Broadband and telecoms service provider Afrihost has teamed up with 1Fetch, an on-demand instant courier service company, to offer a premium three-hour delivery service to its customers. “We have fully integrated with the Afrihost system so that a customer who purchases a modem, for example, can now select the three-hour express delivery service at the Afrihost online check-out point. Once Afrihost approves the order, we automatically receive it and dispatch our motorbike drivers to pick up the parcel at the Afrihost warehouse and deliver within the promised time limit,” explained CEO of 1Fetch, Jason Psillos. “Our goal is to connect our clients as quickly as possible, therefore the ability to have necessary hardware in their hands extremely quickly is a great value-add. Integration with 1Fetch was seamless and swift, thanks to an impressive application programming interface (API),” said David Lindeque, head of special projects at Afrihost. Psillos told FTW the only limitation was that the delivery had to weigh no more than 15 kilograms, fit into the delivery box, and be delivered within a 30-kilometre radius of the Afrihost warehouse. He pointed out that the bikes could navigate road congestion more easily than courier vehicles or trucks and thus meet the delivery expectations. “Plus they are more environmentally friendly,” Psillos said, which was a bonus with the looming carbon tax expected to be implemented this year. Every 1Fetch transaction – done via an app or the website – is also fully automated and thus totally paperless. “With 1Fetch we are aiming to enhance lastmile delivery, filling a gap where we can do it more flexibly and with a faster turnaround time,” said Psillos, highlighting that business was shifting to what was commonly defined as the “one-hour” economy. “Tomorrow is too late. People want things done on demand and they want them now. Technology is the enabler for this instant gratification economy and it needs to be a part of any new business going forward,” he commented, noting that this was what had driven him and his co-founder, Panico Theocharides, to launch the business in June 2016. 1Fetch customers can have their parcels collected within 90 minutes of placing their order and delivered direct to the destination. We service any area in Gauteng as long as the collection or delivery is to or from a 20- kilometre radius of Sandton – anything from urgent or sensitive documents to personal items or even a consignment of pharmaceutical goods. The service is currently only available in Johannesburg but there are plans to extend the company’s national footprint.
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With 1Fetch our aim is to enhance lastmile delivery. – Jason Psillos
