The Australian business was founded about seven years ago to deliver store-to-store clothes for a fashion retailer in Sydney. Photo / Supplied
The Australian business was founded about seven years ago to deliver store-to-store clothes for a fashion retailer in Sydney. Photo / Supplied
Australian technology company Sherpa has launched its "last-mile" delivery operation in New Zealand, with a promise of same-day service even on Christmas eve.
Currently, Sherpa is only operating in Auckland and Christchurch and made its first delivery in mid-October.
The company's chief executive, Duncan Brett, said the plan to moveto New Zealand had taken about five months and had created about 100 jobs since its launch.
Brett said the business guaranteed same-day delivery between 9am and 9pm for businesses and individuals. The business was also promising swift deliveries on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The company's chief executive Duncan Brett. Photo / Supplied
The Australian business was founded about seven years ago to deliver store-to-store clothes for a fashion retailer in Sydney and the company had grown significantly.
"Our [shipment] volume has increased four times bigger than what it was a year before and it's twice as bigger than what it was just before [the latest] Covid lockdown in Sydney," he said.
He said lockdowns had significantly increased demand on the same-day delivery across a wide range of category.
"The brand is currently being used to deliver goods such as groceries, alcohol, medication, flowers and general retail," he said.
Sherpa has no set-up, technology, or subscription fees, with businesses able to simply pay for each delivery.
Services also included "full live-tracking" which allowed customers to see their parcel arriving in a real-time, Brett said.
Since it first began, Sherpa has completed almost five million deliveries to date, with a surge in demand over the past two years as consumers migrated further online with Covid-19 as a tailwind.
"We see some similarities in the Kiwi market, with high online penetration and an increasing desire from customers to get goods now," Brett said.
"We are very confident Kiwi retailers will take to the Sherpa platform in the same way they have in Australia because we can provide a proven successful partnership."
"What retailers are discovering is that more than 25 per cent of shoppers would abandon a cart online if same-day shipping wasn't available."
With the busy Christmas retailing period fast approaching, Sherpa has no delivery cut-off in the lead up to Christmas Day, with guaranteed delivery in Auckland and Christchurch up to 6pm on Christmas Eve, he said.
Currently, Sherpa is only operating in Auckland and Christchurch and made its first delivery in mid-October. Photo / Supplied
The name Sherpa was chosen to signify the "strength" and "courage" of the Nepali group of people, which were in line with the values of the company, Brett said.
"Nepali group of people, synonymous with strength, reliability, moving things around loyalty.
"And when we started this business over seven years ago, the conversations around this is what we will be offering is loyalty, reliability, strength, and perseverance, and we thought Sherpa encompasses all of those things in one go."
