Research on Takeaway Delivery Route Optimization Problem Considering Merchant Priority

To address deficiencies in the delivery process of O2O takeaway delivery platforms, the concept of priority levels for merchants within the platform is introduced. Focusing on three core objectives—reducing the proportion of late deliveries, lowering delivery costs, and reducing average order fulfillment times—a model is established that considers merchant priorities for multi-objective pickup and delivery vehicle routing. A two-stage optimization model is proposed for efficient management of real-time order generation and dynamic changes in delivery personnel locations. An improved variable neighborhood search algorithm is used to obtain the initial distribution plan; meanwhile, in the subsequent dynamic adjustment phase, a periodic optimization strategy is adopted. Finally, a test case was constructed using partial data provided by the food delivery platform, and the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm was verified through numerical experiments. The experimental results show that as the weight of cost increases, costs decrease, which leads to an increase in the proportion of late deliveries and delivery times, which is detrimental to improving customer satisfaction with deliveries. The research findings not only enrich the theoretical study of the pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem (PDVRP) but also provide scientific optimization methods for food delivery platforms, facilitating their sustainable operations and enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of urban transportation networks.