KAUST startup aims to disrupt last-mile delivery

Originally published in Arab News

As e-commerce continues to spike worldwide, especially with the pandemic, the number of parcels delivered each day has dramatically increased. Customer expectations for speedy fulfillment have also been rising, however, leaving companies to grapple with multiple, last-mile delivery challenges.

Last-mile delivery is both the most expensive and the most time-consuming part of the shipping process. Most e-commerce retailers in Saudi Arabia struggle with last-mile delivery as delays, reduced success rate, and difficulty handling cash on delivery (COD), among many other challenges, plague the sector. One Jeddah-based startup has the solution.

Saee is a Saudi tech-logistical, last-mile delivery company that is looking to introduce a new concept into the local market to solve many of these last-mile challenges. Saee helps facilitate higher success rates and improved profit margins for companies and individuals, while alleviating the need for costly overhead such as cars and courier.

"The most important things that retail, e-commerce clients expect from last-mile shipping companies is a high success rate, and rapid refunds," Saee cofounder Tariq Alturkestani told Arab News.

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