Benson T
At a time that most businesses are battling the negative impacts of COVID-19, Nigeria’s pioneer asset-free logistics marketplace, Dellyman, is recording double-digit growth, proof that aggregating logistics assets is the right solution to the challenge of same-day delivery in Nigeria.
The marketplace has seen an uptick in all major indices, including a 45 percent spurt in the number of active customers to 1,586 between March and April 2020 – a 91 percent growth from January 2020.
The period also saw a surge in the number of logistics companies to 450, with over 100 verified and active on the platform.
Within the same period (March specifically), Dellyman inked its first major partnership with fintech firm, Opay to boost its delivery assets by deploying some of the idle motorcycle assets from ORide. This saw an increase in the number of riders on the platform and over 3,000 orders completed by the first week of May 2020 – a 93 percent increase from February this year.
Launched in March 2019, Dellyman set out to solve same-day delivery problems in Nigeria and has since grown revenue 20 times between January and April 2020 with average monthly growth within the same period averaging 145 percent. It now targets over 5,000 orders in May alone.
The platform has seen 20 average daily customer acquisitions, with at about 38 percent of the total active customers placing at least one order since coming onboard.
“The numbers we have seen within the past two months is a concrete validation of our business model. We had initially assumed that it is because of the lockdown alone, but we continue to see even a more increased adoption after the phased easing of the lockdown started.
“We are now looking to even expand our capacity to be able to keep up with the growing demand,” said Dellyman’s founder/Chief Executive Officer, Dare Ojo-Bello.
Founder/CEO, Dellyman Logistics, Dare Ojo-Bello
According to Ojo-Bello, most of the orders have come from online retailers, restaurants, and home kitchens offering custom meals such as soups; pharmacies delivering drugs and other medical supplies, computer & electronics retailers, cake & confectionary makers, foodstuffs sellers, marketers dispatching multi-level marketing products and documents.
Logistics is one of the major pain points of electronic commerce in Nigeria. It constitutes the highest overheads for most online retailers making the e-commerce sector unprofitable and accounting for the number one reason many e-commerce firms have shut down in Nigeria.
Some existing e-commerce firms have had to build independent logistics infrastructure, but that comes at an incredible expense threatening the industry’s growth, which is projected to reach $75 billion in value by 2025.
Dellyman has set out to solve these problems specifically by tackling the shortage of logistics assets and providers, especially for long-range last-mile deliveries.
It also seeks to provide solutions to the issues of idle capacity due to the inability of logistics companies to connect with available delivery requests, while providing critical robust technology for the efficiency of delivery services.
“Overall, these problems are complex and difficult but Dellyman’s business model provides the right solution and the numbers prove it,” said Ojo-Bello.
According to him, “The model leverages cutting edge technology that guarantees quick pick up and same-day delivery; provides increased access to logistics assets through aggregation; delivers an on-demand delivery service while offering a delivery infrastructure to retailers and e-commerce platforms so they don’t have to own logistics assets or technologies.
“Dellyman also puts customers in control as they get to choose a delivery company, price, time of pickup, and delivery, as well as the ability to track their packages.”
Its current aggressive growth plan is bound to position it as the leading logistics marketplace in Africa.
