Man on the move

Santit “Pear” Jirawongkraisorn is the co-founder and managing director of lalamove (available for download on the App Store; visit www.lalamove.com or fb.com/lalamovethailand), a Hong Kong-based delivery-matching application. Having recently launched in Bangkok, Guru catches up with him to find out why the app could be a solution for Bangkokians who are pressed for time.

How you cater to customers who are in a rush?

We have motorcycles in our fleet ready to go for deliveries that are pressed for time. The lalamove application also allows users to schedule deliveries in advance, which is perfect for time-sensitive deliveries. There was a situation where a client was stuck in traffic and was unable to personally deliver an important document. He then accessed the app in his car, placed the order and the delivery was completed even before he reached home.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE AS TO WHAT YOU WILL AND WILL NOT TRANSPORT?

We don't and will not transport anything illegal. All delivery orders are recorded in our system with information such as the names of the sender and recipient, their phone numbers, pickup and drop-off addresses and routes, so that we are able to track it if something goes wrong. We also take real-time feedback from drivers through our call centre and always proactively screen for unusual cases. We reserve the right to reject deliveries that we feel are inappropriate, which is something we inform our users of and ask them to sign on before using our service.

HOW DO YOU GUARANTEE A HIGH LEVEL OF SERVICE FROM YOUR DRIVERS?

All our drivers are professional couriers. It's a requirement even before we start talking to them about joining lalamove. We also have stringent driver standards. We conduct a thorough background screening and make sure that our drivers go through application and etiquette training. In addition, we must receive all the required documents from them before we activate them in our system. Post-activation, we implement reward and penalty policies so that we can keep our service quality at a premium standard.

IS LALAMOVE INVOLVED IN ANY COMMUNITY PROJECTS? 

The social angle of businesses have always been an interest of mine, and I make sure that we, as a company, are giving as much as we can back to the community. Last year in December, we partnered with Durex to raise awareness of World Aids Day by delivering free condoms to our users and donating campaign proceeds to the Thai Red Cross. From an internal aspect, lalamove also improves the livelihood of our employees. Through our platform, drivers can get more jobs, earn more money, be their own boss and have no costs of searching for customers.

DO YOU THINK LALAMOVE COULD END UP FACING SIMILAR CRITICISM TO THAT UBER HAS RECEIVED?

I don't think so as lalamove deals with moving things, not people. The governing regulations for logistics are quite different to those of passenger transport. I would say it's easier for logistics, since we don't deal with passenger safety. We are a fully legal entity in Thailand, and we definitely have no intentions of breaking any laws.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR LALAMOVE?

We're working on a number of exciting partnerships and technology projects. And although international deliveries aren't available at the moment, it's definitely in our long-term plans — so stay tuned! G