Case Study:
Zora's success

Overview of Zora and the Challenge

Zora is one of Bulgaria’s leading retailers, offering a wide range of home electronics and appliances. With a robust e-commerce platform and multiple brick-and-mortar stores across the country, Zora faced significant logistical challenges. Managing deliveries across various regions and meeting customer expectations for fast, accurate, and traceable deliveries became increasingly complex as the business grew. This rapid expansion also brought a need for greater transparency and visibility into their supply chain operations.

Before implementing our Transportation Management System (TMS), Zora struggled with issues such as:

• Inefficient routing of last-mile
• Limited visibility into real-time order statuses, resulting in delayed responses to customer
• Manual processes that obstructed scalability and introduced
• Disparate systems between their warehouse management and delivery providers, making order tracking cumbersome and

In 2023, Zora decided to integrate our TMS into their logistical software stack to address these issues, seeking optimization of their delivery process, streamline communication between their logistics partners, and enhance their operational transparency.

The Solution: Implementation of FortyTwo TMS

Our TMS offered Zora a centralized platform that integrates seamlessly with their existing systems, including their ERP and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). Through a user-friendly interface and powerful automation features, Zora was able to transform their logistics operations. Here’s how our TMS helped Zora achieve its goals:

1.  Order Ingestion and Management

Zora’s orders are ingested into the system through API integrations. The TMS’s Order Monitor feature provides real-time tracking and management capabilities, allowing Zora’s logistics team to monitor all active orders. The team can filter orders by status, region, or service type, making it easier to identify and resolve bottlenecks.

Additionally, the Order Details module provided detailed information about each order, including the sender, recipient, and associated transport details. This enhanced the level of control Zora had over each delivery, significantly reducing errors and miscommunication with customers.

2.  Route Optimization and Delivery Efficiency

Before implementing the TMS, Zora faced challenges in optimizing their last-mile deliveries. They were sometimes delayed, and routes were inefficient, resulting in higher transportation costs and missed delivery windows. With the TMS’s integrated Routing Module, Zora could:

• Automatically assign deliveries to the most efficient routes, considering variables such as traffic, distance, and vehicle
• Use manual or automated route planning for single vehicles or entire fleet based on delivery time slots and current order
• Leverage the system’s AI-powered tools to optimize fleet utilization, ensuring that every delivery is executed with minimal resource

This resulted in faster deliveries, lower operational costs, and significantly improved customer satisfaction.

3.  Real-Time Visibility and Tracking

One of the major pain points for Zora was the lack of transparency in their delivery process. With our TMS, they gained access to real-time tracking of all orders. The Track and Trace module allowed both Zora’s team and their customers to monitor shipments in real-time. From warehouse departure to last-mile delivery, each event in the order’s lifecycle was logged and displayed, providing Zora with a granular view of each delivery’s progress.

This real-time visibility enabled Zora to:

• Respond to customer inquiries more efficiently by offering precise delivery
• Identify and address delivery delays or issues immediately, reducing the number of missed delivery
• Improve customer satisfaction by providing accurate delivery time

4.  Transparency in Costs and Invoicing

Our TMS also introduced transparency in terms of delivery costs. The Rates module allowed Zora to track the cost of each delivery, providing insights into their logistics spend. This was especially beneficial in calculating the margin between contractor costs and revenue generated from delivery services. Moreover, the Invoicing Module made it easier for Zora to manage payments to contractors, ensuring timely settlements and improved financial management.

Results and Key Benefits

Since implementing our TMS, Zora has experienced transformative results in their logistics operations. The key benefits include:

• Increased Delivery Speed: The TMS’s route optimization features reduced the average delivery time by up to 15%, enabling Zora to consistently meet or exceed customer
• Reduced Operational Costs: Through better route planning and fleet utilization, Zora cut transportation costs by 20%, contributing to overall cost-efficiency.
• Improved Customer Satisfaction: With real-time tracking and accurate delivery windows, Zora saw an improvement in customer satisfaction
• Enhanced Transparency: The ability to track orders in real-time and analyze the delivery process resulted in more informed decision-making and fewer operational
• Scalability: As Zora’s business continues to grow, our TMS ensures that their logistics operations can scale efficiently without additional complexity or manual

Interview: QsA with Mr. Georgi Stoykov, Zora’s Managing Director

To provide further insight into how our TMS has helped Zora, we interviewed their Logistics Manager, Georgi Stoykov.

Q: What were the biggest challenges Zora faced in logistics before implementing the TMS?

Georgi Stoykov: Our primary challenge was managing the volume of deliveries while maintaining transparency and timely deliveries. We had limited visibility into where our orders were at any given time, and our planning procedures were extremely time-consuming and not optimal. Additionally, our business experience peak seasons of increased demand, such as during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday shopping periods. These times require increased operational capacity and preparation as consumer demand surges, leading to significantly higher workloads in areas like inventory management, logistics, and customer support. This caused delays, increased costs, and frustrated customers. Additionally, we spent too much time manually coordinating with our delivery partners, which was unsustainable as we scaled.

Q: How did our TMS change the way you manage deliveries?

Georgi Stoykov: The transformation has been remarkable. With the implementation of the TMS, we now have real-time visibility into every delivery, enabling us to track each order’s exact location and respond to any issues promptly. Additionally, we gain full transparency into the order management process, tracking when and where each employee interacts with or manipulates an order. This provides us with a comprehensive history of everyone involved in the delivery process, ensuring full accountability and traceability at every step. The introduction of route optimization has significantly improved our efficiency, allowing us to plan deliveries more strategically. Our team is no longer

relying on guesswork or manual interventions — automation has streamlined our processes, saved considerable time and reduced operational costs.

Q: What specific feature of the TMS has had the most significant impact?

Georgi Stoykov: I’d say the real-time tracking and the route optimization modules. Real-time tracking gives us and our customers full transparency, which has dramatically improved customer satisfaction. The route optimization has cut our delivery times and costs, which is a huge win for the business.

Q: How has customer feedback changed since the implementation of the TMS?

Georgi Stoykov: Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. With accurate delivery windows and the ability to track their orders in real-time, customers feel more in control. This has led to fewer complaints and much higher satisfaction ratings. The feedback system integrated into the TMS has also allowed us to quickly identify areas for improvement.

Q: Would you recommend this TMS to other companies facing similar challenges?

Georgi Stoykov: Absolutely. If you manage many deliveries, especially across different regions like we are, this TMS is invaluable. It provides the visibility, control, and efficiency that are essential for scaling a logistics operation.

Conclusion

By implementing our TMS, Zora was able to address its logistical challenges head-on, achieving greater efficiency, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. The system’s real-time visibility, robust route optimization, and seamless integration with Zora’s existing infrastructure have made it a vital tool in the company’s continued growth and success.

For any business looking to scale its logistics operations and improve transparency, our TMS offers a proven, reliable solution.