On-Demand Delivery Landscape - Growth, Challenges

Organization Background Information: GLOVO

Glovo is a delivery company in 2015 in Barcelona. The founder of the company is Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud. The organization deals with on-demand services. Over the years, the company has expanded into other countries, Egypt, turkey, Uruguay and many more countries, even extending to Africa. Global offers delivery services for anything, and it has a website and an app application. When you go to either of the two, you are shown all the available services. Once a decision is made on what you want to buy, an order is placed. Details are keyed in required for the delivery process; the organization places are the order; if the delivery is food-related, they find the nearest rider for your order and return it to your doorstep. (Vieira 2020, p.14) Once the process is done, the client pays for the delivery and the process repeats. Glovo has been able to achieve growth in the years because it has about 50,000 riders and over 2.6 million users a month (Polkowska 2021, p. 4) Glovo has achieved the models of transformation and the 4vs typology and has a great business layout. The company has visible operational objectives and also faces its own unique challenges.

Transformation models and 4vs typology

The transformation model has three elements which are inputs, transformation and outputs. Looking at Glovo as an organization, the customer places an order for an item to be delivered (information), the company looks for an available rider to do the delivery(transformation), and the customer receives the package ordered (output). (Slack and Brandon 2019)

Glovo, as s delivery company for all goods a customer through their website, keys in what they want to be delivered. In the process, they key in the client's information: Location, contact details, payment details, Location and the order type (Food delivery or items delivery). The organization processes the data and finds the nearest rider to do the job; for example, in Barcelona, someone in Barrio Gatico cannot be given a rider in El Borne to do the delivery. After that, the rider follows up with the order and makes sure its delivery happens in time. Feedback goes both ways since if the client doesn't receive the order, the organization explains why; if the client gets an order successfully, they will give out feedback by critiquing the services. (Filippini 2021, p. 50)

The 4vs typology of operations theory deals with four things which are volume, visibility, variation and variety. Organizations get and maintain customers by being prominent; the organization ability shows this. The 4vs typology helps in achieving this. (Slack and Brandon, 2018) It is not only limited to food, due to this they have achieved the variety factor making people prefer it more to the other delivery companies which mainly deal with food (and visibility, 2021)

The 4vs typology of operations theory deals with four things which are volume, visibility, variation and variety. Organizations get and maintain customers by being prominent; the organization ability shows this. The 4vs typology helps in achieving this. (Slack and Brandon, 2018) It is not only limited to food, due to this they have achieved the variety factor making people prefer it more to the other delivery companies which mainly deal with food. (and visibility, 2021)

Over time Glovo has been increasing its volume by employing more riders who enable faster delivery of products, with about 50,000 riders a day who deliver 2.6 million users in a month (Polkowska 2021, p. 4). Demand changes over time, but the good thing about Glovo is that busy and lazy people have found an option. Busy and lazy people are usually constant in the world, and thus maintaining the growth of Glovo.

Achieving variation is hard to maintain, but an example of the recent pandemic of covid-19, Glovo, was hardly affected; actually, it thrived more due to the protocols issued. Google is constantly updating Glovo to improve the customer experience. All these are examples of the 4vs typology operations theory.

Process Design and Layout Analysis

The company has the factor of variety since the client can order anything. The process of product delivery can be both complex and straightforward, depending on the type of delivery. When our delivery entails a lot of stuff, it becomes complex, but it becomes easy when our delivery is based on one item. Since the company has many riders situated in an area, the volume becomes since delivery is high.

The three main types of services that Glovo offers are ordering, picking up and delivering. Ordering, as we said, is the process where clients, using the Glovo application or website, order what they want. Once the order is made, Glovo will accept the order and process it. Ordering is the first step, and it is considered the most important because, without demand, there is no operation. Ordering has its limitations; for example, Glovo does not have all the restaurants in the area captured. One might have a favourite restaurant, but since glove has not partnered with the restaurant, the clients find it hard to order using the application. Another factor that limits ordering is time, a client might order maybe a pizza, and Glovo has indicated delivery is within 45 minutes, but it might take more than 45 minutes. Some improvements Glovo has a child to make is making partnerships with more restaurants increasing the market. Making improvements on time is a challenge since our restaurant might have a lot of orders on that day or that period in which we have ordered, hence affecting the time of delivery.

The other service they offer is picking up. When what you have ordered is ready. The rider goes and picks it up from the restaurant or any other place. There should be somebody to pick up the order, and that is where the rider comes in and picks the order on your behalf. The limitation here is time. If the order isn't ready, the rider has to wait until it's ready.

After the picking up is done, the rider now delivers to you. The possible limitations during delivery could be maybe the weather, traffic. These limitations are natural and can hardly be avoided.

In this layout one cannot work without the other. The client has to reach directly to Glovo using their application or website. Is the only party that is accessible to free (without the orders) riders. Only then can provide information about the order to the rider. The rider is the one who now finishes the services by delivering what the client ordered to their doorstep.

