BLOOMA: Delivery You Can Trust

Global parcel delivery costs amount to 75 billion USD per year, and, driven by e-Commerce, the market is expected to experience rapid growth and evolution. Growth rates in mature markets in 2015 were as high as 10% and as high as 300% in developing markets. The logistics that go into package delivery are well developed and optimized for efficiency throughout the entire delivery process. However, the last-mile delivery of a package is a highly variable process, and it accounts for 50% of total costs in the parcel delivery industry. Thus there is great interest within the delivery industry to improve upon and introduce novel technologies and methods to further refine last mile delivery.

SAP is a German multinational software corporation providing mainly enterprise software. In particular SAP focuses on software in financial operations, employee management, and materials movement. They recognize the potential for growth and innovation in the parcel delivery market, and they have provided us with the project prompt of optimizing last mile delivery to reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction.

Team SAP consists of a combined team of mechanical and software engineers from Stanford University and University of Applied Sciences Mannheim in Germany. The team envisions a future in which only scalable last mile delivery methods with superior user experience will prevail. With our solution we provide a scalable and economic solution for the challenges of the future using existing resources. We call it BLOOMA, crowd-sourced last mile delivery.

As tangible manifestations of our service design we created two parts: BLOOMA Home and BLOOMA App.

BLOOMA Home is a smart home device which can receive multiple packages for you when you are not at home. It allows delivery drivers access to the subcontractor's houses in your absence, to deliver packages safely and in less time. It grants delivery drivers an entry to the house by implementing a two-step authentication process, where the identity of the driver and the purpose of visit, namely the package to be delivered are verified through our BLOOMA servers and access to house is provided by automatically unlocking the front door only after verification. Inside the house is an elaborate security system of cameras and motion sensors to monitor the movements, and any unnecessary intrusion is immediately reported via notifications and alarms to the owner. For the delivery drivers, the system displays the area of the house which they can safely access.

The BLOOMA App offers a platform for recipients and subcontractors to register and interact with the BLOOMA service. As a recipient you can choose at which time and days you want to receive packages with BLOOMA. You can select neighbors around you which will act as BLOOMA subcontractors. They will receive packages for you and delivery them to you when you want it. As a subcontractor you can offer your service and manage your profile and orders. It not only offers a way to cope with the increasing volume of packages sent and delivered every day but also improves the experience for the recipient and increases the quality of service and scalability for the delivery company. BLOOMA Home seamlessly integrates with this service and offers a way for subcontractors to receive loads of packages while they are not at home, making their home a private package station.