Within just three months of its launch, the Rush app-based courier service has pnotched up more than 1000 successful deliveries. Powered by WeChat, Rush promises “to fundamentally disrupt the courier industry in South Africa”.
Rush’s success is based on the simple principle of enabling customers to book a courier in real-time using a smart phone. This removes the hassle of having to stand in queues to post parcels, being locked into courier contracts that are not meeting expectations, and eliminates the usual exorbitant rates to send a parcel.
By aggregating numerous couriers onto the Rush platform, the company is able to offer customers a range of services and costs, through its Pronto, Same Day, Overnight or Budget delivery offerings.
The couriers represented on Rush at present are The Courier Guy, Courier IT, Skynet and Globeflight, with newcomer Road Trip Courier and industry giant RTT being the most recent couriers to join Rush.
Road Trip recently launched its courier division and will provide the Pronto service for Rush that offers delivery within the major SA metropolitan centres within 90 minutes, at a heavily reduced rate.
“Rush lives up to its motto of ‘your courier, your choice’, by offering customers the convenience of being able to choose their courier by service, by price, delivery time and even reputation,” says CEO Glenn Whittaker. “Simply download WeChat from the iOS or Android app store, follow the Rush official account and use the app to book, pay for and track deliveries.”
Whittaker says that Rush expects even greater uptake of the service as more customers become aware of WeChat Wallet.
The impact of Rush’s ever growing offering of couriers benefits customers by offering more options to suit their needs, as well as bolstering Rush’s capability to deliver any parcel to any destination in South Africa.
Matthew Slater, co-owner of Road Trip, says: “When we decided to launch our courier service, we discovered that the existing Rush services had a tendency to avoid the immediate ‘pick up and deliver side’ of the business. This offered us a niche where we could effectively plug in and use our existing infrastructure. By partnering with Rush, we are able to instantly deliver to an extended customer base that is actively seeking the kind of courier services we provide.”
Says Whittaker, “Small businesses in particular are finding our delivery services to be ideal. After all, the economy is slowing down and money is inevitably tight, so an increasing number of SMEs are embracing the courier services we offer in terms of price and choice. In fact, since our entire value proposition is built on saving our customers time and money, we are offering new clients up to R150 off their first delivery, provided they download WeChat and use Rush.”