What is Mrsool?
You might not have heard of Mrsool, unless you live in one of the three Middle Eastern countries where it operates, that is. Why is it relevant to your driving gig? Mrsool is changing the way deliveries are done.
While Mrsool, which means “to send” in Arabic, has drivers and provides food delivery services just like other apps, it is moving in new directions. This delivery app crowd-sources couriers for virtually any errand. This might involve retrieving a forgotten passport for an airport traveler, delivering spare parts, or fetching documents or medicine.
Here’s how it works:
- Customers post almost any sort of delivery request on the platform.
- Freelance drivers put in competing bids for the job.
- The customer and driver settle on a price and get the delivery done.
Customers literally chat directly with the couriers who are interested in the job and negotiate the price. In a September 2023 WIRED magazine interview with Mrsool’s founder Ayman Alsanad, he said, “Our crowd-sourced model also means that we can offer delivery to areas that might not be accessible by other providers. We make it easy to match couriers looking for an extra-flexible source of income with customers who need on-demand help.”
Is Mrsool an industry disruptor?
Mrsool seems to have taken the best aspects of delivery service and coupled them with increased flexibility and a broader customer base. A glance at Mrsool’s website for business partners shows what they are willing to do for their customers. They will even allow companies to display their products in the Mrsool app, so customers can order directly from there.
Here is what the Mrsool app images look like:
As you can see, the colorful, lively images are much like the ones customers would see on DoorDash or Uber Eats. Businesses as well as customers will be well served by Mrsool’s high quality app presentation. See more about what Mrsool offers businesses on their website.
It should be noted that restaurant meal delivery rates on Mrsool are nonnegotiable. The prices for these services are defined before the order is accepted and are not subject to change.
Apart from that, though, all bets are off! Drivers compete for customers’ deliveries, and customers have their choice of which driver would be the best fit for them and their needs. Can you imagine what this could become, particularly if Mrsool’s model were to be adopted in the United States? You’d have to haggle with your customers and try to underbid the next driver, potentially underselling yourself in the process.
It’s hard to tell if Mrsool’s way of doing business would ever make it in North America, but the company is certainly expanding. In addition to adding new features to the app, Alsanad said in his WIRED interview that geographic expansion is in the works. They would like to develop from where they are now (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt) and move into other Gulf Cooperation Council countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.
It certainly appears that Mrsool is working quite well in the Middle East, and the company deserves a tip of the hat for innovating and adapting to fluid and lucrative markets. What’s more, WIRED reports that Mrsool is on its second round of venture capitalist funding and hoping for a successful IPO in the next few years.
It seems that Mrsool is quite successful indeed! Will it change the delivery world? That’s hard to tell right now, but it’s equally difficult to know what the future may hold. Start working on your bidding and negotiation skills!
