RaRa Delivery's Ambition to Optimize Data-Driven Instant Delivery

Logistics last mile can be said to be one of the segments in logistics that has had many new players in recent years. However, this segment still has unresolved homework, namely addressing efficiency. This is the approach RaRa Delivery for instant delivery (same-day delivery).

This startup was founded by Karan Bhardwaj in 2019. Bhardwaj has experience working for Unilever in the e-commerce supply chain in Asia Pacific. According to him, instant consumer satisfaction with things has become the norm across all categories.

This happened none other than because of changing shopping habits online society, so fast delivery has become a necessity and not a luxury. Unfortunately in Indonesia, to enjoy this, consumers need to pay more.

In a research which he quotes, delivery market same-day is expected to grow by 30% with a total of 4,5 million packages per day in 2023. Meanwhile, for logistics costs in delivery services same-day is projected to increase to Rp65 trillion in the same year, up from Rp4,4 trillion in 2018.

When it comes to service E-commerce in a large and densely populated country, such as Indonesia, the main challenge faced is how to build the technology and infrastructure to solve the problem of fast and scalable delivery at the most optimal cost.

In this regard there is a significant market opportunity for last-mile delivery companies particularly in instant delivery infrastructure serving multiple merchants via one interface smooth.

Compared to similar players who focus on delivery one-to-one for instant delivery, RaRa focus on models many-to-many in order to make instant delivery more scalable at the most optimal cost. "We can achieve this with the grouping tool (batching) by real-time and a comprehensive range of products,” he told DailySocial.

He explained further, that his party developed grouping technology real-time exclusive to make deliveries to multiple points (many-to-many) in a few hours, so that shipping costs can be reduced optimally. At the same time, couriers can generate more revenue in less time and less distance.

Apart from instant delivery, the RaRa platform also offers customers reliability and convenience through real time notifications and status updates. Customers can chat with CS, courier, or both simultaneously in one platform chat.

Within the system, RaRa accepts orders from businesses and merchants via API integration, then calculates capacity, time slot, distance, and optimization rules to group orders and maximize productivity to reduce the cost per order. It is also able to provide CoD reconciliation on a regular basis real-time.

RaRa sejenis type player that focus on instant delivery is Grab, Gojek, Paxel, Lalamove, Anteraja, Deliveree, Ninja Xpress, SiCepat, to conventional logistics companies such as JNE and Tiki.

Referring to The 2nd Series Industry Roundtable: Logistics Industry Perspective report released by MarkPlus Inc in October 2020, the frequency of courier services has increased rapidly during the pandemic. This increase was triggered by a number of key factors, including online shopping activities, prices, and delivery times.

In addition, service same-day delivery its usage is projected to increase more rapidly post-pandemic (67,2%) compared to regular delivery services (78,7%) although the portion is still larger. This research was followed by 122 respondents from the Greater Jakarta area (59,8%) and non-Jabodetabek (40,2%).

Receive series A funding

To continue its mission, RaRa received initial funding support from a number of investors amounting to $3,25 million (nearly IDR 47 billion). The round was led by Surge from Sequoia Capital India and East Ventures. Also supported by 500 Startups, Angel Central, GK Plug and Play, and angel investors Royston Tay and Yang Bin Kwok.

RaRa was previously included as part of Surge's fifth cohort, along with 23 other companies.

Bhardwaj explained that this funding will be used to increase product offerings, develop teams from various functions, and expand their reach in Indonesia. There is no mention of the total current operating RaRa fleet. "We are present in Jabodetabek at this time and will launch to several other cities before the end of 2021."

RaRa's business during this year is claimed to have grown 15 times. RaRa users include Sayurbox, Alodokter, Blibli, Kopi Kenangan, Merchants Grab, and others. Alodokter has become a major customer providing one to three hour delivery services. It is claimed, RaRa is able to provide a three-hour delivery service up to 20% cheaper due to the efficiency of intelligent clustering technology (Smart Batching System).

Not only big companies, companies also target business people social commerce and MSMEs to take advantage of its services. "We already have a sales team that has succeeded in attracting MSMEs and social sellers. They can carry out comprehensive order management, delivery management, reconciliation and cash withdrawals, CS, analysis and reporting in one platform," he concluded.

RaRa Delivery's parent company is in Singapore, while its operational center is in Indonesia.