Why on-demand logistics startup Lalamove isn’t afraid of Uber

Yesterday Tech in Asia invited Blake Larson, board advisor to Lalamove, to join us at a meetup event in Taipei. In front of an audience of various people in the local startup scene, Larson discussed the premise of Lalamove, its impact on urban logistics in Asia, and the broader challenges of running a transportation network company.

Larson described how while Lalamove is most easily understood as an app that helps you move your mattress, the true potential of the company lies in its relationship with other businesses. While consumers make up the majority of Lalamove’s app downloads, most of its bookings come from small businesses that move goods regularly, or logistics providers that are don’t have enough vehicles or manpower to fulfill orders as efficiently as possible.

“Most logistics providers already use third-party vehicles to deliver. They might paint them to look like they belong to the company, but really they’re outsourced,” says Larson. Lalamove, in his view, is best understood as a powerful complement to that standard practice.

Larson also discussed the differences between working at a passenger TNC and a logistics TNC. At EasyTaxi, where Larson once worked as a general manager in Asia, the launch process and operations hustle was similar to what Lalamove now does when it enters a new city. But Larson believes that passenger TNCs involve far less complexity than logistics TNCs. On the passenger side, one only has to worry about taking someone from A to B. On the logistics side, one have to optimize for multiple destinations, and a range of order types.

With Uber hot in the news this week, we closed the session with some freewheeling talk about the world’s most high-profile TNC. Larson came out as a proud admirer of the company, praising it for its execution and doggedness. Its insistence on only permitting credit card payments, for example, ensures it captures the wealthiest and most loyal users in Asia. Allowing cash payments and chasing taxi fleets instead of limos might help the company gain market share in the short term, but at the expense of differentiation among its competitors.

When asked to respond to Uber’s alleged commitment to entering the logistics industry, Larson said he wasn’t worried. “They’re just capturing the tip of the iceberg in the passenger market, and we’re just capturing the tip of the iceberg in the delivery market,” he said.

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