Getting things delivered is great. In this too busy, never enough time in the day world that’s full of never-ending to do lists and not enough me time, delivery can save your soul. But what if you want something other than food or groceries? What if you want an IT cable or a charger and you need it right now? That’s going to take at least two days even on fast-track, and the delivery cost might equal the cost of whatever it is you’ve bought.
Getting things delivered hasn’t been perfect. There has been no on-demand delivery for beauty, clothing, equipment or electronics.
Brisbane’s Rohan Bandil and Lucky Goyal realised delivery could be better. Could be better than store delivery, which takes days and can be expensive whether a company outsources or uses its own infrastructure. A lot better than click-and-collect for the obvious reason that you still have to pick it up yourself.
So the two pair developed Genie, a delivery service for everything, that delivers “instantly”. Rohan and Goyal became co-founders.
“I took the best things from services like Uber Eats, Door Dash and Menulog and made them better for consumers. Genie delivers everything from nearby sellers with just one click,” Rohan, co-founder and CEO of Genie, explains. “And with Genie, sellers can cater to the same customer from the garage or warehouse. So customers get cheaper products too.”
Consumers access Genie with an easy-to-use mobile app. There’s also a portal for drivers to accept trips that includes a mileage-based incentive program with for drivers, so they end up making more money than with competitors. A web portal and mobile app allows stores to manage orders and includes a complementary POS system for small businesses to manage their businesses. A support system has been built to provide customer service support.
“In the initial launch phase will be operating across a 30 – 40 kms radius from Brisbane CBD,” Rohan stated. “And we aim to expand to other cities once we’ve grown to cover the whole of Brisbane. The plan is to be an Australia-wide service.
“Initially, the focus of our service will be convenience stores, food outlets which is very popular in Brisbane and was working exclusively with Deliveroo before its demise, as well as tobacco shops,” he added. “But we will be welcoming any category or any business owner who wants to sign up with us on our platform and we will be promoting them as well, especially those selling at places like farmers’ markets and Facebook marketplace. It’s all about empowering small, local businesses to help scale them.”
Genie is due to launch on December 24 and all three apps, for consumers, delivery riders and merchants, will be available to download in advance over the Apple Play Store and The Play Store for Android on November 30.
The delivery fee will range from $2 to $10, and in the future, Genie will even be able to buy products for users and deliver, all for a set delivery fee of $10.
