Tag: uber

Rapidus - "Uber" for Courier Delivery

Traditional Delivery Services are in a Flux and Uberization of Delivery

Posted Zi Gi

The package delivery industry finds itself in interesting times. On the one hand, it is being disrupted by crowd-shippers and new B2B marketplaces connecting business shippers with delivery partners. On the other, dominant players like FedEx and UPS are facing the heat in local delivery as they race to boost B2C and B2B volumes. Traditional delivery models FedEx has carved a niche in express, long-haul deliveries. Online purchases are reliant on local and regional deliveries. For online sellers, long-distance deliveries can be costly, not to mention, a time-consuming affair. Ecommerce relies on short-distance delivery, which isn’t exactly FedEx’s strength. Here, UPS does a better job as small package delivery is its core business. A huge selling point of online merchants is their ability to deliver goods as quickly […]

3 Things You Need to Know About ‘Last-Mile’ Struggles and Gains

Posted Alex

After months of speculation, Uber revealed in July that it had acquired on-demand delivery platform Postmates in a $2.65 billion deal. The news comes as another industry player, same-day delivery service Deliv, winds down operations after an eight-year stint. Deliv, currently in the process of selling technology assets to Target, has raised over $80 million in venture capital funding. The company’s aggressive focus on enterprise deals – $5 deliveries from thousands of retail stores – made cost optimization challenging. Low-priced, high-volume, and low-density delivery commitments can make cost minimization difficult and erode profits. Postmates reached a $2.4 billion valuation last year after raising $225 million in new capital. From being a ‘jack of all trades’, even offering IKEA and DIY product deliveries at one point, the company sharpened […]