Results achieved
- 85% increase in delivery capacity using the Address Validation API
- Greater delivery flexibility and more efficient movement of goods
- 30% reduction in shipping costs
- 99% delivery success rate
- 80% of logistics processes automated, reducing errors and freeing up time for more strategic work
- 50% fewer kilometers traveled for deliveries to pickup points, with a positive environmental impact
- 140% increase in the number of packages moved per trip
- 95 tons of CO2 emissions avoided in 2022 through the last-mile model
- More than one million deliveries per month
Pickit is a company specializing in last-mile logistics solutions for e-commerce. Its technology platform offers the Pickit Point network, which lets customers choose where and when to pick up their orders. The company was founded in 2016, building on OCASA's logistics expertise and experience.
The Pickit team is made up of 200 e-commerce and retail specialists across Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, serving brands such as Mercado Libre, Nike, Zara, Dafiti, Natura and Avon, among others.
Efficiency and lower logistics costs
Pickit developed a logistics model in which pickup points play a central role across all of its services, increasing operational efficiency and lowering shipping costs. The pickers app, at the heart of the company's sharing-economy model, allows anyone to work as a same-day courier.
To ensure operational success, the company invests in efficient route planning using advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence and mapping technologies that take traffic, distance and time into account, which has led to significant gains in operational efficiency.
“In some regions, geocoding addresses is more complex and requires a quality partner. We started out with another provider and didn't feel confident in the data it produced, so we decided to move to Google. Since day one, we've never had any latency issues or incidents”
Ricardo Ebhardt — CTO, Pickit
Migrating to Google and taking the operation to new heights
The migration to Google Maps took place in November 2021, driven by the need for more accurate and reliable geocoding, especially in markets such as Mexico and Colombia. The engine Pickit used before often failed to return addresses and routes correctly, which kept the company from scaling its solution. Implementation took about two weeks.
Google helping consolidate and improve the operation
The Google Maps APIs each play a specific, complementary role at Pickit: the Autocomplete API speeds up address entry, the Geocoding API converts addresses into geographic coordinates, the Dynamics Maps API plots those coordinates on a dynamic map, and the Places API provides information about businesses near pickup and delivery points.
Beyond mapping, Pickit uses Google Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage and Cloud Functions in its seller app, connecting e-commerce platforms (Vtex, Tiendanube and Shopify) with Pickit to create requests, generate bulk orders and manage returns.
“Digitizing and automating our processes led to a significant drop in operating costs. It used to take a person up to 7 minutes to interpret an address, and now that's solved in milliseconds”
Ricardo Ebhardt — CTO, Pickit
Address validation drives operational efficiency
Implementing the Address Validation API in May 2023 was key to improving operational efficiency by standardizing and validating addresses. The biggest accuracy gains came in Mexico and Colombia, where rates had been 40% and 20% respectively; after implementation, average accuracy rose by 85%.
“We're able to move 140% more packages per trip than traditional business models. While they handle 40 to 50 packages, we deliver 150”
Sebastián Lutz — Marketing Manager, Pickit
Benefits of the partnership with Google
Adopting the APIs automated processes that used to be manual: Pickit went from 20-40% automation to a steady 80% in its day-to-day operations. The pickup service, which combines the Location, Address Validation and Geocoding APIs, delivered 30% savings in shipping costs and 99% delivery efficiency.
Making a difference for the environment
Pickit's logistics model makes its operation 30% cheaper than the traditional market, cutting the kilometers traveled for pickups by 50%. Its last-mile model (motorcycle, bicycle or on foot) kept 95 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere in 2022.
“We're committed to innovation and continuous improvement. We believe that by integrating tools like Google Fleet Management, we're taking a firm step toward the future”
Ricardo Ebhardt — CTO, Pickit
Next destination
Pickit's vision is to keep improving its logistics operation. One of its main ongoing projects aims to optimize its app for last-mile couriers with the help of the Google Fleet Management API.
