Imagine you have your own online business. Your business is receiving orders by the hundreds and you need to get goods to your customers by the next day. Pakistan’s Rider, a logistics start-up, is blazing a trail to meet the last mile delivery concept in a big way. Its ‘technology-meets-ground operations’ has seen it provide the country with one of the fastest delivery times and highest delivery success rates. It does this by helping online businesses to deliver to customers’ door fast. “We’re so quick, some might think we deliver by air,” the company says on Instagram.
The business was founded by former UPS Pakistan executive Salman Allana in 2019. The inspiration behind the business came from Allana wanting to avoid ‘parcel anxiety’ as he calls it. Allana noticed a gap in the market. Traditional Pakistani courier companies were not set up to meet the e-commerce market and these couriers were not hopping onto the online buying trend. Allan tells TechCrunch: “The COVID pandemic saw a huge and irreversible shift to online shopping across Pakistan. Only a built-for-purpose, dynamic, growth-focused start-up could capture this opportunity on time.”
Rider is active in 60 cities across Pakistan through over 800 delivery agents. The company has delivered over eight million parcels since getting off the ground.
Building networks to enhance Last Mile Delivery process
The logistics company gets products to the end customer through merchant and customer apps. This technology allows route optimization for deliver agents, live tracking of a delivery and even a digitized warehouse function for sellers. Rider has been getting this right by building a network of sorting hubs and delivery networks. To meet demand he says, “Our network consists of numerous small delivery centers which are purposely placed to cover high-volume ecommerce zones, and which ultimately are flexible to move as these zones change.”
Since its inception Rider has been building a network of sorting hubs, delivery networks and delivery centers. The process is simple. A Rider delivery agent picks up a customer’s order from an online store, and the parcel is delivered to a Rider delivery hub where parcels are sorted. A delivery driver collects the parcel from the sorting hub and delivers it to the customer’s door. To assist ensure next-day delivery, the company also offers after-hours pickups.
Recently the company announced on its Facebook page it was looking into acquiring Blue, the only listed express courier logistics company in Pakistan. “This strategic acquisition reflects our unwavering ambition to lead the market and transform the e-commerce logistics landscape in Pakistan for our merchants and their customers,” says the company.
About the author
Sharl is a qualified journalist. He has over 10 years’ experience in the media industry, including positions as an editor of a magazine and Business Editor of a daily newspaper. Sharl also has experience in logistics specifically operations, where he worked with global food aid organisations distributing food into Africa. Sharl enjoys writing business stories and human interest pieces.
