To help achieve first-time delivery, and to provide customers with that 5-star customer experience, we also allow you to send your customers automated emails and text with planned delivery time (you might tell we’re BIG fans of automation here at SmartRoutes!). This can make all the difference for drivers and allows small businesses to build a rapport with frequent customers.
As drivers mark orders complete on the app, the live order statuses are also updated in real-time in WooCommerce. Our API passes this information back complete with photo proof-of-delivery, meaning that staff can reach-out to those with missed deliveries, or answer queries about deliveries quickly without having to distract the driver on the road.
From the office, businesses can see where their fleet is at any given time, and provide customers with up-to-the minute ETD’s (Estimated Time of Arrival) for each delivery.
When it comes to reporting, SmartRoutes can quickly retrieve delivery reports in bulk, excel, or individually, saving teams hours when it comes to invoicing and dealing with historical queries.
You can get an insight into how our client, Ridgeway Wagyu, routes orders through WooCommerce with our multi-stop route planner in this case study.
We’re ready to help you get started your WooCommerce Route Planner
We have a dedicated team on-hand to listen to your needs, provide solutions, and get you up and running with a no-obligation free trial of our route management software. You can check out the full suite of features that can help you and get a sense of what value it can bring to you.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is a Route Planner?
A route planner is a software tool or application designed to optimize and streamline the process of planning and organizing delivery routes. It uses algorithms and real-time data to determine the most efficient routes for delivery vehicles, taking into account factors like distance, traffic, and delivery windows.
2. What are the advantages of using a route planner with a WooCommerce store?
One of the significant advantages of using a route planner like Smartroutes with your WooCommerce store is its seamless automation of data input. When integrated, Smartroutes automatically receives and processes orders from your WooCommerce store, efficiently routing them based on real-time data. This automation eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing the chances of errors and saving valuable time.
3. Do I need technical expertise to set up Smartroutes with my WooCommerce store?
No, you don't need technical expertise to set up Smartroutes with your WooCommerce store. This integration is designed to be user-friendly and "out of the box." The integration process is straightforward, and you can set it up with ease, even if you don't have advanced technical skills.
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Brendan Tobin
Brendan Tobin
