Milk Delivery Software vs. Excel: Which is Right for Your Dairy Business?

December 23, 2024

Managing data on Excel not only sounds tedious; it is actually. If you manage your milk delivery business in Excel, you can relate to it. You need to apply formulas to calculate values, and if the values are not entered accurately, it can lead to manual errors, disrupting milk supplies. This is where milk delivery software enters the scene.

This blog will help you understand traditional delivery methods for dairy and how the latest technology can help manage your business more efficiently.

Understanding traditional milk delivery businesses

Earlier, most households had cows or buffalos for milk and dairy products. As urbanization took place, people started migrating to cities. They bought milk from the people who still had cattle and lived on the outskirts of the cities. People either went to the farm to collect milk or the driver delivered it to them. The business operations were managed manually on paper.

However, with the increasing population and demand for fresh and pure milk, milk delivery businesses took a pace. It became difficult to manage them on paper, so the businesses shifted to “Excel” to manage their business.

Excel might work for milk businesses with a smaller customer base; however, milk businesses with more than 200 customers, find Excel inefficient and ineffective. This is where they need advanced technology that provides them with all the business management tools and real-time tracking.

In this blog, we’ll explore how milk delivery software is better than Excel for managing various business operations.

Traditional Milk Business Management vs. Milk Delivery Software

Now we’ll explore how managing milk businesses has evolved over time. Milk subscription businesses have made significant progress from managing milk deliveries on paper to digitalizing them and automating the process with artificial intelligence.

Subscription order management

Subscription order management is the process of managing and tracking recurring milk orders that are delivered at a particular period.

Traditional subscription order management
Earlier, customers placed milk subscriptions and one-time orders through phone calls, messages, or emails. Manually entering the orders in “Excel” can be time-consuming and prone to errors. You can either forget to record the order or record the wrong order or address details. This can lead to delayed or missed orders. Manual subscription management for milk deliveries is highly subject to errors.

Modern subscription order management
Milk delivery software automates order processing. It offers a customer milk delivery app that enables them to place one-time and subscription orders. These orders are auto-updated on the admin panel.

Managing stock

Stock management includes ordering, storing, packing, and controlling milk and dairy products to maintain an optimal level to prevent stockouts and overstocking.

Traditional stock management

Traditionally, the stock was managed manually on paper, which was the most inefficient way. Managing stock on paper is prone to human errors, such as noting the wrong stock value or needing help understanding handwriting or wrong calculations, which can lead to overstocking or stockouts.

Medieval stock management

The businesses then realized they might need a tool that calculates them accurately. They then switched to Excel sheets and started maintaining stock records. They would apply formulas, which would automatically calculate the value. However, it was still tedious and prone to human errors as all the entries were made manually. It became a bigger issue when a milk business with a larger customer base started to face such small issues with heavy financial impacts.

Modern stock management

This is where milk delivery software made an entry. The stock was auto-updated and calculated in real time when the order was placed or delivered successfully. The system enables you to manage and track stock in real time.

Route optimization

Route optimization means creating the shortest delivery route for your drivers to ensure fast deliveries.

Traditional route optimization

Traditionally, the routes for milk delivery were not optimized as there were fewer deliveries to make.

As the milk delivery industry grew, businesses started optimizing routes manually on paper maps, which was very inefficient. There were missed addresses, leading to inefficient delivery routes and delayed deliveries.

Modern route optimization

Route optimization software for milk delivery is an advanced feature integrated with delivery software that sequences addresses and optimizes the route for faster milk deliveries.

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Payment collection and invoicing

Payment management is the process of invoicing customers based on their orders and collecting payments from them.

Traditional payment collection and invoicing

The invoices were created manually and sent through drivers. The customer hands over the payment amount to the driver, who then gives it to the owner. This process lacked transparency and often led to customer disputes.

Modern payment collection and invoicing

Milk delivery software automatically generates invoices and sends them via SMS, email, and WhatsApp. Customers can make payments online or in cash. The system offers online payment options, including gateways, cards, wire transfers, and e-wallets. Customers can also make cash payments, handing over the amount to the drivers, who then give it to the owner.

Notifications and customer communication

Connecting with your customers is crucial to building trust and loyalty, which help you retain your customers and increase their lifetime value.

Traditional customer communication

Traditionally, any message sent to the customer from the business owner or vice versa was done one-on-one or through drivers. There is more scope for customer communication for milk delivery services. This was the major reason for the customer disputes, which led to higher customer churn rates.

Modern customer communication

Milk delivery software provides advanced features that enable you to send automated and manual notifications on new product launches, promotions and discounts, and order status updates. The customers can give feedback and suggestions about the customers and products. You can also integrate WhatsApp into the milk delivery app for customers. The customers can connect with you on WhatsApp.

Reporting and analytics

Business reports and analytics help you understand your business’s financial growth. They assist you in planning strategies to expand and scale your business.

Traditional reporting and analytics

Businesses create reports manually by understanding the change in financial numbers and considering various factors. Due to human interference, these dairy delivery reports are flawed and might not provide the right report analysis.

Modern reporting and analytics

Milk delivery software auto-generates based on the changes in the number of orders, payments, deliveries, and stock. These highly precise and accurate reports enable you to make the right business decisions.

Conclusion

Trakop is SaaS-based dairy business management software that automates and streamlines business operations, improving efficiency, productivity, and customer retention. If you are still working on Excel to manage your business, you must book a demo and see what we offer.

Hope You Enjoyed the Read!

ravi garg, trakop, founder signature image

Ravi Garg Founder & CEO

He loves to explore. His passion for helping delivery industries in all aspects flows through in the vision he has. In addition to providing smart solution to make delivery process flawless, Ravi also likes to write sometimes to make it easier for people from business industry looking for digital solutions.