Updated: December 13, 2022 
Running a logistics and freight management business is always nerve-wracking.
The sheer complexity of daily business operations – starting from providing users with cargo information to ensuring on-time delivery – many factors go into building a successful logistics business.
Platforms like Movvit are a clear example of how one should go about building a logistics and transportation application.
For readers who don’t know, Moovit is an Israel-based transportation application that allows users to avail of different types of urban mobility services within a few minutes.
The company started its operations in 2012 and within a decade it’s responsible for serving 950 million customers across 112 countries. That’s a huge leap of success!
Following Moovit’s footsteps, many logistics and transportation companies are also planning to invest in transportation app development. A mobile app can streamline the booking process for customers, drivers, as well as warehouse managers.
Consequently, you can acquire long-term customers and climb the ladder to become an industry giant like Moovit in a shorter time span.
To make your job easier, we have compiled an in-depth guide on how to build a transportation application like Moovit. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be able to build a transport app like the Moovit logistic app from the ground up without any hassle.
A Quick Overview of the Logistics and Transportation Industry
For several decades, the logistics and transport businesses have contributed significantly to the global economy.
According to Statista, the global logistics market surpassed 961.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and is further projected to reach $12,256 Billion by the end of 2022.
Despite this exponential growth, the challenges of managing a logistics and transportation business remain the same.
Companies that still follow the conventional business model are most likely to face difficulties while trying to manage the supply chain, cargo dispatch, vehicle maintenance, etc.
That’s why digital transformation is extremely crucial in the logistics and transportation industry.
By launching a custom transportation application, businesses can streamline these complex operations and allow customers to avail of different transportation services more effectively.
What is Moovit and How Does it Work?
Moovit is an Israel-based transport and logistics service provider that started its venture in 2011.
Fast forward a decade, and the company now runs its operations in nearly 1,000 cities. It follows the MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) model that offers a plethora of transportation services to its clients.
With Moovit, customers can book local rides, check availability, get arrival information, and even track the real-time whereabouts of their ride or freight.
Moovit can be accessed via the web and mobile, allowing customers all-around accessibility to the platform on the go.
Customers even have the liberty to book a ride in advance so that they don’t have to look for expensive options at the end moment.
One of the biggest USPs of the Moovit transportation application is that it also provides information about public transport.
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Users can log into their transport application and switch to the line tab to check the availability and timings of the local shuttle services.
Benefits of Logistic App Development like Moovit Clone
As we mentioned in the beginning, the transportation and logistics industry is an exponentially growing market.
Even during the global pandemic, the logistics industry was running its operations around the clock to ensure all the necessary amenities reach the people on time.
Whether you own a transportation business want to hire a logistic app development company or want to seep into this multi-million dollar industry with a new venture, launching a Moovit-like logistic application will give you a competitive advantage.
Your app will make it easier for customers to book and schedule rides/pickups without having to make any unnecessary calls to the agents.
Instead, they can simply log into the app, check the availability, and book the desired service within seconds.
Let’s explore some of the additional benefits of having a logistic app development like the Moovit transport application.
1. Enhanced Transport Operations Control
A transport application like Moovit will give your team one-stop access to managing different elements of running a transportation business.
Through an advanced admin panel, you’ll be able to track drivers, vehicles, and overall customer acquisition growth.
These insights will make it much easier to calculate the business ROI more effectively.
2. Enhanced Customer Experience Through Transport Application
A logistics and transportation app improves the customer experience.
Based on customers’ availability, logistics companies can schedule deliveries to keep the entire delivery experience more streamlined.
Similarly, customers can analyze vehicle availability, different vehicle options, and driver details while booking a transportation service.
3. Cost Reduction Through Logistics App Development
As surprising as it may sound, having a transport and logistics app development will lower the overall business expenses.
Instead of wasting manpower on documentation, a digital platform will allow you to automate these complex business operations, resulting in better productivity.
4. Improved Inventory Management with Logistics Application Development
Finally, transportation and logistics app development will also aid your inventory management. You’ll be able to keep a tab on the entire inventory and re-stock in advance to avoid product scarcity.
What are the Key Features of a Transportation Application Like Moovit?
Now, before we talk about the key features of a transportation application like Moovit, let’s understand the business model of a transportation or logistics app.
It’s worth pointing out that Moovit follows a Y-structure business architecture with three different parties; consumers, drivers, and the logistic companies.
To cater to these three customer bases, it’s crucial to design a full-scale platform with three different modules.
Based on which module we’re talking about, the features you must integrate will vary accordingly.
Here are some of the key features of transport and logistics app development.
1. Profile Management
To gain access to your transport application, customers must create a profile first.
To do this, they can either follow the conventional sign-up approach or directly migrate their personal information from their social media accounts through social media integration.
Once they’ve created the profile, they should be able to manage their personal details and modify them whenever they want.
2. Pickup Alerts
After scheduling pickups, the transportation application will automatically send real-time alerts to the user’s phone via push notifications. These alerts will provide instant updates regarding the pickup status.
3. Payment Gateways
Digital transactions have become a go-to method for customers to pay for online services.
Studies suggest that nearly 74% of users in every 1,000 customers choose online payments over conventional methods.
Your transport and logistics application must allow customers to pay for the availed services using their preferred payment method.
