City Start-Up Promises to Book, Deliver Parcel on Same Day

CHENNAI: Need a package delivered to another location in the city immediately? You can now do that from the tap of a button on your computer, if the newly launched Yesmat does what it promises. The courier start-up is offering its customers a 24x7 collection and delivery service inside Chennai.

Intra-city courier services like Yesmat have been gaining traction recently within the country, with several popping up in the metros. With the market for instantaneous delivery needs and door-to-door collection services largely untapped, these smaller players are trying to bridge the gap between the services larger players like Blue Dart and The Professional Couriers provide with customer preferences. And Yesmat will be the first such service in Chennai.

“We can pick up a package anywhere in Chennai and deliver it in another location in the city on the same day. We do not need long clearing times because we know exactly where the package is going to end up,” points out Munavar Ahmed, the 20-year-old managing director and founder of Yesmat.

The services Yesmat will provide include collection of the package, packaging if the customer does not have the means to do so, collection from a location that the customer pinpoints and real time tracking. Customers can also book pick-up schedules in advance online and over the phone.

Rates for the service are also in line with mainstream courier services. “We charge `60 for a package below 500 grams, be it a letter or larger packages, and an extra `10 for every 500 grams in excess. The packaging is free,” he said.

Another Yesmat service that is not available thus far in the city is 24x7 collection and delivery. The courier service will pick up packages at any time, even 12 midnight and 6 am and deliver it within the same time frame. Night services will cost `5 extra, said Ahmed.

But while the initial few months would make it clear if the service has tapped a lucrative market or not, scaling up in the face of sustained demand could be an issue. Ahmed says that with his 16 member collection team and the 25 strong workforce, including the IT team Yesmat has, he will be able to deliver the services that they promise. “When demand increases we will add on people as required. We already have 25 more people lined up for hiring, so I think delivering on our promised schedule wouldn’t be a problem,” he said.  The service will also go live on the Android, iOS and Windows smartphone platforms by next month.

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