by GetSwift | Jul 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
Domino’s pizza claims it will be the first company worldwide to allow customers to track pizza deliveries on their smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs, according to WSJ.
“In the delivery business, it’s a dark spot,” Don Meij, CEO of Domino’s Australia, toldWSJ. “Now, it’ll be fully disclosed and transparent.”
Domino’s pizza will apply that logic to a new app it plans to roll out this summer that lets users track their delivery driver’s progress to their home,
For most local pizza shop owners, delivery would have continued to be a dark spot, up until Monday, when, local delivery software start-up – www.getswift.co launched their delivery management software that enables any business that delivers to offer real-time delivery tracking of their items. Quite quickly you might just see every pizza shop in your area offering Uber-like pizza delivery tracking as Swift is now positioning themselves as eliminating the delivery anxiety gap for all businesses who deliver.
“Missed delivery is costly and a painful logistics experience for both the consumer and the delivery company, yet majority of companies in this multi-billion dollar industry don’t even know where their fleet is in real time. There seems to be some key technology missing here to create exponential efficiencies.” said Joel Macdonald co-founder and CEO of Swift, a local Melbourne start up that started out delivering beer on scooters in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
“It now it no longer makes sense for delivery companies to waste time and money on building their own delivery systems and courier apps. Swift empowers businesses who manage their own delivery fulfilment to transform their very costly manual processes into a powerful competitive advantage, from lowering costs, and reducing missed deliveries to maximising delivery driver uptime and increasing the end user delivery experience through Uber-like parcel tracking.
Swift are being described as the “Shopify for delivery management” yet Mr. Macdonald is quick to rationalise that such a statement is nothing more than “a simple way to explain what we do. Our core focus right now is developing the software and scaling our customer acquisition strategy to one day replace the phone lines, scanners, two way radios and job sheet print outs that majority of carriers are still using”
It has been a busy 12 months for Swift after signing a multi-million dollar deal with one of America’s largest e-commerce retailers and now gaining a lot of traction in the US for their SaaS platform.
“We have been fortunate enough to utilise the US network of our early stage investor, BlueChilli. We have since added Bane Hunter as an advisor to our team. Bane has been instrumental in helping negotiate our most notable milestones to date and is heading up BlueChilli’s Global expansion and strategy. Having seen Bane in action with other companies as well as the exceptionally quick value he has brought to Swift, he is an absolute money making machine and BlueChilli’s secret weapon.” CEO Joel Macdonald said
Start your free trial today – www.getswift.co
by GetSwift | Jul 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
July 01, 2015
Swift raises $675K Angel Round to Accelerate Product Development in APAC and Continue Expansion in the US.
Intelligent Delivery Management Software Transforms from Cost Center into eCommerce Competitive Advantage for Business Owners
SYDNEY – July 01, 2015 – Swift, the leading logistics management software platform for delivery businesses, today announced it has raised a $675K investment round from BlackSheep Capital and BlueChilli Venture Fund. Swift will use the funds for further product development in APAC and to continue its rapid growth into the United States. The Swift Intelligent Fleet Management Platform empowers businesses who manage their own delivery fulfilment to transform the very costly manual processes into a powerful competitive advantage, from lowering costs, and reducing missed deliveries to maximising delivery driver uptime and increasing the end user delivery experience.
Delivery Management – the final hurdle for Logistics
While powerful online ordering tools and frictionless payment solutions exist today, last mile delivery management remains a major challenge for retailers to overcome and fully capitalise on their online presence. Today a global push towards seamless and affordable ways to manage and track goods delivery, yet today the majority of companies don’t even know where their fleet is in real time or are able to notify the receiver when a delivery is 15 minutes away. Missed delivery is costly for merchants and consistently painful for end users.
An industry built on two way radio, scanners and paper print outs is extremely inefficient and up until now has been expensive to manage drivers and reduce missed deliveries without investing thousands in better technology.
Swift has built a sophisticated logistics management platform that gives management control over their delivery fleet, automates task assignments with a proprietary batching algorithm and communicates directly with the receiver to reduce driver wait time so they can fulfill more deliveries. Business owners who have their own delivery fleet can now make smarter decisions with their delivery operation and provide a superior real-time delivery service to their end user without having to invest thousands in technology.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have the backing of the biggest early stage venture funds in the country as we believe it no longer makes economical sense for companies to build their own delivery management software or courier apps when they can use Swift for a small monthly fee” said Joel Macdonald, Swift co-founder and CEO. “So now, you have the next Uber for X project potentially being powered by Swift technology or imagine finally tracking your Australia Post parcel on a real-time map and never missing another delivery again.”
