Q&A with Eyal Zurr, Head of Delivery at Gett
#Topic: Scale Marketplaces
About the Company:
Gett is the largest and fastest growing on-demand mobility company in Europe, Middle East and Asia with operations in more than 100 cities, serving millions of passengers. The company is also serving B2B customers with over 10,000 corporate accounts.
Gett Delivery — Enables anyone to have anything delivered on-demand. The strategy focus is mainly using an e-commerce platform because we believe that the customer experience does not end in the check out process but at the time that the customers receive the goods in as fast as 30 minutes.
· The company also partnerred with logistic companies to enable the Last Mile Delivery program.
Startup within a startup — The concept of a startup within a startup is very interesting. It can be very successful but in many cases it can also fail. It’s a dedicated process that inlcudes leveraging technology, analytics, big data algorithms and artificial inteligence.
The knowledge of managing real time operations is also crucial. This helps in connecting with customers in real time.
Guidelines for Scaling Marketplaces :
· Ensure that supply is of quality and meets the demand
· Gain consumer trust and maintain credibility
· Think ahead and map a plan for growth
Key Question 1
What is the role of the Head of Delivery in a scale up?
The Head of Delivery of a scale up within an established company, is managing multiple locations in different geographies. It’s like being a CEO of this branch. It’s of course within the company and its operations in multiple territories but operating separately from the rest of the organization. The challenge is sustaining the business on its own and scaling up.
What are the lessons you picked up from this role?
There are many lessons learned through the years I’ve held the role. One lesson I learned is to focus on each goal you’re trying to achieve without being afraid to try different things outside your comfort zone. You’ll never know what will work without trying it first. For example, try different types of partnerships. You’ll be surprised to learn that some unpopular choices yields better result than the ones you originally thought were favorable ones. In marketing activities, experiment and try different platforms.
What are the main KPI’s you track in the marketplace?
We have several KPI’s going. Operational metrics like measuring hourly earnings for example, ratings of our couriers and Completion Rate are some of the important factors we look at. We measure successful deliveries on a monthly basis, the NPS (Net Promoter Score), and also the challenges we face on meeting the needs of our customers in real time.
Key Question 2
For a startup company who is tryng to find the right market fit for them in a global setting , what are the things to consider?
I think for any startup, they need to focus on the one thing that matters to them first, especially if their business caters to a specific market only. Concentrate on one place or country until they are ready to expand to other locations or geographies. Do expansions gradually and not all at once at one time.
How do you know when a startup is ready for expansion?
First you need to define your expansion goals in advance. Next, set your KPI’s to reach these goals. When you meet these goals, you are ready to move on to the next phase. You also get that feeling of confidence that you’re ready for expansion to other geographies. Gather research datas and customer feedbacks to get a clear picture of where you stand at present. If the results show promising outlook for growing the business then you’re ready. If the results are showing some problems, act on these immediately
Key Question 3
How do you ensure you get good suppliers in the marketplace? What is your hiring process to get the right people in your business?
It’s a rule of thumb in marketplaces that everything starts from the supply and how you treat the suppliers will eventually affect the demand side of the business. When onboarding suppliers, we stress the importance of being efficient and we make sure they understand the DNA of the company. When choosing suppliers, we research their reputation and feedback from other businesses who have used their services.
We analyze their performance and check the quality of their production. It also helps to sit with them and do the round table presentation.
How do you do the round table presentation?
We invite suppliers once a month in the office’s conference room. We get a coordinator to set this up. Suppliers prepare questions in advance and we answer them. We also get a lot of interesting feedback from the supplier’s perspective. We also do roundtables with our customers to get their feedback and how we can improve our services. Roundtables with different types of customers are also scheduled to see how we can cater to their needs. This is important before we launch new products so we know what to do in our research process.
Do you always keep the same suppliers or do you change them every now and then when you do roundtables each time? What do you do to make sure they attend these events?
We try to change the participants we invite in our roundtables and as much as possible, we try to get different types of suppliers and customers to attend these events. We give incentives, small gifts, coupons or swag items to the participants in appreciation for spending one to two hours of their time with us.
In your experience, is online onboarding with suppliers and customers more successful than offline onboarding?
Online onboarding for me is better if you’re just finding out the usability of the app. Offline onboarding experience is important if you want actual feedback of the customer’s experience. If the supplier side is not a one time job, meaning, it’s an ongoing business, then maintaining good relationship through personal contact is important. This process will play differently in other marketplaces so it depends on how they operate their business.
Key Question 4
In your onboarding process, how much work is automated and how much work needs a human factor?
We try to be as automated as possible in our registration process and everything that is related in this funnel. In the onboarding process though, we give them a video presentation covering what they need to know but we also provide them with someone they can talk to that will handle their concerns and questions. If you are operating in multiple geographies, automation will make the onboarding process easier in certain types of businesses. If the customers need a person to explain things to them, you can set up an online conference or webinar to do this. You can have the session and entertain questions afterwards. It can be a group session or individual sessions depending on your company’s preference. For group sessions, find the right balance of the number of participants joining and where everyone is comfortable including the presenter.
In cases where the business started with global users from day one, like in the app market, focusing on global reach expansion is already part of the goal from the start. Will expanding in a different niche instead be benificial to the company?
That will depend on a lot of factors like, what type of niche will you go after? Will there be a network effect with what you have now that will help you expand in new markets? For example, with AirBnB, there is a network effect in the process because the more homes you have globally, the more you can provide solutions. You will need to study the market first of course. You can listen to your business consultants’ advises but do not readily accept what they tell you to do. Listen to what your gutt is telling you. If you have limited resources, like manpower and finance capabilities, and at the same time, you are trying to reach certain KPIs. Then divide these resources to each market you plan to reach. It will be a question of whether you want to focus as a leader in a strong market or be in several markets but performance is mediocre. Another thing to consider before shifting to a different niche is how saturated is the current market you’re in now. If you think it’s time to move on to other markets because of this, then it will be beneficial to your company.
Key Question 5
How do you guarantee the service quality of your suppliers before the onboarding process?
We start at the registration and pre-onboarding by qualifying the suppliers during the process. Their skills are measured based on their level of experience from the answers they provide. If they meet the basic requirements, legal obligations and so on, they go through the pre-onboarding which also screens their application.
Do you have a team that processes the offline onboarding?
Yes for sure, we have local offices in each territory we operate. In each territory, there is the Head of Delivery who manages the entire team and handles part of the onboarding process.
What do you do to ensure the suppliers are satisfied with your program?
It’s an ongoing challenge. We try to make their journey with us rewarding like putting up bonuses when they reach a certain milestone. Good incentives are also a way to encourage their loyalty to us. In our market, we want our couriers to be with us long term so their satisfaction with us is important.
How do you deal with the bad performers?
If they’re not meeting their requirements, we send them a notice telling them what they need to improve on, then we give them time to meet the improvements necessary to continue. If they still don’t meet the metrics needed to improve their performance after the period, we let them go eventually.
Do you have some kind of leader board and incentives going for your couriers who perform well?
Yes, we do. Every month we choose the top couriers and give them incentives or prizes. We make sure the criteria for choosing the best courier is fair to everyone and not just based on their ranking. Like we give special incentives to those who have improved most from the previous months.
Do you reactivate the service of the couriers who have not been active for some time or those that have been let go?
No, we never did that. What we do is to go back to the applications of those who have registered but never showed up in the onboarding process. We have been successful in this process. However, we’ll also look into reactivating the ones who left the platform in the near future as we review their reason/s for leaving and see how they can be brought back.