With BASE, the smartphone replaces the customer’s home
The facts
In Belgium, mobile phone operator BASE has just launched PhoneAddress, an application that lets you dispense with your physical address. Thanks to global positioning, the smartphone is the place of delivery: the customer no longer needs to stay at home waiting for the delivery man!
The principle is simple. The customer places an order via the application and pays online.
Then thanks to global positioning, the delivery man can locate the customer: in a park, on a roof terrace, at the beach or a Justin Bieber concert… If the customer moves, the delivery man is alerted in real time. And the customer can track the delivery on Google Maps. When the delivery man is less than 100 metres away, his photo appears on the customer’s phone. So he cannot be missed. He also has the customer’s photograph already stored in the application.
Available in a beta version for the time being, the application can order from two restaurants, “Balls ‘n Glory” and “Lucy Chang” in Ghent and Antwerp.
Interpretation
In recent years, 1-hour delivery solutions have seen the light, Amazon Prime Now being the most popular one. Behind these services lies the demand for immediacy on the part of consumers. With the permanent connection that digital technology permits, from the advent of e-mail to instant messaging, time has shortened, imposing quasi-instantaneous response times.
Consequently, it is increasingly intolerable to have to wait at home for deliveries in time slots that are still too restrictive. In this respect the PhoneAddress service launched by Belgian telephone operator BASE is a significant advance that enables customers to make the most of their time. Geopositioned delivery is ideal for short delivery lead times (under 30 minutes), and for items like books, ready meals, clothes, etc. However, it fits in with a more general paradigm. Is it up to the customer to go to the product, or the opposite?
Car manufacturers Volvo and Audi are thus testing new delivery methods based on this paradigm. Why oblige the buyer to drive to a collection point, click&collect point or drive-in? It is easier and cheaper to put one’s purchase directly in the boot of one’s car.
In any case there is no doubt that the test will be closely monitored by all delivery operators. Watch this space…
