By LYDIA NATHAN / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

Lalamove, an on-demand logistics service provider that was founded in Hong Kong in 2013, officially launched its delivery service in Malaysia yesterday, after entering the market three months ago.

It’s country director Sik Hoe Yong said the company now operates in over 100 cities in nine countries across Asia.

Leveraging on Malaysia’s thriving economy and high adoption of technology, Lala move aims to achieve about 1,500 orders daily by year-end, a significant rise from its current 300 orders per day.

“We are confident that we can serve Malaysians, particularly the business community with the efficiency that they are looking for in this era of speed and connectivity,” Sik said at the launch of the new service in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He said an independent survey reveals that 25% of the consumers are willing to pay for instant delivery, which augurs well with Lalamove’s plans for further growth.

He said the service will offer deliveries 24 hours a day, with extra surcharges between midnight and six in the morning.

After several trial runs, Lalamove claims that its deliveries would take under 36 minutes for distances under 5km and an average of 55 minutes for deliveries within 10km. “Local deliveries will be delivered within 55 minutes and customers can choose to use either motorbikes or cars,” Sik said.

He said the company’s option to use between one to three tonne lorries will be added in the fourth quarter of 2018.

An added feature via its mobile app will include the option for drivers to purchase items for customers.

“If a customer wants to order food, they are able to note down exactly what they want with details of which cafe or restaurant and the driver can buy it for them,” Sik said.

According to Sik, Lalamove will focus on the food and beverages industry for now, as it is a growing industry.

“We have some 1,500 drivers as of today, and we receive about 300 orders a day. All orders that require the driver to purchase the items first will be capped at RM200 so if drivers can’t pay that first, they are advised not to take the order,” he said.

He added that the drivers will undergo training at the office and offsite as well, but being individual service providers they can opt to be attired in the company’s clothes.

“We will give them what they need to succeed, so if they want to wear the company’s cap or carry the bag, they can,” Sik said.

He said the company will focus on intra-city deliveries for now but would not rule out intercity trips.

“All our markets are doing intracity deliveries now because we want to excel in this first before moving to deliveries within states. We plan to increase our reach into second tier cities like Penang and Johor Baru in the future,” Sik added.