‘Hungarian Uber’ to reform goods transportation market?

Ordering goods transport services online through the website of a Hungarian startup can result in a 40-50% save on average. According to hvg.hu, the Uber-like company is a novelty on the market aiming to help filling empty warehouses. Also, they would like to optimise transport routes and provide the best possible price for their clients.

‘Hungarian Uber’ concentrates on SME sector

To start with, 2-300 clients request an offer on fuvar.hu on an average day. Most of them look for pallet delivery and moving services. But many would like to send a package from A to B. In fact,

registered transport companies can take part only if the price they offer is at least 5% less than the original.

Finally, the customer decides which transport company he/she gives the assignment.

‘The best price is given by the company which has empty cargo hold, and the delivery address is on the way’ – said Sebestyén Szucsányi-Borza, founder of fuvar.hu.  ‘Most of the feedbacks are positive. However, some charge us with espionage regarding the prices of the companies. Others accuse us of trying to reduce prices’ – he added. In fact, the owners of the website receive a success fee from the transport companies after each assignment they win.

Clearly,

fuvar.hu builds its business model on small and medium enterprises (SME sector).

Without moving services the mass of goods needed to be transported is not more than a couple of hundred kilograms. According to the plans, they would like to expand, and the first step will be Austria in this regard.

The company started only in September last year, but it has already become clear that their system can be swifter and more efficient. Thus,

they are preparing to upgrade the website and the service, as well.

Saving 80% of the transportation fare? Not impossible

Importantly, 180 companies have already registered in the system which is only a fraction of the Hungarian transport companies. In fact, conditions for taking part are not too strict: even one-man enterprises with only one vehicle can register. In fact, there are 37 thousand transport companies now in Hungary, and 3/4^th of them have less than 5 employees.

According to fuvar.hu,

even 80% of the transportation fare can be saved

while the average is 40-50%.  Rates are the same in Western-Europe and North-America. They regard 75% as a peak and 50% as an average.

By the way, first Uber-like transport services appeared in the United States in 2014. The most famous ones are Cargomatic in California and Convoy in Seattle. According to the American experiences,

such websites can help SME sector to reduce their administrative costs.

Also, small and medium enterprises would not have to put a lot of effort into the organization of goods transport.

According to Dan Lewis, founder and director of Convoy, anything that makes transport organisation more efficient and transparent will result in lower costs. However, organisers sometimes received 45% of the transport fare. Of course, their service has a price as well, but it is much lower.

Source: hvg.hu