BERLIN, Germany — ‘Friendshippr’, a new revolutionary, ‘crowdshipping’ mobile app, was launched at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin on October 28. Friendshippr works through a user's own Facebook network and creates connectivity for people to have their items couriered by their friends, anywhere across the globe. The Android and iOS friendly mobile application makes domestic and international “friend to friend” shipping easy and interactive.



As the world is getting smaller, exposure to goods available in different parts of the world is increasing. The global marketplace fuels demand for items not normally available in one’s own market, like chocolates from Switzerland, Baklava from Lebanon or any item particular to a certain place. Traditional shipping companies don’t necessarily capture all the demands, as it is often cost-prohibitive for a customer to ship the desired item. Even when a customer may be willing to pay the premium, some merchants may not even offer delivery. This establishes one of the motives behind the existing offline “friend to friend” shipping activity that is happening today.



Separately, this activity is common when a person forgets an item like a laptop charger left behind somewhere he has traveled to. Wanting to send certain discretionary or, perhaps, even perishable items to a loved one is also a common reason for it. The solution: people resort to using their friends as their “couriers”.



But that’s where a new problem may emerge like finding a friend traveling on a certain route and willing to help. That’s where Friendshippr does the heavy lifting.



Friendshippr is a true global platform working exclusively with your first-degree and potentially second-degree connections on Facebook without giving out your personal information. Friendshippr takes social media your existing friends and optimizes the way one can ask for a favor.



“The act of people sending things through their friends instead of using traditional shipping is a social phenomenon that already exists; it’s not new at all.” says Ramy Assaf, founder and CEO of Friendshippr.  “We examined this social behavior between friends – and the pain involved with it. You don’t always know who is traveling next, and the window of opportunity to ship things with friends often passes quickly. It’s just an offline activity, that’s scattered and impulsive – usually just happening by luck,” points out Assaf.



Friendshippr is specifically designed to provide more visibility and transparency and better organization of  this activity. The app provides a private and secure network where the “couriers” are familiar to you.



“Facebook has built one of the most powerful pieces of social infrastructure in the history of mankind, and they’ve opened it up to developers to build on. We’re simply innovating on top of what they’ve provided. This application works more like a utility allowing one to circumvent the noise, awkwardness, and a lack of contextual targeting one may face on Facebook when posting a query and just hoping the right person sees it,”adds Assaf.



Posting a shipping request or adding your travel route becomes much more effective with Friendshippr. It allows more of a match-making experience with friends more likely to accommodate your request based on their current location. This makes use of different data already available and intelligence including geo-location on mobile.



Shipping requests come with details about the item, pick up and drop off points, and an optional reward, primarily social based rewards instead of monetary – up to the discretion of the user.  All this gives more information and comfort to a friend before they decide to respond. Just as importantly, it also gives the option to ignore or disregard posts, without the posting party knowing it, removing the "having to say yes out of courtesy" factor. There are no direct messages, so one user cannot be cornered by another.



“We’ve learned that most attempts to solve this connectivity problem by posting such requests on Facebook end up unsuccessful. Friendshippr is tailored to solve these issues,” Assaf says.



Falling into the “share economy” category, Friendshippr stays familiar, essentially replacing crowd-sourcing with “friend-sourcing,” he explains.



He concludes: “We are not competing with traditional shipping companies; this is a different market entirely. Friendshippr is for people who already want to use their friends but have trouble finding that friend.” — Agencies