“We see our product to become an integral part of the on-demand stack and invite any retailer who delivers to come speak to us to see how we can make their life and their customer lives easier,” Macdonald said.
Swift’s smart delivery platform allows retailers to increase customer retention, reduce missed delivery, manage poor performing delivery experiences, collect an abundance on data to create further efficiencies with their operation and in doing so reducing staffing and management costs.
by GetSwift | Jul 20, 2015 | Uncategorized
On-Demand delivery is becoming one of the biggest consumer behavior trends in recent years and the expectation for seamless and transparent delivery services have now risen. Providing a critical platform service as part of the on-demand stack is where Swift fits in this growing trend. Apart from the fact that we are helping thousands of merchants grow their revenues by up to 35% and retention rates by 15%, the Swift delivery management system also leads to huge efficiency gains in operations, driver up time, delivery batching and routing.
Swift is a SaaS-based delivery management solution, that can be adopted by businesses to manage the delivery processes and driver fleet in real-time.
Here are the top 5 reasons you should choose Swift:
1. Real-time fleet tracking
Swift comes with integrated Google Maps API in both the Admin Panel and Driver-side App. With the help of that GPS system, you can now track the real-time location and movements of your drivers. The dashboard is also equipped with features to automatically record their travelling time, distance, pick up and drop off location and driver feedback.
2. Easily assign and manage orders
Swift is integrated with many 3rd party systems that you are probably already using. There is also an easy API you are assigned as part of your sign up process which you can plug into your system to automate order flow. Our sophisticated batching algorithm ensures the most appropriate driver gets assigned the job.
3. Better relationship with you customers (analytics)
Swift accumulates and processes data which is received from the orders and drivers to give a bird’s eye view of daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual performance of your delivery operation. The analytics and report generation feature on the Admin Panel helps you to monitor the entire fleet as well as a driver performance. You can also gather information on your customers and customise your product and/or service offering for them to improve loyalty and retention rates
4. Manage your deliveries from wherever you are
The beauty of Swift is, that you can now manage your deliveries from wherever you are. Swift is a web-based Admin Panel so you can easily access the software on multiple devices like PC, laptop, ipad, tablet and smartphones.
5. Reduce staffing overheads
Watch the customer enquiries drop once you introduce real-time tracking and notifications into your delivery operations. Some merchants are reporting up to 75% in reduction of customers calling in and asking where their delivery is. What does this mean for your staffing overhead? For cents for delivery you could replace a team member and better spend that money on growing your delivery business
At Swift, our vision is to help the world deliver better. Please reach out and tell us about your delivery challenges. You can also try our Free 30-Day Trial.
by GetSwift | Jul 20, 2015 | Uncategorized
From Business Insider’s Alex Heber —
Joel Macdonald has packed up his life and moved to New York City, chasing the startup unicorn dream.
A former pro AFL player, Macdonald’s logistics startup shifted from crowdsourced booze delivery to a logistics management platform.
Liquorun, the startup’s original name, was launched to test and build out Macdonald’s software, Swift, which he is now white-labelling and licencing out.
“We started out just delivering beer on bikes,” he said. Now his team built out a logistics management platform which automates the last mile delivery process.
Swift signed a contract, worth more than $1 million over 24 months, with a big US ecommerce company. While Macdonald would not confirm which one, Business Insider has previously reported it was thought to be Instacart, the US online grocery giant.
“We’ve expanded into the States for that 24 month, million dollar contract with an e-commerce business,” Macdonald told Business Insider. The team is also fulfilling deliveries for that company, based in New York, on a trial basis as it irons out the kinks in its model.
The deal came about when one of the billion dollar company’s partnership guys sent a “cold email” from a Hotmail account to Swift. Macdonald said he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the parties could talk.
“We spent months negotiating the contract and setting up the infrastructure to ensure a smooth 90-day trial with them,” he said.
As for who it could be, Instacart is the front-runner, but Amazon, Google, Macys and Bloomingdales have all reportedly been considering on-demand delivery.
“It no longer makes sense for these guys to build out their own delivery system,” he said. “They can allocate those funds towards customer acquisition.”
It also means small business owners can offer a similar, real-time delivery system which until now, has only been something which larger companies could do. So a small pizza shop owner could offer a similar real-time tracking service as Domino’s.
With on-demand delivery fast becoming a consumer expectation, it’s no longer good enough for Australia Post or online retailers to say a package will arrive between nine-and-five some time next week.
