As the phones are turning smarter, a number of ways are being discovered to use them in business. Same holds true for logistics & transportation industry around the world. Hence, companies working in this arena can successfully make huge profits by bringing their processes on mobile platforms and then executing them via apps. It goes without saying that logistics & transportation companies play a huge role in this big business world. A lot of things are being moved from one place to another. And now with mobile apps being there for rescue, their operations have become a lot easier.
So, the companies operating in the logistics and transport industry are looking for custom mobile app development solutions that not just take care of their business processes but also come around as an indicator of success, sophistication, and stability. It should be a unified and complete mobile app, which takes care of everything from managing your fleet, goods, shipment details, routes, drivers, and just everything.
Here let’s learn about the features, framework, development cost, technology & everything that goes into logistics & transport mobile app development:
Types of Logistics & Transportation Mobile App Solutions:
Fleet Management Mobile Apps
All data regarding fleet & the vehicle is recorded here. Hence, the vehicles are assigned according to the user requirements plus all the associated information is managed and accessible via the mobile apps.
Logistics On-Demand Mobile Apps
The goods are delivered as per users’ requirements. This way clientele gets to avail services the way they prefer and also helps you to stay connected.
Mobile Apps for Warehouse solutions
With the data warehouse apps, it is possible to store huge amounts of data in a much more simplified manner. This way it gets easy for the businesses to extract out the right information without any delays.
Forwarding & Tracking Apps
Just simple clicks are all that you need to know about driver & fleet locations. Tracking apps make it easy to get real-time updates regarding routes takes & goods delivery.
Basic features & framework of On-demand logistic mobile appÂ
Customer Panel
Registration
This is the first section of the app where users will land on. They can sign in using the email ID or social networking credentials.
Choose Vehicles
Vehicles can be chosen by the users that they might require for transportation. Hence, it gets easy for users and agencies to deliver goods within a single trip itself.
Scheduling & Managing bookings
Bookings can be scheduled by users as per their requirements and interest, as well as they can manage them too as per the assigned date and time.
Alerts & Notifications
The notifications and alerts related to deliveries, offers, tracking, and a lot of other things are sent to users.
Billing & Payments
All invoices regarding cost incurred can be generated by the users as well as they can then process the transactions via online payment processes.
Ratings to drivers
Users can rate drivers as per their performance, behavior, service quality & time adherence.
Track shipments
Users can track goods and shipments out for delivery. The path or track taken can be monitored in real-time, so to know whether they have taken an appropriate path or not.
Estimate fare charges
The user can have an idea about the estimated fare as per the destination & route that has to be covered from pickup location.
Get a quote
Going by the deals and services provided, users can ask for a quote from the service provider in order to get an estimate regarding time & cost investment.
Driver App panel
Registration
It is the section where drivers can even log in using their email ID or social networking accounts.
Manage requests
All requests which have been assigned by the users are displayed here along with the status. This section is managed to keep track of completed & pending shipments.
Analyze Shipper details
Information regarding shipper, like Name, Contact Information, Address, drop=off location, Invoice generated are analyzed and stored here.
Freight Details
As per the distance required to be covered, fuel consumption, tool expenses, the weight of goods that are to be transferred, drivers generate freight details.
Route & Navigation
GPS allows the drivers to determine the appropriate routes to be taken so as to reach the destination. This way users and admin both are kept in the loop regarding the driver’s behavior as he makes deliveries.
Bill Approvals
Drivers submit the bills regarding fuel, toll charges, and refreshments so as to get them approved by admin.
Payments
Drivers can accept and record payments made by users whether online or via cash on delivery.
Admin Panel App
Secure Login
In order to maintain overall system integrity, admin can create their own account or can log in using their email ID or social network account credentials.
Dashboard
It is in this section where all the users, amount of pending & completed shipments, as well as other information regarding business insights, can be analyzed and monitored by admin.
Monitor Drivers
From here the admin monitors and manages drivers involved in shipping and the number of orders which are completed.
Manage trucks, tariffs & shippers
It is from this section that admin manages and stores information regarding shippers, vehicles and all additional costs incurred in making deliveries.
Push Notifications
Users are kept updated via notifications regarding order completion, payments, driver allotment and a lot more via notifications.
Billing & Invoice
From here the Admin analyses and approves all bills & invoices generated by users or drivers.
Trip log reports
Here the admin evaluates and records the trips which are taken by drivers with start & end time, along with the miles covered.
Fuel consumption & vehicle management
This is the section where admin records the number of vehicles running and fuel consumed by them. Besides, here the admin can also store and track entire of management activities like whether the vehicles require service or not, pollution checking, etc.
Additional features:
In-App Chat
Emails, SMS & Push notifications are a brilliant way to keep the users updated regarding the latest services& deals. Thus, enhancing user engagement with the app and allow them to stay attentive through real-time updates & notifications.
Live Stats of Delivery
This feature allows admin to monitor driver’s activities and to assign tasks to them once they have accomplished prescribed ones. It helps in enhancing fleet productivity & makes good deliveries easy and transparent.
Multilingual Support
It proves to be a boon to drivers when they come from a different region. Hence, helpful in making business operations quite scalable.
GPS
This technology is used to determine the right routes to be taken. It allows the business to get a good understanding of locations which driver has covered all while the journey. Thus, it gets easy to calculate the trips and the time consumed by the drivers for accomplishing the deliveries.
Real-time analytics
Using this feature, all activities related to business can be identified. The admin can access real-time reports regarding the number of orders captured, the region which captured maximum orders, fuel consumption charts, and a lot more can be generated to serve users in a lot better manner.
Driver Safety
This feature ensures on-duty drivers’ safety by monitoring their driving activities while making deliveries. According to the corresponding data, it scores their safety. The number of things such as phone usage, speed, and frequency of handbrake usage etc is tracked.
Payment integration & Referral Rewards
Urge your users to avail of the premium services on your app by enlightening them about its many benefits. Also offer them a transparent & secure payment mechanism like PayPal or Braintree, along with multiple payment gateway options, such as Credit Card, Debit Card, Cash on Delivery, etc.
Cloud Technology
With Cloud, it is possible to store heaps of business data safely. Besides, accessing data related to fleet & driver, order placements& delivery, all the operational data can be stored in a very reliable manner.
Technology Stack:
The right set of technologies is all that you need for developing a superior quality On-Demand logistics app. So, here let’s explore them:
- Cloud Environment – AWS, Google, Azure
- Database – MongoDB, Hbase, Cassandra, Postgress, Mail Chimp Integration
- Real-time Analytics – Hadoop, Spark, BigData, Apache Flink, Cisco, IBM
- Payments – Braintree & PayPal, Stripe, EWallets
- SMS, Voice, and Phone Verification -Nexmo, Twilio
- Push Notifications – Twilio, Push.io
Cost to develop a Logistics & Transport Mobile App
The cost structure of mobile app development firms and app developer community vary as per the number of hours taken to create an app. Like, in developed countries like the USA & Europe, the cost per hour starts from $200 to $550, while Eastern Europe is comparatively little cheaper as here the cost ranges from $200 to $500 per hour. Meanwhile, it is in India, where the cost is on the lower side to develop an On-demand Logistics Mobile App, as it ranges from $20-$25 per hour. Hence, an average app for the single platform (whether Android or iOS) will cost approximately $10,000 to $30,000 depending on the features that are to be integrated.