Peapod Digital Labs

Recent years have radically transformed grocery buying habits, pushing more Americans to embrace grocery delivery services and digital shopping platforms. For PDL, this meant adapting to surging demand for same day grocery delivery and next-day fulfillment.

Operating thousands of weekly routes—covering 950 trucks, 415,000 miles, and 29 fulfillment centers—the team needed a modern, cloud-based delivery management software platform that could keep up with increased volume and rapidly shifting routes.

For a delivery service supporting brands like Stop & Shop, Food Lion, and Giant, optimizing every leg of the fulfillment process, from order to doorstep, became mission critical.

“We really needed a solution that could not only meet our needs for today, but a partner to grow with as the U.S. consumer continues to adapt,” said Paul Kapellas, Director Last Mile Solutions at Peapod Delivery Labs. “Our goal is to offer customers groceries in the channel they prefer—in store, pickup, or delivery. ORTEC’s capabilities allowed us to improve our proposition and push us even further to meet our customer’s needs.”

PDL has long been an innovator in the grocery fulfillment and e-commerce sector—leading on digital coupons and online order management. New consumer preferences and buying habits created both significant challenges and opportunities to rethink and modernize.

PDL partnered with ORTEC to develop a cloud-native delivery optimization product, leveraging global and U.S. market expertise. The goal: a solution adapted for large-scale, multi-brand operations and the dynamic U.S. market.

The joint project was centered around four main pillars:

1. Protecting and improving the bottom line
2. Deepening customer satisfaction and retention
3. Supporting employee (especially driver) engagement and happiness
4. Minimizing environmental footprint through smarter routing

Through route planning software, daily optimization, and execution management, PDL USA could better track its most important KPIs—including orders per hour and miles per order—while delivering to customers more efficiently.

The first grocery home delivery orders using the new solution quickly began arriving on time. Real-time monitoring gave teams immediate visibility into any delivery exception or disruption, such as breakdowns or late arrivals, enabling rapid response.

Within a short period after launch, PDL realized over 200% of the anticipated savings, averaging $1 saved per order—double the original goal. Key performance indicators showed significant improvements in both orders per route and miles per order.

“The results and KPIs we achieved provided real, measurable savings recognized across our brands,” Kapellas said.

Efficient routing also helped minimize fuel use for the same delivery volume—addressing both sustainability and cost objectives. For drivers and planners, more efficient operations and logical routes led to higher job satisfaction and easier daily workflows.

The success of the program also fueled positive momentum internally. “The collaboration exceeded our expectations—this quickly became the project everyone wanted to be part of,” Kapellas added.

“The partnership between PDL and ORTEC leadership has been excellent,” said Herman Wierenga, COO, ORTEC. “Working together seamlessly, we’ve delivered real value to customers and created a best-in-class product for home delivery.”

The ORTEC home delivery platform enables the company to monitor truck performance while orders are out for delivery, support returns management, and manage potential delivery scheduling software disruptions before they escalate into customer complaints.

The shift toward online grocery delivery and flexible fulfillment is expected to continue. PDL is well-positioned to adapt with infrastructure capable of supporting growth, testing new models, and meeting changing customer preferences.

With ORTEC’s technology, the company gains a single, integrated platform to manage dispatch software, adjust route optimization, and coordinate day-to-day execution for brands across the country.

The experience reinforces the value of hands-on collaboration and the benefits of aligning technology, strategy, and execution in a challenging, high-paced sector.