This layout is confusing to the customer because if the order is not delivered on time they are not sure who to approach. They can choose to call the rider or Glovo where they placed their order. Same thing applies to the rider, when they can't reach their client their option is to call Glovo and this really frustrates riders.

Process Design and Layout Analysis

The company has the factor of variety since the client can order anything. The process of product delivery can be both complex and straightforward, depending on the type of delivery. When our delivery entails a lot of stuff, it becomes complex, but it becomes easy when our delivery is based on one item. Since the company has many riders situated in an area, the volume becomes since delivery is high.

The three main types of services that Glovo offers are ordering, picking up and delivering. Ordering, as we said, is the process where clients, using the Glovo application or website, order what they want. Once the order is made, Glovo will accept the order and process it. Ordering is the first step, and it is considered the most important because, without demand, there is no operation. Ordering has its limitations; for example, Glovo does not have all the restaurants in the area captured. One might have a favourite restaurant, but since glove has not partnered with the restaurant, the clients find it hard to order using the application. Another factor that limits ordering is time, a client might order maybe a pizza, and Glovo has indicated delivery is within 45 minutes, but it might take more than 45 minutes. Some improvements Glovo has a child to make is making partnerships with more restaurants increasing the market. Making improvements on time is a challenge since our restaurant might have a lot of orders on that day or that period in which we have ordered, hence affecting the time of delivery.

The other service they offer is picking up. When what you have ordered is ready. The rider goes and picks it up from the restaurant or any other place. There should be somebody to pick up the order, and that is where the rider comes in and picks the order on your behalf. The limitation here is time. If the order isn't ready, the rider has to wait until it's ready.

After the picking up is done, the rider now delivers to you. The possible limitations during delivery could be maybe the weather, traffic. These limitations are natural and can hardly be avoided.

In this layout one cannot work without the other. The client has to reach directly to Glovo using their application or website. Is the only party that is accessible to free (without orders) riders. Only them can provide information about the order to the rider. The rider is the one who now finishes the services by delivering what the client ordered to their doorstep.

This layout is confusing to the customer because if the order is not delivered on time they are not sure who to approach. They can choose to call the rider or Glovo where they placed their order. Same thing applies to the rider, when they can't reach their client their option is to call Glovo and this really frustrates riders.

Two challenges and recommendations

Challenges

From personal experience and through an inquiry from some of the riders, Glovo is facing a challenge in communication. Communication between the rider and the customer and between the customer service and the rider is a challenge. For instance, the rider could have an order for a client and the client is delivered does not pick up the phone. So the rider has to call back to the organization. Another example is the client could have stated a location where they are not, so they force the rider to cover a more unnecessary distance which they are not being paid for the extra length. Glovo is an organization that does not have a hotline where a rider calls directly; when the rider faces challenges, they are put on hold until the organization reaches them. This waiting is unestimated and could be time-consuming, and if it results in a cancelled order, it generates loss to the organization.

Since Glovo allows a customer to order anything, there is no limitation. Some clients would choose to order oversized items which cannot be carried on a motorcycle or bicycle, or even they could order many goods which are too heavy for the rider. Making the rider lose balance on the road, and as a result, accidents can occur, reducing clients, causing losses, e.t.c.

Recommendations

On the part of communication, Glovo should invest in getting a hotline like other renowned organizations. Investing in a hotline will reduce a lot of problems riders are facing and time wastage. Under communication, the organization can introduce policies to make clients efficient in contact; an example is when a client does not pick a phone call from the rider within five minutes, the order is cancelled, or a fine to be charged. In the location issue, Glovo can update their application so that the client must activate the area to use the application, which will show precisely where the client is. Under fines could also be introduced, or the client to add extra cash for unnecessary distance covered.

Glovo can introduce a policy on the type of order placed; an example, if the demand exceeds a certain weight or cubic centimeters, the client has to get to riders, or the order is not accepted. Another way to go about it is if there is a lot of stuff, the rider can bring in two shifts, but the client will pay an extra cost for the second trip.

Conclusion

Glovo has been able to achieve growth in the years because it has about 50,000 riders and over 2.6 million users a month (Polkowska 2021, p. 4) Glovo has achieved the models of transformation and the 4vs typology and has a great business layout. The company has visible operational objec Global offers delivery services for anything, and it has a website and an app application. When you go to either of the two, you are shown all the available services. Once a decision is made on what you want to buy, an order is placed. Details are keyed in required for the delivery process; the organization places are the order; if the delivery is food-related, they find the nearest rider for your order and return it to your doorstep. (Vieira 2020, p.14) Once the process is done, the client pays for the delivery and the process repeats.tives and also faces its own unique challenges. Glovo is a delivery company that started in 2015 in Barcelona. The founder of the company is Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud. The organization deals with on-demand services. Over the years, the company has expanded into other countries, Egypt, turkey, Uruguay and many more countries, even extending to Africa. Global offers delivery services for anything, and it has a website and an app application.

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Bibliography

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• Vieira, T., 2020. Self-exploitation among platform delivery workers: the case study of Glovo. (self-exploitation)