The coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected a vast number of sectors—disrupting some and hastening others. One of the sectors that has seen growth in this pandemic is the delivery industry as a result of an increased demand for delivery options on the side of consumers and businesses alike. Herve Murenzi, a logistics manager by profession and founder of Pozo Delivery, an app that focuses on food and beverage delivery services, talks to People’s Donah Mbabazi about the current opportunities in the delivery industry, the challenges as well as the key drivers of this sector. Why did you choose to invest in the delivery industry? During the lockdown, I saw how the delivery service changed due to the high demand. The demand for these services was high yet customers expected high quality service. That is how I came up with the idea of starting Pozo Delivery- to reduce on the waiting while at the same time helping people avoid unnecessary gatherings in restaurants or markets. The other motivation was frustration of late delivery. There are a number of delivery companies but people still face obstacles, for example, delay in delivery, among other poor services. How is this affecting development of the industry? That is very true, but you need to know that it’s a combination of many things, for example, third parties being restaurants servicing indoor customers, traffic, to name a few. What really matters is to keep notifying your customers on the expected time of delivery. To address this, we partner with vendors who understand the importance of time and keep up with the timeframe promised to customers. What do you see as the key drivers for the success of delivery services? First and foremost, it is customer satisfaction and this is divided into three things which are; good communication, paying attention to details and delivering on time for the success of the business. What are the biggest opportunities you are seeing on the market for delivery services? Delivery service is still new in our country and people are slowly getting used to it. I believe the number of those needing delivery services will keep on growing and not only for food and beverages, but also on groceries and other products people need regularly. Delivery services are still focusing on food and cooking gas delivery, among others, but the demand is huge, and we need to tap into that. As the city becomes busier, we need to deliver according to the citizens’ needs right to their doorstep. How much value do these delivery apps or initiatives add to the market in general and on the side of consumers? In terms of value that these apps add in general, the first one is they save time on the side of the consumer; where they no longer need to move from one place to another searching for something they crave for. It is just a click on your device and have it delivered at your doorstep, home or office. A number of consumers are bothered by the high commissions that some services charge, what’s your take on this? One of the reasons Pozo Delivery joined the market is to reduce on the charges and make it affordable to everyone, while respecting the time. There is a cost to each service offered. If you look at our current delivery charges, its affordable and I would say low cost in comparison to what you would pay if you go for the service plus the time cost in the process. What is your view on the new technologies that are being innovated across all sectors? The digital world is an amazing one, new technological discoveries and inventions are making life easier so that people can attend to other businesses without complications. It’s a world which one couldn’t have imagined 10 or 15 years ago and there are more technological developments coming. For anyone wanting to launch into this business, what business model would you recommend for them to use? One popular business model in the on-demand delivery space is the business-to-consumer model, or B2C which doesn’t exclude business companies.
