become a best practice, particularly for those in a dynamic space who face rising order volumes and increasing customer expectations.” NextBillion.ai’s offering, for instance, includes industry-speci c optimization, such as a tailored module for retail deliveries. It also allows for the use of proprietary map data, private road edits, and custom routing preferences for business-speci c solutions. In addition, modern optimization solutions are designed to plug into retailers’ existing tech stacks, including enterprise resource planning systems, transportation management systems, customer relationship management systems, and telematics systems. Meeting Key Challenges Intelligent routing addresses some key challenges in today’s retail landscape. Route optimization helps retailers remain cost-effective, agile, and scalable in an environment of rising costs, labor shortages, and competitive pressure, as well as uctuating order volumes and diverse ful llment channels. In addition, intelligent routing equips retailers to manage the growing complexity of the eld, including omnichannel ful llment, tight delivery windows, changing regulations and sustainability mandates—as well as demanding customers. “Meeting expectations for fast, reliable and sustainable deliveries has become essential for brand reputation and customer loyalty,” Bubna says.
Route optimization tools such as NextBillion.ai help retailers build, scale, and customize location solutions. A dynamic interface visualizes real-time data to optimize routing and geospatial decision-making.
labor expenses, resulting in lower operational costs.
1 AI route optimization AI route optimization automatically generates ef cient routes for multi- stop deliveries and adapts to real-world variables such as traf c, time windows, and vehicle capacity. “AI route optimization tools are revolutionizing retail logistics and delivering a substantial competitive advantage,” says Gaurav Bubna, co-founder of NextBillion.ai, a location technology provider. Route optimization tools “have transformed dramatically,” he says. No longer manual, basic planners, they are now highly sophisticated platforms driven by AI. “Today’s solutions harness powerful machine learning algorithms, seamlessly integrate real-time data from traf c, customer demand and operational systems, and continuously adapt to fast-evolving delivery environments,” Bubna says. “As a result, modern tools automatically respond to on-the-ground changes, ensuring every route is as ef cient, reliable, and as responsive as possible.” AI route optimization tools can optimize vehicle utilization, reduce mileage and save on fuel and
In addition, these tools lead to more consistent on-time deliveries, accurate delivery time predictions, and real-time updates, which support high service- level agreements and bolster customer brand trust. Meanwhile, strategic route optimization accommodates uctuations in demand, last-minute orders, and complex operational requirements to ensure adaptability as business needs grow and evolve. “A broad range of leading retailers, delivery companies, and logistics providers worldwide now use route optimization,” Bubna says. “It has rapidly
GoShare’s crowdsourced delivery network connects businesses with local delivery professionals and trucks on demand. Its fleet enables fast, flexible last-mile logistics across a range of industries.
34 Inbound Logistics • August 2025
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