Onfleet doing its part to help delivery during pandemic

Onfleet enables businesses to conduct local deliveries efficiently while providing a positive customer experience, according to officials for the San Francisco-based company.

“Our software handles routing, dispatching, real-time tracking, analytics and communications for last mile delivery operations,” said Khaled Naim, co-founder and chief executive officer. “Onfleet caters to businesses across many different segments, but food and beverage, including grocery and fresh produce, is our largest segment. We work with hundreds of clients in the space including Imperfect Foods, GrubMarket, Bi-Rite, and United Supermarkets.”

Onfleet’s key area of focus is innovation in the last mile delivery management space. Naim explained that more than half of the company’s team focuses on research and development, from advanced machine learning algorithms trained on hundreds of millions of miles of proprietary high precision location data to offer hyper-accurate ETAs, optimal routes and to-the-minute service times, to high availability infrastructure and communications proxying service. 

“We uniquely combine routing with dispatching and tracking rather than offering only one of these services as many others in the segment do,” Naim said. “This allows us to be a truly one-stop shop for last mile delivery needs. Our intuitive user interface and design help businesses get onboarded quickly and easily. Integrations with partners in the grocery and fresh produce space, such as Mi9 (MyWebGrocer), Freshop, and GrocerKey, allow for a seamless e-commerce and delivery experience.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many grocers, fresh produce retailers, and farmers markets around the world to shift focus to delivery, and Onfleet has helped dozens of them come online quickly over the past few weeks.

“This catalyst has led us to innovate in the area of contactless delivery, and we will soon be launching a contactless signature feature on our platform,” Naim said. “We also launched a driver job board to help those out of work find delivery jobs at those Onfleet clients that have experienced a surge in demand.”

Success in this segment, Naim noted, comes from understanding the nuances of produce delivery, including pick and pack operations as well as cold chain and routing efficiency.

“Despite not directly being involved with pick and pack, knowing about it and being able to consult with our clients about it has positioned us as an industry thought leader,” Naim said. “We take a consultative approach with our clients when needed, and we can offer expert advice across the wide range of activities required to launch a successful delivery operation.”

Onfleet experienced strong growth in 2019, along the lines of prior years.

“In 2019, we started catering more to enterprise clients, whereas in prior years we worked mostly with SMB clients,” Naim said. “We continue to onboard smaller clients these days, primarily through partnerships, as we have a well documented support center and tutorials to help them get up and running quickly. Larger clients often need dedicated onboarding manager, SLAs, and more hand-holding which we have started to offer.”