When you’re running your own feed store or farm supply brand, there are a lot of challenges that can come your way. Not only do you have to ensure timely, efficient delivery—including managing those vital last-mile deliveries in potentially dispersed rural locations—you have to take into account your customers’ needs and expectations with regard to arrival, delivery tracking, and more. Fortunately, software for delivery businesses, like the tools by Delivery Biz Pro, can help you streamline operations, manage subscriptions, and grow your business.

Why Efficient Delivery Matters for Feed Stores

Your customers rely on timely, accurate deliveries to ensure that their animals are fed on time. When you fail to deliver on those expectations, you aren’t just disappointing your customers. You could prevent them from managing their livestock’s feeding needs—and that can lead to a decline in animal health. Furthermore, your customers often don’t have time to come in and sort out potential errors—or to wait for a delivery truck that will provide them with a new order if you missed a delivery or made a critical error.

It doesn’t take many delivery errors or delays to negatively impact your customer relationships. Quickly, your customers turn to other solutions for their feed deliveries—and that means a significant decline in revenue for your brand. 

The Role of Software for Delivery Businesses in Scaling Operations

Delivery management software helps keep up with your orders and ensure that they get to the right customers, at the right time. Not only that, it can help save you time and money—and lead to increased overall customer satisfaction. Delivery management software can:

• Manage and track incoming orders
• Assist with route optimization
• Offer real-time tracking solutions
• Improve driver management solutions

With effective delivery management software, you can simplify inventory, orders, and delivery coordination, allowing you to more effectively take care of those essential elements of managing your business.

Challenges Feed Stores Face Without Delivery Software

Without delivery software, feed stores can face a number of potential challenges. 

Managing Subscription Orders Without Automation

The subscription model can be incredibly valuable for your business. After all, many of your customers have the same needs for their livestock all or most of the time, including regular deliveries of items like hay bales, feed, and medications—and they’d like to know that those orders are arriving in a timely manner.

Fortunately, that also works out well for your brand. Subscription orders offer a consistent source of revenue that makes it easier to predict sales and increase consistency in customer ordering. Managing those without automation, however, can be incredibly challenging, since you’ll need to manually pull those orders each time they come around.

Tracking Reusable Assets

Many items, like crates and packaging, can be reused. However, if you aren’t using delivery software, you may be missing out on the ability to track where those items are, when they are in use, and when you can expect them to come back to you.

Managing Peak Seasons

During peak ordering seasons, juggling delivery logistics can become increasingly complicated. When you’re using delivery management software designed for the needs of farms and feed stores. On the other hand, you can more easily predict those needs and meet them, whether you’re dealing with the increased need for feed over the winter or facing an increase in key products during the birthing season.

Features To Look For in Delivery Management Software

As you select the right delivery management software for your feed store, make sure you’re looking for these key features. 

Route Optimization for Efficient Deliveries/Pickups

Route optimization can reduce travel time and fuel costs. As a result, feed stores can expand to larger distribution districts, serving larger territories and more extensive routes. Automated routing can also help streamline workflows, including helping delivery drivers navigate around potential delays and challenges. 

Live Tracking and Real Time Updates

Live tracking allows both your feed store and your customers to keep track of where delivery drivers are and what they’re doing. Ultimately, that means better customer communication and ensures that customers are informed ahead of time about potential delays.

Automated Customer Notifications

Automated alerts for delivery schedules help improve transparency for customers. You can let them know when their orders should arrive and provide information about any storage needs—including any items that might require refrigeration, or that might require assistance to unload and get in the barn. This simple strategy allows customers to adjust their schedules and get ready for deliveries to arrive as needed.

Digital and Electronic Proof of Delivery

Digital proof ensures error-free deliveries. Electronic proof, including included photos, prevents disputes and boosts trust.

Transitioning to Delivery Software for Your Feed Store

Are you ready to transition to delivery software for your feed store? There are several stages to keep in mind.

Overcoming the Fear of Change

Adopting new technology can be challenging for many businesses. After all,  you’ve never used that technology before! With Delivery Biz Pro, however, you’ll get tools that are intuitive and easy to learn. We are a dedicated software partner, complete with a team that will guide and support the adoption process and ensure that you have the information you need to add these new tools to your arsenal.

Setting Up Subscriptions for Recurring Revenue

Subscriptions are important for feed store customers. They allow customers to standardize their orders and increase consistency, so they won’t have to worry about whether they will get what they need on time. For you, that means consistent revenue and better income predictability. Delivery Biz Pro manages recurring orders seamlessly, including letting you know what you need to have in stock, when those deliveries need to go out, and how to incorporate them into your route.

How Delivery Biz Pro Stands Out

If you’re looking for a tool that will stand out from the crowd, take a look at Delivery Biz Pro and its advantages.

Built for E-commerce and Subscriptions

We offer an all-in-one software solution, including e-commerce integration. Customers can easily shop and subscribe online, making it easier for them to take care of their orders at a time that works for their needs.

Advanced Delivery Management Systems

Our advanced delivery management system consolidates inventory, orders, and logistics in one dashboard. That can be a game-changer for small operations, since you don’t want to have to juggle multiple solutions to keep up with your delivery needs.

Tools Designed for Busy Farmers

Our software frees up more time for fieldwork and personal passions. With Delivery Biz Pro, your suppliers have their own access to your store. They can input inventory and manage their goods on your system, so you won’t have to take care of those common responsibilities on your own.

You’ll also appreciate built-in purchase order logic that can calculate what your demand calls for, making inventory management agile and efficient. It’s a solution designed to keep busy feed store owners and farmers moving seamlessly through their daily tasks.

Top Benefits of Route Optimization for Feed Stores

Route optimization offers several critical benefits. First and foremost, it allows you to reduce operational costs without compromising service quality. Farmers often run on tight profit margins, which means anywhere you can cut costs—and help deliver those savings to them—is critical.

Route optimization also helps minimize driver fatigue and maximize route efficiency, ensuring fewer hours on the road.

Bringing Transparency With Customer Notifications

Proactive updates to your customers build trust and reduce the need for inquiries. Ultimately, that means customers who are much more satisfied with your feed store and know that they can trust you. Delivery Biz Pro offers customizable notification options, which means you can select the one that works best for your store and your customers.

Live tracking is also key: since customers know exactly when their delivery will arrive–and see any delays in real time–they can experience considerably enhanced peace of mind. Real-time tracking also helps reduce missed deliveries.

Using Digital Proof To Enhance Operational Accuracy

Tracking every delivery with electronic records provides a high level of transparency and simplifies reporting for rural feed store operations. Instead of having to rely on clunky paper records and the word of delivery drivers, you can provide evidence and records digitally, where customers can quickly check for themselves.

Actionable Steps to Implement Delivery Software in Your Feed Store

Ready to get started? Implement delivery software in your feed store with ease.

• Step 1: Assess your current delivery process and challenges.
• Step 2: Choose features that align with your specific needs.
• Step 3: Onboard your team with training from Delivery Biz Pro.
• Step 4: Monitor performance metrics to optimize operations continuously.

As you continue to monitor and improve your delivery software solutions, your feed store will experience increasing advantages.

Explore Your Options With Delivery Biz Pro

Delivery Biz Pro offers the solutions you need to manage your delivery processes, whether you’re ready to set up subscription deliveries for the first time or just looking for solutions that will streamline the delivery process. Explore our delivery management solutions today to learn more about the benefits it can offer your feed store.