Planning the Most Efficient Delivery Route with Smart Routing

Posted on Apr 26, 2023

Delivery services for prescriptions and OTC items are no longer considered “optional”. In fact, most of your customers expect it. If your pharmacy isn’t offering deliveries, you may be losing revenue and eventually, even customers. Often, one of the biggest reasons independent pharmacies don’t offer deliveries is because they’re worried it will be difficult to manage. However, with the right systems in place, it’s actually pretty simple! That’s why BestRx offers an easy-to-use Mobile Delivery App that integrates with our pharmacy software and point-of-sale system, BestPOS. It enables pharmacies to streamline the entire delivery process, including planning the most efficient delivery route. 

When added to the BestRx Mobile Delivery App, Smart Routing* uses the native map on your delivery device to calculate the most efficient route for your driver to take when making multiple stops. Once you’ve sent your orders to the delivery queue, drivers will be able to view the orders on the app and initiate Smart Routing for all or specific deliveries. Plus, they can cancel or add new deliveries to their route at any time**. Keep in mind, Smart Routine utilizes location data, so you will need to use a device with a data plan/connectivity for it to work. 

Initiating Smart Routing

Once the stops have been selected, the driver just needs to set a start and end stop to continue. Then, just by clicking “Smart Route”, the recommended route will be automatically calculated for them. Smart Routing: 

• • Saves time and prevents manual work. 
  • Ensures the driver uses the most efficient route. 
  • Determines the approximate amount of time it will take to complete each individual stop, as well as the entire route.

Viewing and Managing Stops

Once initiated, there are many ways for drivers to view and manage each stop on their route.They can:

• • Click on the Delivery Address List, which displays each stop in order based on their distance from the starting location.
  • View the final location at the end of the address list and the estimated duration of the entire route.
  • Use the Direction Screen when they are ready to begin their deliveries. This brings up a map with all the stops numbered from nearest to furthest. Clicking on each number, the driver can quickly view the corresponding delivery address and the approximate distance will be displayed at the bottom. (Smart Routing automatically adds a 5-minute cushion into each delivery.)
  • Swipe up and expand the Directions Screen to view the list of deliveries as well.

Completing Deliveries

As stops are completed, the driver will simply click “Finish” and enter their PIN number to move on to their next delivery. It’s that easy!

Request a free demo to learn more about how BestRx’s Mobile Delivery App and Smart Routing add-on make managing deliveries easy for pharmacies.

*Smart Routing is an optional, add-on service with our Mobile Delivery App. It is not included with the app or as part of any of our software tiers. Current customers interested in adding Smart Routing can reach out to their sales representative or customer support for more information on enrolling.

** Currently, based on Google API’s, Smart Routing is limited to 25 addresses at a time.