Ordered, picked,delivered.
In a delivery business, subscriptions, extra orders and fluctuating availability have to become a concrete route every week – and every shortfall changes picking, delivery and the invoice. If shop, warehouse and invoicing run separately, your customers notice it first. fabular connects order intake, picking by route, delivery and the return of containers in one process.
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fabAI flagged batch L-2481: three days from best-before – FEFO suggestion created.
- Route optimisation
- Central PIM
- Shop and warehouse connected
- 100 %
- integration of shop and ERP
- Real time
- stock and availability
- 24/7
- ordering
- 25+
- years of experience
Three problems in delivery operations
Shop and warehouse are separate
The online shop, warehouse management and invoicing run in their own systems. Data has to be reconciled, so errors and delays are built in.
Shop, warehouse and invoicing in one system, with no break between systems.
Route planning costs kilometres
Routes are planned by hand, empty runs are common, and customers receive no reliable delivery status.
Route optimisation by order volume, capacity and time window.
Product data is maintained several times
Information has to be maintained separately in the shop, on marketplaces and in customer portals. That takes effort and leads to discrepancies.
A central PIM synchronises every channel – maintain once.
This page is written for delivery services with a subscription or box scheme that have to turn subscriptions, extra orders and fluctuating availability into concrete routes every week – fabular connects the order, picking by route, delivery and the return of containers in one process.
What is genuinely difficult in a delivery business
A single delivery is manageable. It becomes difficult where subscription rules, a changing range, the route and returning containers have to fit together again every week.
- A subscription is not an order but a rule: delivery rhythm, holiday pauses, excluded items and changing box sizes have to become a concrete order every week.
- The range changes with the harvest: what goes into the box is often only settled shortly before picking, and substitute items have to match the household's exclusion list.
- Fresh produce does not forgive poor planning: too much stock is written off, too little leads to shortfalls in orders that have already been confirmed.
- Picking follows the route, not the order intake: the sequence in the warehouse has to match the loading sequence of the vehicle, otherwise everything is restacked at the van.
- Returnable containers come back, but incompletely: boxes, bottles and cool packs circulate. Without an account per household, the quantity in circulation is unknown after a few weeks.
- Customers expect to be told before something is missing: a substitute is accepted when it is announced, and annoys when it only becomes apparent at unpacking.
- A new report on route utilisation does not need a development ticket: described to fabAI, it draws on the same order and route data that is already being posted.
Routes drawn up by hand
Manually planned routes are stable as long as nothing changes. Every new registration, every holiday pause and every shifted time window turns the planning back into manual work.
Returnables without an account
If returns are only noted on the delivery note, nobody knows the quantity in circulation. Replacements are then bought on gut feeling, and part of the boxes stay in cellars for good.
Feedback only in the evening
If delivery information reaches the system only after the round, customer enquiries go nowhere and invoicing waits a day.
How fabular handles this
Ordering & range
- 1.Order intake from shop, app and portal.
- 2.Central PIM for every channel.
- 3.Availability taken from actual stock.
- 4.Subscription and box models supported.
With fresh produce, the availability display decides how satisfied customers are.
Order picking
- 1.Picking lists generated from the order.
- 2.Mobile capture by scanner.
- 3.Batches and best-before dates taken into account.
- 4.Shortfalls visible immediately and easy to communicate.
Route & invoicing
- 1.Routes by volume, capacity and time window.
- 2.Driver app with feedback, works offline.
- 3.Delivery status for your customers.
- 4.Invoicing directly from the delivery.
From the subscription order to the invoice
- Step 01
Order and subscription are brought together
at the cut-off, per delivery day
The subscription becomes the concrete order for the delivery day: rhythm, pauses, excluded items and extra orders from the shop or app all flow into the same order. Availability is checked against actual stock, not against a planned figure.
- Step 02
Plan the route
dispatch, the day before
Orders are combined into routes by volume, vehicle capacity, time window and area. The sequence of stops gives the loading sequence, which in turn controls picking in the warehouse.
- Step 03
Picking by route
warehouse, on the early shift
The picking lists follow the route sequence. Capture is mobile, by scanner, including batch and best-before date. Shortfalls are visible immediately and trigger the decision on a substitute item or a credit note before the vehicle is loaded.
- Step 04
Delivery and returns
drivers, driver app
The driver app guides through the stops and records delivery, drop-off instructions and deviations, even without a connection. Boxes, bottles and cool packs taken back are captured and booked to the household's container account.
- Step 05
Invoicing and feedback
after the round ends
The quantity actually delivered is invoiced, including deposit and credit lines. Deviations that arose during picking are already known to the customer and appear on the document as well.
Delivery services with fabular
Can subscription boxes with pauses, exclusion lists and changing sizes be handled?
Yes, that is the core of a delivery business. A subscription is kept as a rule: delivery rhythm, box size, pauses and excluded items belong to the customer record. At the order cut-off, the concrete order for the delivery day is created from it and extended by extra orders from the shop or app. Changes take effect from the next cut-off, without anyone having to correct individual orders afterwards.
How is picking tied to the route?
The route is planned first, then picking follows. Volume, vehicle capacity, time window and area produce the stop sequence, and that sequence determines the picking list. Goods are packed in loading sequence and nothing has to be restacked at the vehicle. With fresh produce this is also the simplest way to keep the time between picking and delivery short.
How do we keep track of returnable containers?
Boxes, bottles and cool packs are kept as returnable containers and run through an account per customer. The delivery charges that account, and the return by the driver credits it again. The quantity in circulation can therefore be read off instead of being estimated once a year, and outstanding items can be raised before a larger share of the containers can no longer be found.
What happens if an item is missing on the delivery day?
The shortfall shows up during picking, that is, before departure. The decision then follows: substitute item, part delivery or credit note. Because the household's exclusion list is attached to the order, a suitable substitute can be chosen, and the information goes out before the box is at the door. That is the difference between an adjustment and a complaint.
Do we need our own online shop?
Orders can come from a connected shop, from an app or from the customer portal. The item and range data comes from central product data management and is maintained only once. What matters is less the interface than the availability display: it should come from actual stock, otherwise you confirm items that will not exist on the delivery day.
Does the driver app work without a mobile connection?
Yes. The app guides through the stops and records delivery, drop-off instructions, returns and deviations even without a connection. As soon as the device is online again, the feedback is transferred. In rural delivery areas this is not an extra feature but the precondition for any digital feedback at all.
Companies that work with fab4minds
A selection from our customer base – businesses with comparable requirements for traceability, batch management and reporting obligations.
- Isarland Ökokiste
- ADAMAH BioHof
- Querbeet
- Hof Engelhardt
Let us talk about your routes
Take a typical delivery day with its time windows. We use it to show which runs can be combined and where the ordering path creates friction. If the result does not help you, we refund the fee.