HERE WeGo Deliver enables small businesses to operate their own efficient delivery service. The tech simplifies complex algorithms to create an easy process and tool for dealing with multiple orders and drivers.
Like UberEats and other well-known delivery apps, it aims to reduce customer wait times whilst improving operational efficiency.
Christoph Herzig, Head of Fleet Applications at HERE says that this new delivery service will help small businesses massively in comparison to manual processes.
“Manually organising and sequencing multiple delivery stops and drivers is time consuming, and the margin for human error is significant.”
Due to unprecedented customer demand driven by the COVID-19 crisis, HERE WeGo Deliver is now available to SMEs in Australia for free – for a limited time.
With no sign up or subscription fees, the software has been created specifically by HERE as a way to give back to society and small businesses, in response to the continued pandemic restrictions which have resulted in low or non-existent footfall.
Daniel Antonello, Head of Oceania at HERE, said “Across the globe, businesses are being hamstrung by the economic impact of coronavirus and lack of foot traffic into store fronts, all of which means they are struggling to keep casual staff employed.”
“At the same time, high service delivery fees and the limited availability of drivers is choking the system and making it as tough as it gets to meet this new consumer demand.”
With the public relying on delivery for essential items during this time – including food, medicine and work equipment – switching to delivery is a lifeline for smaller retail and hospitality businesses.
However, many are struggling to meet this new demand and effectively serve their customers from their houses, apartments and offices, without bringing on delivery partners that take a sizeable commission.
Owner of Sydney based café, Casual Mondays, and one of the pilot testers of HERE WeGo Deliver, Robert Reid said that before using the app, orders of their home delivery service were taking 2 hours per order. Now the process takes just 15 minutes.
The cafe has pivoted from cafe to grocery store (delivery) quickly due to COVID-19.
Robert said, “Like so many other hospitality businesses, COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way we’re operating. For six years, we were all about coffee, homemade bakes and brunches.. never did we think we would be an online grocery business! But it’s been a great way to continue supporting our local suppliers and keep our café afloat.”
“We were manually copying and sorting every delivery, meaning it took around 2 hours to load and organise our deliveries.
“Business owners like me need solutions that support us when we’re already out of our comfort zones, and this kind of technology is exactly that – simple exporting of orders from our online store straight to mapping software, making the move to a being delivery service so much easier.”
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When asked about what other support he needed as a small business during this time, Robert said that stimulus packages should be easier to access.
“I think small businesses are struggling to process and understand all of the ways to receive financial help from the government, and some businesses like mine have been hurt by the limitations and benchmarks around JobKeeper.
“In a time when turnover and cash flow are significantly decreased, access to support should be easy. Small business owners are time poor at the moment, with less staff and more work to do as a result, and it’s difficult to find the money to pay your accountant to do the applications for you.
“We worked hard to quickly transform our business into an online service and our main goal is to survive and provide work for our staff who aren’t eligible for government assistance. Navigating all this whilst trying to keep a business open is pretty tough.”
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