Crucible Courier and Logistics is set to launch a courier service that will take on other industry players in direct competition as it builds a consumer-facing vertical to complement its core supply-chain management business.
The courier service will help bolster Crucible Courier’s new positioning as an independent logistics powerhouse.
Crucible has aggressive plans for its courier service, with an aim of capturing 4-8% of the market in the first year. Crucible Courier and Logistics, which pegs the size of the consumer-to-consumer courier market
“We expect this service will be as disruptive as Crucible’s entry into the ecommerce space,” said Paul Ochieng, one of the directors
“The industry is still very unorganised. No one provides an end-to-end proposition that consumers want,” he said.
Crucible Courier has plans also to enter the hyper local logistics market and has started piloting deliveries for restaurants in Nairobi, according to two people aware of the company’s plans.
Crucible Courier will provide customers door-to-door pick-up of parcels in under 6 hours and delivery in one day within the city of posting.
Customers can book the service online and get real-time tracking and SMS updates. Crucible Courier will offer complimentary packaging.
The pick-up service will be rolled out in Nairobi next week and in other cities by September. Crucible Courier will drop parcels at any of the 47 counties it directly reaches across the country.
Ochieng did not disclose the pricing but said it will “be competitive to tier-1 courier players. We will be offering far more value for the same cost.”
Experts tracking the logistics space say the courier market is highly competitive with thousands of regional and national players, which makes generating profits from the service a tough proposition.
They pointed out that courier companies handle about two million shipments a day with networks of thousands of branches. Parcel sizes are typically less than half a kilogram, whereas ecommerce parcels are usually 1-2 kilogrammes.
Ochieng said they are not worried about the competition and that he expects Crucible’s entry to expand the courier market and increase the number of packets delivered by each delivery executive.
READ: Nation Media Group poised for major shakeup
“Every additional item increases utilisation (of the executive),” he said.
“For its core business-to-business logistics facility, Crucible Courier is aggressively seeking external clients and 50 companies have expressed interest in its services,” Ochieng said.
By next year, Crucible Courier expects shipments from non-ecommerce businesses to contribute to half its revenue. The company handles deliveries for third-party online retailers under a new initiative called ‘Fulfilled by Crucible’.
