Never miss a delivery again

Louis White
March 23, 2015
The Age
Many of us have been frustrated by having to collect a parcel from an Australia Post shop after missing a delivery while away from home. But thanks to Shippit, an innovative delivery company working with couriers across Australia, not only can parcels be delivered within a three-hour window between 7am and 10pm, they can also be delivered to any location.
Even better, it allows customers to change the location of the delivery up to an hour before the allotted timeframe.
“It was the frustration of having bought a vacuum cleaner from a department store and racing home from work to wait for it to be delivered, to find I had missed the courier guy, that gave me the inspiration to start Shippit,” co-founder Rob Hango-Zada says.
“Having to go to the post office on a Saturday morning is totally inconvenient for most people and the majority of Australians work away from home, so having deliveries sent there is not convenient. Australians want their items sent to where they work or are going to be located that day.
“From our research, almost every second delivery fails to meet their recipient the first time, that’s more than 60 million missed deliveries each year. This comes at a cost to consumers, courier companies and retailers, particularly as the rise of online retail continues to fuel growth in the parcel delivery market.
“We are the only delivery business focused on delivering parcels to people, not locations, to where and when they want them at zero additional cost to retailers and couriers.”
According to an IBISWorld Report, Courier Pick-Up and Delivery Services in Australia, released in October 2014, the industry is worth $5.3 billion, with annual growth of 3.3 per cent expected over the next five years.
The report states the industry is also expected to innovate in terms of how it interfaces with delivery recipients with a growing focus on increasing the scale of delivery networks. Profit margins are forecast to grow to 7.4 per cent over the next five years.
Since launching with Hango-Zada’s co-founder William On in May 2014, Shippit has signed up 620 couriers across NSW, along with a handful of retailers.
Hango-Zada has experience in marketing and advertising for multi-national companies. Co-founder On has a background in management consulting and a passion for finding digital solutions to complex problems. The pair are confident the model can work not only Australia-wide but around the world.
“We have developed a sophisticated online tracking system and we believe modern logistics requires the recipient and deliverer to be able to track an item at any time, which you can do with our software,” On says.
“The old system was designed for B2B deliveries, but everything now is B2C. We can partner with anyone – retailer, consumer, courier – to ensure a quick, satisfactory delivery.”
While Australia Post doesn’t dispute its service could be improved, it doesn’t agree that one in two deliveries isn’t received the first time around.
“We’re aware there are many different statistics on first-time courier and parcel delivery,” an Australia Post spokesperson says. “Our own figures show approximately 85 per cent of our parcel deliveries reach their destination the first time.”
IBISWorld expects Australia Post to become a key competitor in the parcel delivery business, as the company moves more aggressively into the parcel market and expands parcel services.
Its Postal Services in Australia report, released October 2014, reveals that 26.5 per cent of the industries’ $6.3 billion income derives from parcel deliveries, and this is expected to grow substantially in the future.
“We are aware of Shippit,” an Australia Post spokesperson says. “Australia Post is in discussions with a range of organisations about how we continue to provide our customers with greater flexibility in the way they send and receive their parcels.
“As more people move to shopping online, Australia Post is working towards providing more flexible and convenient delivery options. Our customers have made it clear that they’re looking for greater flexibility, particularly around how they receive or collect parcels.”
Established courier delivery service company Pack & Send, who started in Parramatta, NSW, in 1993, and now operates Australia-wide, in New Zealand and the UK, cautions new players such as Shippit.
“With new start-ups, unless they have a significant volume of parcels, access to a large footprint of either vans and depots, a trusted brand, deep pockets to invest in technology and its ongoing maintenance, plus a significant marketing budget, they will find it very challenging in the highly-competitive environment of e-commerce logistics,” Michael Paul, CEO and founder of Pack & Send, says.
“One of the biggest challenges for courier services in Australia is the increasing demand for B2C deliveries with more convenience and flexible options for recipients of parcel deliveries. Our research shows fast deliveries are not as important to customers as flexibility for delivering parcels at a time that works for them. This includes alternate delivery locations or more choice for home delivery times.”
If Shippit can deliver within a three-hour window to any location, it will go a long way to satisfying consumer anguish over shopping online and wondering when they will receive their goods.