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.
Gartner defines the real-time transportation visibility platform (RTTVP) market as platforms that provide real-time location and status insights into orders once they have left the warehouse. This includes other facilities, such as those of a brand owner, supplier, contract manufacturer or service provider. Such platforms, owned and managed by third-party software vendors, represent part of the supply chain visibility market that predominantly — but not solely — addresses domestic road transportation modes. RTTVPs obtain data through integration (via API or electronic data interchange [EDI], for example) with carrier systems, direct feeds from telematics (in-cab or in-trailer devices) or other technologies or apps.
Gartner defines a vehicle routing and scheduling (VRS) solution as an application that creates vehicle routes and schedules, considering multiple constraints and service requirements while minimizing transportation fleet costs and mileage. VRS creates repeatable scheduled static routes and/or dynamic routes based on inputs (orders, deliveries and pickups), rules and constraints for meeting objectives. Transportation delivery fleets include both full truckload and last mile. VRS solutions are capable of running both scenario modeling analysis to support fleet sizing, delivery window optimization, long-term planning and tactical optimization for execution of deliveries.