Revolutionizing Delivery Operations: A Case Study on Kerrigans Master Butchers

Kerrigans is a family-run butchers business established in 1973 by Brendan Kerrigan in North Dublin. Now run by his children, the business underwent a massive overhaul in 2007, becoming “Kerrigan's Craft Butchers”. They retained the fundamental traditions of a conventional butcher shop while introducing easy-to-cook, ready-to-eat meals and dozens of healthy options. In 2015, they began delivering orders nationwide to cater to the demand for healthy, high-quality, protein-rich products. Their website is hosted on the popular eCommerce platform Shopify. Kerrigans was looking for an integrated solution to streamline their delivery route planning as part of their existing order management process.

Kerrigans, a family-run butchers business, had been delivering orders nationwide since 2015. Their website was hosted on the popular eCommerce platform Shopify, and they were looking for an integrated solution to streamline their delivery route planning as part of their existing order management process. Initially, they outsourced their delivery operations, but this led to several issues such as late deliveries, damaged goods, and deliveries going to the wrong customers. To address these issues, Kerrigans decided to get their own vans to service the greater Dublin area. However, they were using Google Maps for route planning, which required them to manually input every stop on each route. This was not only time-consuming but also unsustainable in the long run. Furthermore, Google Maps was not accepting Eircodes, making deliveries even more inaccurate. Kerrigans needed a solution that could reduce the time spent on administration, improve the delivery experience for customers, logically break up a big delivery catchment area, and connect their Shopify online store to their delivery operation without manual updates.

Kerrigans found their solution in SmartRoutes, a local company that offered a seamless delivery management solution. By connecting their Shopify store to SmartRoutes, orders made on their store were automatically assigned to drivers based on delivery criteria and area. The routes were created automatically, considering factors like drivers’ working hours, vehicle size, and urgency of the delivery. The route plans auto-populated onto the delivery driver app, eliminating the need for manual communication. SmartRoutes also offered a zoning feature, which allowed Kerrigans to assign zones of delivery to individual drivers. This ensured that drivers didn’t have to commute too far from their homes and could get to know a specific geography and customer base over time. The integration with Shopify meant that Kerrigans did not have to manually upload spreadsheets of their customer orders. Instead, they could create the routes for the orders that had come in with just one click. The 2-way integration also allowed for auto fulfillments of orders in Shopify once the driver marked the order as done in the SmartRoutes app. Additionally, SmartRoutes offered the option to send customers an SMS when their order was on its way, which included a live tracking link and the delivery driver's phone number.

• The implementation of SmartRoutes has brought about significant operational improvements for Kerrigans. They are now saving several hours per month on administrative tasks that were previously wasted on planning deliveries. The customer experience has also improved significantly, with customers being kept well-informed of their deliveries through SMS/email notifications before, during, and after the delivery. The live tracking feature has led to significantly fewer missed deliveries. The zoning feature has been particularly helpful during busy periods, ensuring high customer density in a particular catchment area, which in turn lowers the cost per delivery for Kerrigans. The two-way integration with Shopify has been a game-changer, with orders made by customers now auto-creating routes and updating the Shopify portal with delivery information, geo-stamps, and time-stamps. This level of sophistication in delivery management is higher than what Kerrigans experienced with third-party providers, and they are now running a world-class integrated order fulfillment process that removes the need for manual updates.

• Time spent on administrative tasks reduced by over 10 hours per month
• Significant reduction in missed deliveries due to live package tracking
• Automated route creation and order fulfillment through two-way integration with Shopify