[This is a sponsored article with Delyva.]
In 2016, Matdespatch was developed by co-founders Hanif, Herrey, and Suhaimi, with a focus on providing same-day deliveries.
“We served thousands of merchants including brands like Machines, Sunway, Decathlon, and courier companies like Pos Laju and CJ Logistics,” shared Hanif.
But running Matdespatch was no easy feat. The trio learnt from customers, partners, and competitors in the last-mile delivery industry about the pain points in logistics.
Examples of these challenges included broken or lost packages, late deliveries, and a lack of transparent shipping fees. Such experiences would result in bad reviews from customers and therefore, lower repeat sales.
With a growing supply of online shoppers, comes a growing need for ecommerce businesses, and logistics partners to deliver. These deliveries must also be fulfilled without sacrificing quality for affordability.
Thus began Hanif, Herrey, and Suhaimi’s journey to develop a new platform to make ecommerce more seamless and accessible with logistics technologies. They wanted to focus on helping micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) provide such a solution to their customers.
In 2020, Matdespatch was taken on by new management. So in came the opportunity for the team to fully focus and grow their new brainchild, Delyva.
Leveraging data and tech to provide better optimised options
Aggregating courier companies, Delyva partners with multiple delivery services to fulfil instant, domestic, and international courier services.
For instant deliveries, Lalamove and pandago are the partner brands on board. Domestic deliveries are serviced by Flash Express, Ninja Van, and DHL eCommerce, while Teleport and Aramex handle international ones. The full list of partner couriers can be found on Delyva’s website.
This lets SMEs find their ideal courier service which suits their needs for the lowest prices. “Working with multiple couriers allows merchants to be better prepared for contingencies, distribute package volume across couriers, and leverage individual courier strengths,” Hanif highlighted.
Via Delyva’s platform and app (called DelyvaNow on the App Store and Play Store), ecommerce sellers can connect to multiple couriers, and book one that fits their demands for a specific delivery on the go.
They can also streamline their order fulfilment process, and connect their ecommerce software such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, EasyStore. By doing so, customers are automatically notified of their package’s delivery status via email, SMS, or WhatsApp.
To explain how Delyva works from an ecommerce seller’s perspective, here’s a scenario of a home-based seller in Ipoh named Judy, for example.
Judy wishes to send her product to Shah Alam, so Delyva’s platform or app will list a few couriers along with their estimated delivery times.
This will help Judy better manage the customer’s expectations and give her a clearer idea of which courier best serves her business. From there, she can conveniently book her ideal delivery provider.
For businesses selling products on their own websites, they can also integrate Delyva’s API onto their platforms, so customers can select their preferred delivery provider at the checkout page.
In addition, those with special partnerships with their own courier providers can link them to Delyva’s platform for more optimised shipping management.
When asked about how Delyva recommends courier services based on the delivery times and fees, Hanif shared that big data analytics are at play.
Delyva uses big data to analyse a courier’s performance over the past 30 days of a particular route from one location to another.
Hanif also claims that these recommendations by the platform can help SMEs deliver their products at least 30% faster, cutting down the average delivery times from three days to two days, for instance.
One less waiting day may sound trivial, but to any anxious shopper, it actually makes a difference.
Helping local businesses scale internationally
As Delyva features over 20 different courier companies under its wing, MSMEs looking to ship products overseas can easily do so through the platform.
Delyva began introducing this service after noticing that most Malaysian SMEs were struggling to afford the high costs of international shipping services. Local SMEs also lacked the resources to manage such logistics.
The team discovered that some sellers had no idea how to engage in international shipping too. Delyva solves these hurdles by partnering with international couriers that can fulfil shipments to over 200 countries around the world, stated the team.
As Delyva’s main mission is to help MSMEs, the SaaS’s pricing plans are able to cater to companies of all sizes. For example, micro and small businesses can choose to use Delyva on a top-up basis, where they don’t have to commit to a monthly or annual subscription.
Meanwhile, growing businesses that want to subscribe to the software on a monthly or annual basis can opt to do so.
Depending on the subscription plan, businesses will be given access to more features and lower delivery rates. They can also bring their own courier accounts, and provide better post-purchase experiences with branded tracking pages and notifications.
You can find a more detailed pricing breakdown on Delyva’s website.
So far, reviews of Delyva’s service appear promising, and the platform has been used by notable brands such as Sama-Sama Lokal by Maybank, AEON, Sen Heng, and more.
The SaaS has also gained the confidence of investors and raised funds under the CIP Sprint funding programme by Cradle Fund in September 2022. The team believes it will double Delyva’s growth in the next six months.
With a foothold as a courier service aggregator in Malaysia, co-founders Hanif, Herrey, and Suhaimi are now setting their sights on expanding to other SEA countries. They also teased an equity crowdfunding exercise on PitchIN for Delyva’s expansion.
Featured Image Credit: Hanif, Herrey, and Suhaimi, co-founders of Delyva
