Delivery Accuracy Audits Improve Efficiency for Leading Coffee Chain

CHALLENGE

The coffee shop chain was experiencing consistent issues with delivery shortages and occasional over-deliveries from one of its key suppliers. These discrepancies created frequent disputes, driving up administrative costs, and negatively impacting product availability at store level.

Key supply chain insights:

• Delivery inaccuracies account for 2–5% of total supply chain costs (Gartner, 2023).
• 1 in 10 deliveries contains errors affecting store operations (Retail Week, 2022).
• Shrinkage and mis-shipments contribute to $1.8 trillion in global revenue losses annually (NRF, 2022).

The client needed an independent, data-led audit program to understand the true scale of discrepancies, improve supplier transparency, and reduce operational disruption.

WHY RGIS?

The coffee shop chain selected RGIS due to our proven ability to deliver accurate, impartial audits and our agility in deploying field teams across the country at short notice. Our approach included tailored scheduling to meet the customer’s early trading hours and robust reporting tools to meet compliance and internal visibility requirements.

OUR SOLUTION

RGIS delivered a two-phase audit program covering both outbound and inbound delivery checks:

• Dual Audit Points: Audits were conducted both at the supplier’s distribution centers (DCs) and upon receipt at store level, ensuring end-to-end visibility.
• Flexible Scheduling: Audits were completed before store opening hours, avoiding disruption to daily trading.
• Custom Data Capture: All data was logged into a centralized reporting platform accessible to both supplier and client stakeholders, ensuring full transparency.
• Collaboration-Focused: The program was designed to encourage trust and shared accountability between the supplier and retailer.

RESULTS

The independent audit program delivered rapid, measurable improvements across operational and financial metrics:

• 40% reduction in dispute resolution time due to shared access to trusted data.
• 15–20% projected shrinkage reduction from early identification of delivery inaccuracies.
• 3–5% improvement in stock availability, reducing out-of-stock incidents for popular items.
• 10–15% labor savings in-store through reduced time spent reconciling and chasing deliveries.
• The client praised the speed, professionalism and accuracy of RGIS’s solution, citing it as a major improvement to their claims process and overall supply chain visibility.

CONCLUSION

This delivery audit project demonstrates the value of third-party verification in resolving delivery accuracy issues. RGIS enabled the coffee chain and its supplier to move from a reactive, dispute-heavy environment to a proactive, collaborative model built on trusted data.

The program now forms part of the client’s wider supply chain quality control strategy—improving product availability, reducing operational friction, and supporting better supplier relationships.