LiveWire

If your address is “200 meters south of the Pizza Hut,” this one’s for you:

Via WSJ.

A handful of startups are trying to solve one of the more vexing problems in e-commerce: how to deliver a package to a home or office that doesn’t have an address.

That is a constant challenge for online retailers and delivery companies in many of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets, including India, and parts of the Middle East and Africa.

Rather than having a conventional street address, an office in one these regions might give its location as “200 meters south of the Pizza Hut.” A home might have no identifier beyond a street name, or even just a part of town.

In dense urban neighborhoods, drivers may find themselves wandering up and down streets, phoning the recipient multiple times to confirm and reconfirm directions. Many consumers who have enough disposable income to shop online still shop in stores to avoid the hassle of arranging a delivery.

Now, companies are competing to solve that problem with technologies ranging from mobile apps to new global maps that create a unique address for every spot on the planet, using designations that are shorter and simpler than multidigit geographical coordinates like latitude and longitude….

Late last month, Dubai-based logistics company Aramex International announced a $3 million investment in what3words, which assigns a unique series of three words to every 10-foot by 10-foot square of the Earth’s surface. Aramex said it plans to use what3words for e-commerce deliveries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The investment was part of an $8.5 million round of funding, in which Intel Capital and two British firms also took part….

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