As society adjusts to daily life defined by physical distancing measures and stay-at-home order, there is a dramatic shift from in-person to online shopping among consumers. This shift has spurred enterprises to reinvent their business in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the avenues of change among enterprises is the integration of advanced delivery solutions. As an on-demand delivery provider, Lalamove has found itself in the centre of heightened demand for faster and simpler digital logistics solutions in the new norm.
Lalamove recorded a triple growth of active users in the first quarter of 2021, while the volume of deliveries was fivefold than that of the same period in 2020. Currently, up to 200,000 regular consumers and SMEs rely on Lalamove to move things that matter to them.
The following graph illustrates the overall growth of delivery demand that was met by Lalamove throughout the pandemic.
In a matter of days after the Movement Control Order (MCO) debuted in March 2020, Lalamove experienced its first steep climb in delivery demand. As the timeline progressed, the trend in delivery demand has its shares of peaks and troughs that coincide with the dynamic status of lockdown and severity of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, as Malaysia inched closer to its first MCO commemoration in the first quarter of 2021, the recorded volume of deliveries was five times greater than pre-pandemic figures in early 2020. While the first MCO had instilled a sense of urgency among SMEs to adopt digitalised deliveries, it appears that SMEs have moved beyond treating digitalised deliveries as a temporary solution to support operations. This fact is corroborated by the greater scale of deliveries in the first quarter of 2021, despite the loosening regulations with MCO 2.0 and CMCO 3.0.
The demographic of regular Lalamove users grew by 277%. These are the users that rely on Lalamove’s services at least five times per month. This observation reflects a growing need for delivery services among consumers amidst the ongoing pandemic.
Besides the growing acceptance of its services among consumers, Lalamove has been building its reputation as a reliable delivery partner for SMEs.
Due to falling footfall to their premises, SMEs embrace on-demand deliveries for two main reasons; extending their reach to consumers and improving operations efficiency.
Trends from the above graph demonstrate a steady growth in delivery demand across the industries of Lalamove’s SME clients. While delivery services have become indispensable for players in the F&B industry, other sectors such as wholesale, auto parts, logistics and e-Commerce displayed a healthy growth of delivery demand in the same period. The delivery volume for the wholesale industry had the most significant surge between April 2020 and January 2021, with up to six times its common baseline figure in this period.
The vehicle choices of these industries reflect the required capacity of cargo space to complement the size and scale of the industries’ logistics exercises. The trends also present proof of Lalamove’s flexibility to fulfil the delivery needs of SMEs from various industries.
Lalamove also saw a significant improvement in the delivery demand of large and bulky items.
Although motorcycles and cars contribute to the lion’s share of Lalamove deliveries, the number of deliveries by Lalamove’s 4 x 4 trucks, vans and lorries is catching up fast. On average, Lalamove deliveries for large and bulky items are catered for both consumers' house moving needs and SMEs' business-to-business transactions.
The heightened demand for Lalamove’s larger vehicle segment reflects an increasing awareness in the value of on-demand deliveries of large and bulky items post-pandemic.
The pandemic has catalysed the public and business community's recognition of on-demand delivery in their daily routine. Besides the positive tide in consumer behaviour, the growing acceptance of on-demand delivery is facilitated by the underlying tech of Lalamove’s platform, which enables a faster, convenient, and valuable delivery experience for consumers and SMEs.
To learn more about business delivery solutions for SMEs, please reach out to our sales team today for more details.
