Migros: Autonomous transport planning for bulky items
Online customers of Migros, Switzerland’s largest retailer, can choose their delivery dates from up to 60 suggestions while still placing their order. For this purpose, Migros-Verteilbetrieb AG, or MVB AG for short, has been using the PraCar route planning system and the PraOpt add-on module from Wanko since 2019. With its nearly 900 stores, the Migros Group is the largest retail company in Switzerland and is owned by 10 cooperatives.
From the refrigerator to the washing machine to the sofa: Those who order the Migros home delivery service usually have bulky goods delivered to their home. The service does not end at the curb, but often includes professional assembly and installation. The additional services in particular are difficult to calculate in terms of time, which makes tour planning much more difficult.
"Wanko responds very quickly to our requirements and we feel like we can discuss things at eye level."
Jan Wolter | IT Project Manager, Migros Distribution AG
100,000 orders per year
Against this background, MVB AG has digitized and optimized the route planning for the approximately 100,000 orders per year together with Wanko Informationslogistik. Online customers can make a selection from up to 60 delivery dates that can be booked bindingly just a few hours after the order process. The solution is based on the tour planning system PraCar and the add-on module PraOpt. This is an optimization server that continuously calculates the existing and future tours. MVB AG’s transport orders are previously transferred via interface directly from SAP to PraCar, where the optimal tour is calculated.
The extensive automation of the planning and notification process noticeably reduces the workload of MVB’s employees. Thanks to PraOpt, the appointment with the customer is now processed three times faster than before. In addition, there is a considerable reduction in personnel expenses for MVB AG.
Customer friendly process
MVB’s goal was for online processing of customer order notifications to achieve a share of at least 50 percent in the B2C sector. The process is customer-friendly and easy to understand: the customer orders his goods and then receives a link via SMS or e-mail with which he makes a transfer to the online store of the specialist stores. There he can select his desired delivery date, on which he would like to receive the goods. The notification is made by SMS. Even the particularly extensive assembly orders can now be mapped digitally with PraOpt. This includes, for example, the disposal of old equipment or the wall mounting of televisions. So far, such orders still require a telephone arrangement with a dispatcher.
Around 75 percent of customers can participate in the online process. 50 percent of them select a delivery date within one hour of ordering. Another 30 percent of customers respond within 24 hours. Those who do not set a delivery date will receive reminders via SMS or email. If contact has not been made after three reminders, the appropriate customers will be contacted personally by dispatch to schedule an appointment. However, this effort is now only necessary for less than 0.5 percent of customers who can participate in automatic notification. Accordingly, more than 99.5 percent of end customers are processed fully automatically.
"Through Corona, we suddenly had ten times the volume of orders. We couldn't possibly have managed this volume without the automated notification."
Jan Wolter | IT Project Manager, Migros Distribution AG
Tenfold application quantity
The solution was launched in good time and before the start of the Corona crisis and the first lockdown in Switzerland. “Thanks to Corona, we suddenly had ten times the amount of orders. We couldn’t possibly have managed this volume without the automated notification,” reports IT project manager Jan Wolter from Migros Verteilbetrieb AG.
After the successful introduction of the solution, Wolter and his team already had the first improvements on their minds: The next step was to specify the delivery times of the orders as part of a master’s thesis in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. The basis was an artificial neural network (ANN), which was initially filled with around 80,000 deliveries from PraCar. The subsequent analysis included 20,000 factors, such as the setup time for a TV with satellite connection. “Using this data, the calculated algorithm is able to predict the exact delivery and service times of customer orders with a deviation of a few minutes,” explains Wolter.
"Using this data, the calculated algorithm is able to predict the exact delivery and service times of customer orders with a deviation of a few minutes"
Jan Wolter | IT Project Manager, Migros Distribution AG
Further relief planned
In the future, the system will be refined further and further. The plan is to offer the customer not only day-precise, but half-day-precise appointment proposals. Jan Wolter is relaxed about the next steps in the project because the specialist for IT solutions is very satisfied with the cooperation with Wanko to date. “Wanko responds very quickly to our requirements and we feel like we can discuss things at eye level.”
Press contact Wanko
| WANKO Informationslogistik GmbH | KfdM – Kommunikation für den Mittelstand |
| Christian Schulz Gewerbestraße 1 D-83404 Ainring Tel: +49 8654 483-0 E-Mail: sales@wanko.de www.wanko.de | Marcus Walter Schulstraße 29 D-84183 Niederviehbach Tel: +49 8702 948 174 Mobil: +49 170 77 36 70 5 E-Mail: walter@kfdm.eu |
Success Stories