Jumbo Increases Productivity and Delivery Reliability with Greenplan

Jumbo is one of the largest grocery retailers in the Netherlands and operates an extensive home delivery network alongside its brick-and-mortar business. More than 600 vehicles are on the road every day delivering online orders directly to customers. As e-commerce volumes continued to grow, the complexity of route planning increased as well. Although Jumbo was already using an established planning solution integrated with a transportation management system, delivery performance regularly deviated from planned schedules. Maintaining promised delivery windows required significant manual intervention by dispatchers and increasingly affected customer satisfaction.

Against this backdrop, Jumbo selected Greenplan following an extensive evaluation process. A key differentiator was Greenplan’s data-driven planning approach. Rather than relying on static travel times, the solution incorporates time-of-day traffic patterns and optimizes routes based on real-world traffic behavior. This creates significantly more realistic schedules that better reflect actual road conditions and operational realities.

Making Traffic a Dynamic Planning Factor

In online grocery delivery, just a few minutes can determine whether a delivery window is met or missed. At the same time, traffic conditions can change dramatically throughout the day. Greenplan accounts for this dynamic during the planning process by identifying not only the optimal route but also the most effective departure time for each tour. In addition, the solution helps dispatchers respond quickly to new orders and operational disruptions. “The collaboration between Jumbo and Greenplan remained highly focused and efficient throughout the entire project,” says Jan Leensen, Project Lead at Jumbo. “Having the right people involved from the very beginning played a major role in enabling a fast implementation while maintaining momentum throughout the project.”

Fast Rollout with Measurable Results

Greenplan was implemented across Jumbo’s entire Dutch delivery network within just five months. This was made possible through close collaboration between business teams, IT specialists, and Greenplan experts.

Shortly after go-live, significant operational improvements became apparent. Delivery reliability increased substantially, leading directly to higher customer satisfaction. At the same time, productivity improved by six percent. Jumbo was also able to reduce the number of vehicles required while making more efficient use of existing resources.

Drivers benefit as well. More realistic route plans reduce time lost in traffic and create a more balanced tour structure, resulting in greater predictability throughout the workday.

“Less time spent in traffic, more stable routes, and happier customers make a noticeable difference in daily operations,” says Frank Gerritsen, E-Commerce Lead at Jumbo.

Planning Quality as a Strategic Competitive Advantage

For Jumbo, the project demonstrates the significant impact that accurate, reality-based route planning can have on the performance of a delivery network. Particularly in online grocery retail, where service quality and operational efficiency are equally critical, planning quality is becoming an increasingly important competitive differentiator.

“The Jumbo project clearly demonstrates the value of planning that is consistently aligned with real-world operating conditions,” says Florian Merget, CEO of Greenplan. “When routes reflect actual road conditions more accurately, the benefits extend far beyond execution. Productivity improves, resources are utilized more effectively, and customer satisfaction increases as a result.”

Today, Jumbo operates a scalable planning platform that supports the continued growth of its e-commerce business while providing the foundation for efficient and reliable delivery operations.