Last-mile startup, Moovin, to expand into Central America

Contxto – Costa Rica has its own home-grown logistics startup for e-commerce business as well as delivering parcels, and its name is Moovin. 

At the moment, it can only be found making package deliveries from businesses to buyers in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. But it has plans to expand its national presence beyond San José and its surroundings. Not to mention go into other parts of Central America and the Caribbean. 

For these scale up plans it has Guatemala, Panama, and the Dominican Republic in its sights.

Related article: Rappi gains momentum in Costa Rica, collaborates with Moovin to optimize delivery

Moovin’s model

At the risk of sounding like a broken record but admitting the truth: e-commerce is rising in Latin America. And businesses need help getting their goods distributed to their paying customers. Preferably, at an accessible price, with flexible payment options, and visibility à la Uber.

So the tropicalized version of this service in Costa Rica is Moovin.

Now something that largely differentiates Moovin’s model from others is that its couriers or “Moovers” aren’t freelance partners. That’s the case with other marketplaces like Uber, Hugo or Rappi. 

But rather there is a formal employment contract between the startup and its couriers.

And besides helping the e-commerce trade, this startup also helps users get other time-consuming tasks done. For example, if you forgot your cellphone at work, following a mini-heart attack, you can ask a Moover to bring it to you.

Related article: Loggi must formalize work relations with couriers, and pay over US$7.2 million in fines

Who’s the real threat?

One might think that Moovin is threatened by the likes of Rappi, given that the Colombian unicorn entered this market in October of last year. And they both tackle a similar market.

Nonetheless, rather than directly fight each other, the pair joined forces to provide grocery deliveries.

And for Moovin, the real competition is with Costa Rica’s National Postage Service as it’s the largest player in e-commerce delivery. What’s interesting in this case is how its competitor has already been innovating to up its ante. 

Unlike other players such as traditional banks, that were overwhelmed with the technology startups brought to the table, the country’s postal service caught on soon enough to take a big slice of the Costa Rican market through innovation.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Central America!

-ML