UTRECHT – At the end of August, start-up Packaly will launch to compete with traditional parcel delivery companies. The software company has created a platform for shopkeepers to deliver their parcels within 60 minutes with a bicycle courier. Packaly delivers parcels from retailers and their webshop.

“We believe that on-demand delivery should be possible, not only for food but also for physical products, within one hour. Many of the products we order online are also on store shelves. Every day, several delivery vans with online orders drive from large warehouses to the inner cities, after which they deliver products that may also be available a mile away,"

Axel Dekker - CEO & Co-founder at Packaly

Shops can integrate Packaly into their webshop and offer their delivery solutions during the checkout process. Customers choose the ‘deliver with Packaly’ option, and after the checkout process, a track & trace code is sent to them with shipping information. The shop collects the products, after which the Packaly courier picks up the package and delivers it to the customer within one hour.

The three founders Axel Dekker, Adrik Elzing, and Niels Nijhof came up with the idea while walking through the busy shopping streets of the city center. They noticed that products that were close by were often delivered within 1 to 2 days. The online buying behavior of consumers has grown extremely fast. In many cities, delivery trucks are regularly spotted in the city center. This quickly causes traffic problems.

Several municipalities have been raising the alarm for a long time and are paying a lot of attention to a car-free city center. Packaly only delivers parcels by using bicycle couriers. Making the inner city car-free will reduce CO2 emissions and prevent traffic jams. These are two important items that have been on the agendas of various municipalities for some time now.

In the coming months, the tech company wants to focus on their pilot in Utrecht and quickly expand to other large cities in the Netherlands. Packaly has connected a number of stakeholders to the platform, and in the next 6 months, the company wants to connect another 20 shops.