Every new delivery application developed in the world is baptized as the “Uber of Delivery”. This happened with the services Postmates, Deliv, Sidecar e Amazon Flex, between others. Because it was recently the moment for Uber itself to enter this market and officially announce the UberRUSH.
Founded in 2009, the company revolutionized the passenger transport service in the world by allowing smartphone users to request paid rides from drivers around the city, differentiating itself from taxis due to the quality of service and functionalities that did not exist until then.
Uber has already launched several variations of its service around the world, such as UberPET, UberPOP, UberBIKE, UberPOOL, UberChopper and UberEATS, but none that could impact the logistics market like UberRUSH.
Figure 1 – UberRUSH Logo
Source: Uber
UberRUSH is a same-day package delivery service that local merchants can integrate into their e-commerce platform, such as Shopify, Clover, chownow, bigcommerce e delivery.com. After a customer requests same-day delivery, the merchant logs into their UberRUSH app, fills in the delivery information, and within a few minutes a courier will arrive to pick up the package and take it to the customer. The service has real-time tracking, which allows both the seller and the customer to follow the courier's journey.
At the moment, the service is only available in the North American cities of New York, San Francisco and Chicago and the amount is paid per ride, costing the merchant nothing to enroll in the program. Freight varies depending on the location, ranging from 5 to 6 dollars for deliveries within a 1 mile radius (equivalent to 1,6 km) and 2,5 to 3 dollars for an extra mile. The delivery person receives about 80% of this amount and Uber takes the remainder. It is up to the trader to decide whether to pass on the cost to the consumer or absorb the value himself. Deliveries are made on foot, by bicycle or car, and passengers on the traditional service and UberRUSH packages do not go together.
Figure 1 – Example of an UberRUSH delivery person
Source: http://thehypebr.com/2015/10/14/uber-lanca-o-uberrush-seu-novo-servico-de-entrega/
Uber's objective with its new service is to take advantage of the expertise and credibility gained from transporting passengers and to become the fleet of local merchants, allowing them to no longer have to deal with idle couriers during periods of low demand and overloaded at times peak.
The service is still in its infancy and has a lot of room to grow. However, as Leonardo Julianelli wrote in his post Omni-Channel Supply Chain, from now on retail customers will no longer accept waiting days for their order and will demand their products in hours. Services like UberRUSH could be the solution.
In the passenger transport market, the company had to deal with several controversies and still struggles today in some cities around the world to be legal and operate together with taxis. In the new business, the dispute will not only be with competitors with similar business models, but also with companies that deliver packages globally, such as FedEX, UPS, TNT and DHL, and that have a much larger infrastructure and are increasingly turning their eyes to the express delivery market. Competition in this market is increasing and it will be up to time to tell whether Uber will be able to stand out and achieve the same success achieved with passenger transport, where it was innovative.
References
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRu6M9sCfmo>
<https://newsroom.uber.com/2015/10/rush-open-for-business/>
<http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-rush-fedex-killer-released-2015-10>
<https://www.shopify.com/blog/57839493-shopify-and-uber-reinvent-local-shipping>
<http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Uber-s-latest-logistics-play-UberRush-in-SF-6569318.php>
<http://thehypebr.com/2015/10/14/uber-lanca-o-uberrush-seu-novo-servico-de-entrega/>
Fernanda Monteiro
More than 11 years of experience in training and consultancy projects, focusing on Logistics and Supply Chain. In consultancy, he carried out projects such as Transformational Logistics Plan, Diagnosis of logistics operations, Strategy and Calendarization of Transport Operations, Measuring the Cost of Serving, Market Study, Mapping of Inventory Reduction Opportunities, Review of the S&OP Process, Management Plan Training and Implementation of Commercial Processes in companies such as Nestlé, Raia Drogasil, Ipiranga, Lojas Americanas, B2W, Coca-Cola, Andina, Embraco, Martins Atacado, Loja do Mecânico, Santo Antônio Energia, Ecoporto and Silimed. She is currently one of the teachers of the Inventory Management Course taught every six months by ILOS. She worked on the development and management of Online Courses in Logistics and Supply Chain, Supply Processes, Demand Planning, Inventory Management and Industrial Management. Still in the training area, she was responsible for applying ILOS business games in companies such as Raia Drogasil, Fibria, NEC, Novartis and Moove.
