On-demand delivery service, picup, has launched a new offering that will allow small, medium or large sized businesses to collect and deliver documents and parcels in under 90 minutes.
Available on the web, picupBusiness has been created to address the need for a fast and efficient delivery service that will allow businesses to deliver important documents in a fraction of the time it would take a traditional same day delivery courier service. And if the delivery isn’t made within 90 minutes picup have promised to credit the full fare to the client.
The launch of picupBusiness follows the launch of its consumer offering on WeChat in May this year. Picup is an on-demand collection and delivery service for documents, packages, parcels and incidentals. Users request a driver to collect and/or deliver goods to and from a determined location.
“It didn’t take long for us to realise that businesses formed a core part of our target market and we needed a solution that allowed them to place a picup from their PC. While today’s consumer is constantly on the go and a mobile offering on WeChat is the perfect solution, the average business person still does most of their work from a desktop computer,” says Antonio Bruni, Founder & CEO of picup. “And so, the business-friendly, web-browser version of picup was born – picupBusiness.”
Traditional same day deliveries are typically handled by a number of people. Deliveries are usually sent to the depot and orders need to be placed and ready before lunchtime to be delivered that day. A further struggle that courier companies face is that all their vehicles work within set routes every day. “In order to offer a same-day solution, courier companies need to pull a driver off a route to do one delivery or they need one designated driver doing same-day deliveries, which results in exorbitant costs,” says Bruni.
picupBusiness has over 200 drivers located in and around Cape Town, ensuring they’re ready and waiting to collect parcels within minutes of orders being placed. picupBusiness allows a business to immediately dispatch the closest driver to complete the delivery in the quickest time, and if the delivery isn’t completed within 90 minutes, it’s free. Rates are determined by the mode the user selects (bicycles, motorbikes and cars) along with the distance. The parcel weight becomes irrelevant as long as it can fit within the dimensions of each mode of transport.
“In our mind, same-day delivery means delivery within 90-minutes (traffic dependant) of placing the picup. In today’s world, people need things to be done immediately and we’re helping them achieve that. What’s more, you only have to sign up with picup once, and after that the steps to place a picup are so simple you can do it in under three minutes. This allows people to get back to running their business without having to worry about tedious paperwork or hand delivering a document to get it to the right person on time,” says Bruni.
Businesses will soon be able to book a three hour delivery option. If a delivery isn’t urgent and a client has time to spare, then you can book a delivery at a reduced rate, with a guaranteed delivery within three hours.
In the few short months since picup launched, the feedback has proved how necessary and efficient a service like this is. “During the testing phases of picup, a lady placed a shoe order online and jumped into the shower shortly after. By the time she was out of the shower, the delivery driver was knocking on the door with her order. Now that’s the kind of service that no traditional courier service can offer and is why picup are going to do great things in this market,” says Brett Loubser, head of WeChat for Africa. “We’re so pleased to be associated with a start up like picup, which is disrupting the logistics market in Cape Town and will soon take on other cities in South Africa.”
The launch of picup on WeChat in the Cape Town area has been met with praise by individuals wanting to save time and money. Now picupBusiness gives companies the opportunity to do the same right from their web-browsers. Meanwhile, people in the economic capital of South Africa, who have been wondering when this new service will hit the streets of Johannesburg, can expect to spot the blue picup bicycles, scooters and cars in the next few months.