Gartner defines last-mile delivery (LMD) technology solutions as specialized, customer-centric transportation management solutions that focus on managing the delivery process by which a consumer and the products they order come together. These solutions provide capabilities for routing deliveries to consumer homes, with some solutions extending the delivery service capabilities offered to support options like store, curbside and locker box pickup as well as return options. LMD technology solutions provide a digitized experience to a shipper’s customer, allowing end consumers to route, book, track and communicate changes to their orders through a digital channel. LMD solutions can support different shipping models as they incorporate vehicle routing, visibility and optimization capabilities for asset-based shippers, those that own last-mile delivery and associated vehicles, and access to a carrier network for non-asset-based shippers.
Supply Chain Management refers to products and services that enable the planning, execution, monitoring, and optimization of supply chain activities across sourcing, logistics, and fulfillment. This category includes markets that focus on procurement, transportation, warehouse and inventory management, supplier collaboration, sustainability, and supply chain analytics-empowering organizations to improve operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, resilience, and customer service across global supply networks.
Gartner defines transportation management systems (TMSs) as software that supports multimodal planning and execution of the physical transport of goods across the supply chain. It allows a shipper to manage varying levels of transportation complexity across multiple transport modes and geographic regions. TMS solutions are utilized by shippers of differing sizes, operational complexity, industries and geographic locations.