Rapidus is a delivery service that aims to operate a 24/7, maximum one-hour-wait delivery service. Starting out in the San Francisco bay area, Rapidus has recently announced its expansion into the Los Angeles region.
Why we love it
In this age of instant gratification that includes on-demand music, movies – everything except maybe love (we’re working on it) – what could be better than 24/7 one hour delivery? The only reason people go shopping for luxuries IRL is basically because having to wait ages for delivery takes some of the adrenaline out of irresponsibly spending money. However, with one hour delivery systems, that doesn’t have to be the case.
Okay, okay, so Rapidus doesn’t cater to our splurge-y needs. However, for small businesses and their customers, the platform is pretty neat. It connects over a 100 on-demand drivers, who can opt in to selected routes that fit around their daily routines, navigating data-optimized routes for faster deliveries. They also employ tactics like package stacking (which isn’t that innovative, really, but works) to make multiple deliveries in one trip. Rapidus founders claim its prices are 30-50% lower than most alternatives, which is huge if true.
Courier and local delivery services are big business, work an estimated $97B. Developments in e-commerce are driving huge growth in this area, and analysts are even predicting compound annual growth of 4.79% up to 2019. After multiplying its revenue growth five times in the first five months, Rapidus’ expansion into LA – one of the busiest freight gateways in the United States – could be a very smart move indeed.
But are Rapidus arriving to the party a little too late? Potentially, yes. Amazon has made significant strides into its Amazon Prime Air service – a drone delivery system that would see packages delivered in 30 minutes or less, halving the wait typically associated with Rapidus. While Rapidus focuses on geographic locations such as LA and San Francisco, Amazon – understandably – is already testing this new option across numerous international boundaries. Rapidus will need to make hay while the sun shines where it currently operates, or possibly consider looking into drone delivery themselves.
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Rapidus is a 24/7 delivery service operating in the Californian cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, which aims to deliver in 1 hour
