What is Smartdrop?

Smartdrop gives retailers insight into the impact of their e-commerce deliveries

Smartdrop not only calculates the CO2 emissions of your deliveries. It also looks at other external costs such as air pollution, accidents and traffic congestion. As a retailer, you can use these insights to get started on the checkout of your online shop.

The ultimate goal is to give consumers insight into the most sustainable delivery method when buying online.

Data input - Customised calculation

Smartdrop makes calculations based on real data from your business. In order to be able to use the tool, you, as a seller, must have at least the following data:

Weight of parcels: average weight of parcel or percentage distribution of parcels by weight category

Total number of packages: number of packages per year and per month

Litres of diesel or other energy sources

Vehicle type:
van, truck, cargo bike, ... And the associated charging capacity

Drive technology:
diesel, petrol, electric, CNG, etc.

Load capacity in %

Speed on the driven distance: average speed (km/h) or % of vehicle kilometres in traffic jam

Road type: motorway, urban road, etc.

VUB supplements this data with insights from consumer surveys and from the TRABAM model, which are simulations of the transport activities of the parcel operators.

Methodology

Smartdrop focuses on the impact of the last mile delivery: transportation from the distribution centre to the final destination (home, shop, pick-up point, parcel delivery machine, etc.), regardless of whether this distribution centre is located in Belgium or abroad. The only condition is that the final destination is in Belgium.

The tool takes into account various logistical flows:

Parcels that go with the store stock
Own transport and parcels that are included in the logistics network of one or more parcel operators.
Return flows from the consumer to the distribution centre.
Missed deliveries.Customer journeys for the collection of parcels.

The tool then calculates the impact of deliveries on our society. This impact is expressed as a financial cost, in euros.

A unique feature of Smartdrop is that it goes beyond calculating CO2 emissions. It takes into account all the elements in the company on which the deliveries have an impact.

This includes traffic congestion, air pollution, climate change, noise pollution, traffic accidents, infrastructure damage and the impact of the production and distribution of fuels used for transport.

The calculation is based on the delivery organisation.

Which vehicles are used?
How many packages are delivered, and what distance do the vehicles cover per parcel?
Will the consumer go to the pick-up point or shop on foot or by bike? Or do they prefer the car?

Want to know more?

The result

The result from Smartdrop is a detailed, tailored sustainability impact analysis for every delivery method you offer to your consumers. The results are displayed on three levels: per participant-specific flow (e.g. home delivery with bpost), per store point and per postcode. This allows integration into the check-outs.

Smartdrop allows you to correctly inform your consumers about the most sustainable delivery option. Read why this is important here.

Participate

Would you like more insight into the impact of your e-commerce deliveries? Then get started with Smartdrop! Find out here what data you need to have in order to be able to participate.