To do this, it’s necessary to integrate a secure payment gateway that offers multi-payment support.
4. Real-time GPS Tracking
Users should also be able to track the real-time whereabouts of their rides and packages. This can be achieved by integrating third-party maps APIs.
Tech giants like Google and Apple have designed ready-to-use and fully customizable Map APIs that mobile app developers can use to equip their mobile apps with the GPS tracking feature.
5. Fleet Management
Fleet management is an integral part while looking for a logistics app development company. The business owners must be able to track the real-time progress of a fleet and devise the shortest route possible to ensure quick delivery and less expenses.
6. Customer Management
Through an easy-to-navigate admin panel, business owners can keep an eye on the overall customer acquisition status and even monitor their marketing campaigns to calculate the overall ROI.
7. Driver Management
It’s no secret that drivers are the most valuable asset of a logistics company.
If you want to build a successful trucking business, it would be crucial to keep a tab on your drivers and schedule pickups accordingly.
With a dedicated logistics app development company, you’ll be able to monitor the driver’s availability status, assigned route/vehicle, and monthly payouts more conveniently.
8. In-App Chat Panel
Providing excellent customer service is a key factor in building a successful logistics business.
To do this, it’s crucial that your customers can easily contact you and get their queries resolved immediately.
The logistics mobile app development company you hire will integrate a dedicated chat panel into your app so that it becomes easier for both customers and customer executives to communicate with each other.
9. Easy Enrollment
While signing up with a transportation agency, drivers need a quick and efficient enrollment process.
Make sure that your transport and logistics app development automates the enrollment process for drivers so that they can set up their profiles without any hassle.
10. Payout Management
The logistics app development also needs an easy-to-navigate payout management ecosystem so that drivers can easily manage their income. They should also be able to link their bank accounts to their profile to directly transfer the funds.
11. Push Notifications
Through push notifications, you can send regular updates regarding allocated orders, nearby freight assignments, and vehicle allocation status to the drivers.
How to Build a Transportation and Logistics App Like Moovit?
At this point, you are ready to start with the development phase for your Moovit-like app.
When it comes to building an app like Moovit, you’ll need a professional transportation application development company that’ll overlook the entire development process and construct the product from the ground up.
It’s always advised to hire a logistics app development company with extensive experience in building similar platforms.
In addition to having the required technical skills, these logistics mobile app development companies will also be familiar with the transportation industry inside and out.
They’ll follow the best logistic app development practices to devise a user-centric transport application that’ll help you establish a unique brand identity.
Moreover, here are a few golden rules you must follow to build a successful transport and logistics app development.
1. Start By Identifying Your Goals
Identifying business goals is the first step toward starting a transportation business.
Not all logistics app development companies follow the exact same business model and their services vary depending on the demographics and user preferences.
So, before everything else, make sure to identify your business goals and choose a business model accordingly.
Apart from a standalone transport app, you can also choose an aggregated business model where customers have the liberty to choose between different service providers.
2. Choose a List of Features
After you’ve identified the business models, the next step would be to cherry-pick the features you want to integrate into your transportation application.
Based on the business model you want to follow, the feature might vary from existing transportation applications.
However, these existing platforms can be a great source of inspiration as well. You can analyze their customer behavior to evaluate features that’ll best suit your transportation and logistics business model.
3. Hire a Reliable Tech Partner
As we mentioned earlier, it’s crucial to hire an experienced transportation app development company if you want to launch a user-centric transportation platform.
However, it’s also worth pointing out that not all logistics app development companies and developers offer the same services.
Your goal should be to partner with that logistics application development team that has developed similar transportation applications in the past.
Another factor you must consider to hire a transportation app development company is the tech stack they use to build mobile apps for their clients.
The general thumb rule says that you should hire developers who have expertise in modern-day development technologies.
4. Plan a Development Budget
Since all logistics and transportation apps are different, the cost to build a new app from scratch can vary anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000.
Based on your project requirements, you’ll need to plan an estimated development budget and move forward accordingly.
Keep in mind that the budget you devise will also decide which development team you end up hiring, considering different developers charge different hourly development rates.
It’s also advised that you should keep an extra buffer while planning the development budget to manage other miscellaneous expenses such as maintenance and marketing.
How RV Technologies Can Help Your Transportation Business?
So, if you’re ready to launch a logistics and transportation app, the first thing you need to do is hire a technical partner. We, at RV Technologies, offer comprehensive logistics app development services for global trucking, logistics, and transportation businesses.
Our services are tailored to help transportation and logistics companies embrace their digital transformation and choose the most suitable development module to launch a bespoke transportation app.
We have a full-scale team of transportation development experts including UX/UI engineers, developers, QA experts, and marketing experts.
Our teams will collaborate together and work with the client to understand their vision and help them step into the industry with a feature-packed transportation and logistics booking platform.
Conclusion
Technical revolution has accelerated the growth of many industries and ‘transportation & logistics’ is one of them.
Whether you own a transportation company, a trucking agency, or a freight management warehouse, investing in transport and logistics app development will help you streamline complex business operations.
Not to mention, having a mobile presence will give you a competitive advantage as well.
So, share your project requirements with our transportation app development experts and let them devise a customized development plan to bring your idea to reality.
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