There is increasing innovation within business. It is not only companies like Uber, Airbnb, Blendle that are turning traditional business upside down; new forms of e.g. delivery are also being experimented with within logistics. Notable in this is the number of new delivery services that rely on the efforts of citizens, so-called crowd-sourced delivery. LogistiekProfs lists the most striking innovations of these.
Shyp
The US-based company Shyp is designed for both private individuals and businesses. Anyone who wants to have a product delivered can use Shyp. The Shyp courier collects the item from your home or business, packs it and delivers it to the recipient. To ensure the items are beautifully packaged, Shyp has employed a number of professional packers, mainly people with a background in art packaging. Shyp has raised over 12 million dollars in investment funding and is currently operating in San Francisco, New York and Miami. The service does not wish to disclose how many users it has, but does say that these users range from consumers who have items delivered on an occasional basis to businesses that use Shyp on a regular basis as a logistics service provider.
Instacart
This American company has launched an app that allows groceries to be delivered in no time at all. Using the app, you select a supermarket and submit your shopping list. Your groceries are then delivered to your home within an hour by an Instacart representative. Instacart has already raised around 155 million dollars in investment funding and is currently rolling out its services from city to city.
Bringbee
This Swiss company makes clever use of customers driving back and forth with half-empty cars. According to Bringbee, 70 per cent of all transport capacity goes unused. Bringbee launched its service with IKEA Switzerland in 2013. Consumers who want to pick something up from IKEA but don’t have time to drive there themselves can fill in a shopping list on the Bringbee website. Another customer from the same neighbourhood (who was already planning to go to IKEA) can sign up for this order. This customer then delivers the items on the shopping list to the other customer. Bringbee has since also partnered with the Sudwerk brewery. The service currently has around 1,500 delivery drivers ‘on the books’.
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Editorial LogistiekProfs
