Logistia in Venture Mirror – an interview with the team

This interview about Logistia has originally appeared in Venture Mirror.

When effectively managed, logistics needn’t be a worrying concern for businesses. With the right planning of routes, a business can reduce costs and enhance productivity. Logistia is a software that works towards optimizing routes for drivers. They are available on the web, Appstore, and Playstore. In conversation with Roxana Bitoleanu, Co-Founder and Product Manager, we learn more about Logistia and its future plans!

What is the startup/product about? Give us a brief description of it.

Logistia is a software as a service platform designed to help businesses optimize not only routes for drivers, but also costs and reduce their carbon footprint with last-mile deliveries. It is available on the web, AppStore, and Google Play so our users can do their operations on the go, without restrictions.

Logistia can integrate easily with Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento stores, so businesses like farmers, restaurants with delivery and any other shops which rely on last-mile delivery can thrive in these difficult times with their current resources.   

We do more than just route planning. Logistia also helps owners know the status of their products and the order status. They can monitor the drivers and their remaining orders or request a new stock from their suppliers.

We aim to build a product simple, yet effective for e-commerces to get through these difficult times.

How many co-founders are there? Please introduce them and their backgrounds.

We are two co-founders, Vlad and me. We first met in college, back in 2013 and we are both engineering graduates. Our common passions and purpose are to build products that allow people to find simple solutions to complex day-to-day problems. 

How big is the entire team currently?

Currently, we are a team of two people who are focused on developing Logistia to help businesses thrive in the logistics management area.

How did you come up with the idea? What motivated you to do this?

Logistia is a spin-off product from our first project together, called Taraba Virtuală in Romanian. The name means Virtual Stall in English and it is a marketplace for small farmers. We were constantly approached by e-commerce owners who wanted to integrate the back end of Taraba Virtuală to communicate directly with the orders and products from their website. This way, our product would have made their lives easier with last mile deliveries, as there were many e-commerce businesses even before lockdown that were doing the deliveries with their own fleet.  

We wanted to offer businesses to be in control of their delivery fleet, drivers and ensure customer satisfaction at the end of the delivery day.

What is your target market? Why do you think your product will appeal to?

We currently target farmers who are looking for an efficient and easy way to generate their delivery routes, as well as e-commerce businesses with their own delivery fleet. But we are open to any industry and business that has drivers (such as courier companies, utility companies, etc.). If it is on the move, it can be optimized with Logistia.  

What are the marketing plans apart from the product hunt/beta list launch? How are you planning to acquire new users?

We plan to list Logistia on the major app stores, so users can use the platform on the go and integrate with their e-commerce platform as well. We feel we need to create relevant content in the last-mile delivery area for e-commerce, so people can understand how such solutions, like Logistia, can help them contribute not only to a more prosperous business, but to a healthier environment as well. Using efficiently the volume of the car and through using a more efficient route, they can save up to 4 hours of work per week, save on car maintenance and fuel.

Do you have a separate dedicated team to take care of marketing (digital marketing/traditional marketing)? Which digital platforms are you focusing more on?

Our team’s focus is now on features development and we make sure to plan the digital marketing strategy. Right now, we are focused on LinkedIn, to reach more businesses who need to optimize last-mile deliveries.

What according to you is the biggest challenge that you faced? Is it product development or marketing or scaling or … ?

Scaling is a current challenge, because the pandemic has forced businesses to digitalize their operations, but people are still reluctant to changes. They know digital is the way to go, however they still rely on printed schedules, they are doing the routing themselves because they are biased to think they know the streets and layouts well. This may be true, but at the end of the day they are mentally exhausted without being aware of this. Delegating micro-decisions, such as which route to take to deliver all the orders, has short-term effects for the business and long-term effects for drivers and other employees.

Who are your competitors/alternatives? What sets you apart from them?

We know there are alternatives to route optimization, even free solutions. At Logistia, we focus on optimizing not only routes, but also business goals, to help customers achieve success in just a few clicks.

What are the future plans with the product/startup? Any new features you are planning on?

We are now focused on integrating e-commerce platforms with Logistia, but users can use it without an integration too. A big feature we plan to add live tracking feature, so both business owners and customers can monitor the status of their orders in real-time.