About the Startup:
Slide is an e-commerce logistics startup for small to medium size brands. We enable personalised, transparent and same-day sustainable deliveries that increase customer satisfaction and drive customer lifetime value.
To do this, Slide’s B2B fulfilment platform connects online stores with a network of crowdsourced light vehicles and collection points. This shortens the last mile, making it cheaper, faster and more sustainable.
Business Stage:
Launched
Management Team:
Slide's founding team comes from the quick commerce industry having led Uber’s launch in Sub Saharan Africa and being involved in running an e-commerce business. The CEO is a technology lawyer and the CTO has over 10 years of experience having worked on logistics technology. Slide's board advisor was a non-executive director in a leading last mile delivery player in South Africa that was recently acquired.
Problem and Opportunity:
Running an online store in Africa has severe problems. Customer's are expecting fast deliveries, but the current express delivery options are expensive, unreliable, and harming the environment. The operational strain of managing fulfilment is also a real concern for brands without the resources to have dedicated employees on the processing of orders.
Fortunately, Africa has a strong supply of mobility gig workers and there is a surplus of open spaces due to the shift too remote working.
Slide's B2B fulfilment platform offers online stores sustainable same-day deliveries through its network of crowdsourced local drivers and collection points.
What makes our startup unique?
Tech-enabled logistics: Slide is transforming the way e-commerce is delivered in Africa by using an asset light model that scales with our customers. By using machine learning and AI we are able to ensure the most efficient allocation of inventory across our network, reducing costs and increasing the speed of our deliveries.
Reverse logistics: Slide's decentralised model enables us to execute on reverse logistics much more efficiently than the current players in the market.
Sustainability: Slide is the first e-commerce delivery option to offer zero-carbon deliveries.
Go-to-market plan:
Slide is initially focusing on the fashion & Apparel product category. By doing this, we are able to be very specific with our marketing content and targeting. Our marketing rollout consists of three phases:
1. Immediate
- Build database of SMEs for Email marketing
- Partnerships for affiliate marketing
- Create Google my Business
- CI rollout across website & social channels
- Organic social posts
- Boost social posts with awareness objective
2. Next phase
- Build remarketing audiences
- Develop Conversion Ads utilising a leads form and strong CTA
- Onboard Media Agency for GTM and analytics
- SEO Audit & Keyword research to enable organic search
- Build Google Paid Search Ads
- Add Comparisure Chatbot plugin
3. Long-term goal
- Video production (Youtube shorts) of product showcasing seamless fulfillment
- Performance Max campaign that integrates your Google search and video content to drive leads
- PR & Influencer marketing
Traction & Milestones:
Launched in South Africa's two major cities with over 50 verified drivers and 20 collection points. We are growing fast and are projected to do 1500 deliveries in January 2023.
Funding:
F&F: $15 000 SAFE; SBC: $15 000
Raising:
$350 000
