Burq bets on the last-mile decision layer as giants retreat

Burq, a last-mile delivery technology company, believes that orchestrating the decision layer above the current parcel delivery bench is the product enterprise retailers will actually pay for. The company sees a shift in the delivery market as large national carriers like FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service lose market share. In fact, 55% of retailers now use carriers outside of these three giants, and over a third are actively moving volume away from them.

Jake Stein, who joined Burq as part of its growth strategy for the retail sector, previously worked at Uber and witnessed the limitations of relying on a single network for delivery. He noted that Uber's offerings focused on gig, shorter distances, and fewer, non-large scale shipments, but could not handle all locations. Stein realized that sales pitches often fell short when discussing the need for multiple providers, leading to questions about how to orchestrate these providers and make informed decisions.

Large retailers are already using distributed order management platforms like Manhattan or IBM Sterling to determine where to ship orders based on various factors, but these systems are expensive. Stein emphasizes that companies at the mid-market or small levels cannot afford such multi-year builds. Burq aims to bridge the gap between these platforms and the actual execution of decisions made by the order management systems.

Current challenges include monitoring the progress of packages after they leave the order management system (OMS) and assigning them to the most efficient carrier. Burq's system learns from daily operations and can automatically reassign packages to better-performing couriers, even if it means higher costs. The company's goal is to provide merchants with a decision-making tool that keeps up with the evolving expectations of customers, who demand accurate delivery times, such as same-day or within an hour.