With e-commerce booming, delivery services should also be making it easier to do online business.
This is the idea behind Mober.
The startup launched in stealth mode a couple of months ago. Its pitch is sending anything to anyone, anytime through its mobile app that allows users to book and manage deliveries of anything they want. “Our first big build has been Mober, an ambitious delivery-service marketplace for goods with a B2B and C2C focus,” explains Dennis Ng, Mober’s founder. “Our mission is to make online business easy for everyone. Whether you are a large company or own a small business, e-commerce must be available to everybody in the Philippines!”
Four wheels only
Cargo-delivery services like GoGoVan and Lalamove have already proven success in the Southeast Asian e-commerce boom. Now it’s time for the Philippines to take the same step and make e-commerce accessible for anyone, anywhere.
Mober lets users send anything they want, as long as it fits in one of their vehicles. Orders may consist of just a single box or a fully loaded van. With the Click.Pick.Deliver strategy, the startup does not only target the big e-Commerce platforms—small businesses, restaurants, shopkeepers, merchants, consumers and anyone else under the sun can benefit from the courier service.
Currently, Metro Manila serves as the proof-of-concept place of Mober. In the future, Ng and his crew are hoping to expand the service to key cities, like Cebu, Davao, Bacolod and Iloilo. Mober is the first delivery-on-demand app in the Philippines. However, the startup claims it will not challenge to a game of motorcycle chicken in Manila’s crowded streets just yet. “Everything is four wheels for now, we do not have a motorbike service,” says Ng. “Of course the numbers change daily, but we have been overwhelmed with demand since we launched.”
On-time delivery
With the same-day delivery strategy, packages should always arrive the same day they’re sent out. Mober makes this possible because drivers do not handle multiple deliveries for multiple customers at the same time.
The startup’s mobile app lets users track and share drivers’ progress in real-time. The process is backed by a service hotline to help with customer problems and inquiries. Upon drop off, senders receive a confirmation of delivery. If a user has prescheduled the delivery, the driver will arrive at that time, precisely. If the user wants on-demand service, the average arrival time clocks in between 30 minutes and 60 minutes. For now, Mober is keeping things simple and just collecting payments with cash on delivery or cash on pickup.
For a fee a little more than a taxi ride, users can place bookings. Prices depend on which vehicle users opt for and the distance between pickup and drop off locations. Base Fare is P250 and P450, respectively. The minimum fare is P500 for Van and P750 for VanPlus. VanPlus vehicle type come with loading and unloading services.
A convenience for online merchants
In terms of scalability, Mober joins forces with logistics firms that already have fleets across Philippines, a nation with worst traffic. It is the fastest way to grow and it would also convert potential competitors into full-fledged partners.
Besides the big companies, Mober’s Click.Pick.Deliver philosophy may also play particularly well with users and small- and medium-sized businesses on marketplaces like Lazada and Zalora.
Theoretically, it’s also convenient for users on classifieds sites like OLX, as long as their buyers are in the Metro Manila area. “When e-commerce becomes available to everyone, we believe this will change our economy as it becomes easier to do business.”
Ng is optimistic about Mober’s potential in the Philippines—Southeast Asia’s best economic growth, excluding greater China and Japan—so far this year, third-party logistics providers in Asia Pacific have clocked $75 billion in revenue.