It’s also something investors are starting to back. Swift has just raised another $675,000 from Blacksheep Capital and BlueChilli Venture fund to expand its US business and push into Asia.
“We didn’t want to over-raise and dilute ourselves at this point in time,” he said, adding if several more retailers are signed up the startup will look to raise a larger series A round.
Macdonald’s software model is much more scaleable then the physical deliveries concept. Macdonald said the traction is also much faster which has been reflected in the company’s latest valuation, nudging $10 million.
“Since we’ve signed the contact it’s probably taken the valuation about 800%,” he said. “The company will be profitable within six to 12 months with this new software which has really healthy margins.”
But logistics is a tough, high volume game with low margins, which means Swift will have to focus on the biggest opportunities with the most profit. It’s something Macdonald and his team did when the decision to put Liqorun on hold was made.
“The biggest business for us has always been Swift,” he said.
But Liquorun isn’t dead in the water just yet. Macdonald says it “will be back” and he’s been approached by three companies to consider an acquisition.
“There’s been three approaches, two offers on the table, one from a US company, one from an Australian company,” he said.
Swift’s development team will remain in Australia so the company can take advantage of R&D grants and tax concessions.
“We’ll build our headquarters in New York, it’s the heart of delivery, it’s we’re we always wanted to be, we’re probably here a bit early but I’d rather get over here and work it out later,” he said.
by GetSwift | Jul 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
What is Swift?
Swift is delivery management solution that helps business owners around the world assign, manage and and track deliveries, communicate with their drivers and customers, and rapidly scale their delivery operations. Swift’s modern suite of offerings includes a powerful web-based dispatcher and reporting dashboard, intuitive iOS/Android mobile apps for drivers, automatic customer notifications with real-time tracking, and robust APIs to support any type of integration.
Will Swift work well for my business?
If your business involves making deliveries and managing a fleet of drivers, we can help streamline your operations. Swift has been optimized specifically for high-volume, high-velocity delivery operations and excels in both on-demand and scheduled use cases.
How much does Swift cost?
We believe you should only pay for the value you derive from our software. Because of this, we don’t charge for setup, training, or integrations, and we don’t limit the number of drivers or dispatchers associated with your account. Instead, we bill based on the number of pickup and delivery jobs you complete each month. We also scale with you. As your delivery volume increases, you can look forward to a discounted per-job rate to reduce your marginal costs.
How many people can use Swift at a time?
As many as you need! Since we bill on a per-job basis, feel free to add as many drivers and dispatchers as you need at no additional cost.
Do you have drivers that I can use?
We will be providing a service where you can book drivers in real-time. We have partnerships with many local companies who would love to speak to you! Contact us for more information.
Do you have route optimisation?
We are working on this at the moment. Our batching algorithm is available and this is the first step in optimising routes. Drivers get assigned jobs based on a number of rules such as, is the job going in the same direction, how much load can the driver carry, what is the driver’s current capacity, if the driver has a good performer and if he deserves priority over other drivers. Our batching algorithm completely removes the business owner from needing to batch jobs, however you can also manually assign jobs from your merchant map interface.
How do you calculate ETAs?
We calculate ETAs (or estimated times of arrival) by using a variety of inputs including: speed limits, recommended speeds, historical speeds, traffic data, and a driver’s real-time status and location. By comparing predictions about what should be with what’s actually happening in the field, we’re able to estimate arrival times with a high degree of precision.
Does Swift work outside of the US?
Yes. We have customers in over 20 locations. Swift only requires web connectivity and the ability to send out SMS notifications. Therefore, it works best in areas where telecommunications networks are robust and reliable. If you’re unsure whether Swift will work for you, send us an email!
Are you white label solution?
Your management portal will be branded Swift but everything customer facing will be branded with your logo
Do you have an API?
Yes, the Swift API lets you perform common dashboard actions, such as creating and assigning jobs to drivers via a secure API call request. You will have your own unique API key for your business once you sign up that can connect to your platform and other 3rd party operators. Please see our API documentation for more information.
Do you track drivers when they’re offline?
Swift does not access, collect, or store any information about drivers when they are off-duty or offline.
Will my drivers need their own phones?
Yes, drivers will need Android or iOS phones with active data plans in order to use Swift. Some of our clients supply their drivers with smartphones, and others reimburse their drivers for data usage. Let us know if you need help determining the best option for your business.
Can I collect signatures upon delivery?
Absolutely! Signature and photo capture are available within the driver app to make proof of delivery a breeze.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get started with GetSwift’s delivery software, give us a shout or try it out free for 30 Days.
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