Darren Kawalsky from Deliver in Person | Checkout

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[Voiceover]: Welcome to the Checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Here's your host, Bushy.

[Ad]: Today's checkout features Darren Kowalski, Chief commercial officer at Deliver In Person. Deliver In Person is a company that is redefining last mile delivery with a strong focus on customer centric service and brand experience. Darren shares some fun insights including the unusual item that he bought for his daughter. He tells us about his must have tech and how he keeps up with

Nathan Bush: the ever evolving world of E commerce. Darren, welcome to the checkout. Thank you for joining us today. We had a brilliant conversation with yourself and Hawk from Starshipper talking about how to build loyalty in that last mile delivery experience which is what Deliver In Person do so well, shaking up how customers experience getting their parcels on their front doorstep. But we are here to learn a little bit more about you. I've got five quick questions. You ready?

Darren Kowalski: Ready.

Nathan Bush: All right, number one, what is the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?

Darren Kowalski: Yeah, it's a good question. There's a lot of weird stuff out there.

Nathan Bush: Just depends whether you've bought it or not.

Darren Kowalski: Look, I would say one that comes to mind is my daughter recently inherited two bunny rabbits. So we obviously had to deck out a nest for those bunny rabbits. So I think the weirdest one that we purchased online was a rabbit house or rabbit hutch which is a double story rabbit house for these two bunnies complete with a staircase, private sleeping quarters, jewel barn doors. It's just it was a real pimp my bunny house experience to kind of get this thing that we assembled and look at them and they're living in this lap of luxury now. So, yeah, can't say I've ever bought a rabbit hutch before, but definitely the weirdest one I can think of.

Nathan Bush: Some good dad points in that one.

Darren Kowalski: That's right.

Nathan Bush: Number two, which retailer has most inspired you recently?

Darren Kowalski: Look, I think it's quite obvious listening to the podcast Amazon. I think, you know, 30 years later, they're still moving the needle and, you know, the pace car for a lot of retailers still to play catch up. I think it's pretty incredible. You see a lot of retailers, you know, they, they come out swinging and then they lose their mojo and they fade into oblivion and sometimes don't stick around. Thirty years later, I think Amazon is still growing at pace and I think that's, that's pretty impressive. There's not other, not many other companies I can think of that do it how they do three decades later.

Nathan Bush: No doubt because you are playing in the delivery space, especially the same day and next day space. Do you see Amazon as an inspiration or a competitor?

Darren Kowalski: Very much an inspiration. I think for us, we're trying to democratize the Amazon offering as much as possible and make it accessible for every brand and retailer out there. I think we draw quite a bit of inspiration from them. You know, we've nuanced a lot of elements into that offering to make it our own flavor on top of the Amazon piece. But certainly we've been inspired quite heavily by what they're doing and we want to share that love with the retailers and brands out there.

Nathan Bush: There you go. All right. Nice. Number three, name a piece of tech that you or your business couldn't live without.

Darren Kowalski: Number one for me would be the smartphone. I think for me, it's an iPhone. You know, it's definitely the Swiss army knife of our generation. It can do a lot, a hell of a lot, both personally and professionally, I would say. If there's one piece of tech to choose out of the tech buffet, it would definitely be the smartphone for me.

Nathan Bush: Are you a big customizer of the phone in terms of like having different modes for different time of the day and stuff like that, or are you just like you're always on?

Darren Kowalski: No, look, I like to have the best selection of apps that suit me. And there's the personal apps, the professional apps, and that phone is the go to for both of those.

Nathan Bush: Beautiful. All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?

Darren Kowalski: One that I've discovered Recently was the Contrarians with Adam and Adir. So it's a very business focused podcast around startups, corporate Australia. They advocate that they give the hard facts, not the company line. So they're really challenging the status quo. But I find them quite a good chemistry. A bit of a dynamic duo between those two. They're often challenging the narrative but challenging each other. And it's quite a thought provoking lesson.

Nathan Bush: And they're both ultra experienced in their own right. Right. So they've, you know, they're coming from being founders, being CEOs of large corporation or large companies, but they're not short of an opinion.

Darren Kowalski: That's right. Very, very, very, very good. Listen, some episodes rarely make you laugh and some of them make you think a lot more than you thought you would. But yeah, it's a great podcast, very impressive, good stuff.

Nathan Bush: All right, last question I have for you, Darren. What is your biggest challenge today?

Darren Kowalski: I'd say finding the time to consume vast amounts of information needed to stay ahead. So to stay ahead in this game, you know, you need to be competitive, identify the emerging trends, market shifts, changing landscapes. I really make it a priority to kind of immerse myself in that, you know, be it books, podcasts, you name it. Overseas and locally. A lot of those publications require a lot of time daily. So it's just a case of working out with those, spotting patterns, spotting trends, decision making, innovation and where to apply those into, I guess, our own lives personally and professionally. You know, what's going on, what we're seeing and how we can kind of consume all of that in a timely manner.

Nathan Bush: Lovely. Just play us back on two times speed. That's. That's how you do it.

Darren Kowalski: That's it.

Nathan Bush: Darren, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.

Darren Kowalski: Thanks for having me. Thanks, Bushy.

[Ad]: Enjoyed hearing from Darren. Head back to our main episode where Darren is joined by Hawk from Starship it, where we unpack how last mile delivery can build customer loyalty. There's some brilliant exhibition examples around how a people first approach with high reliability and innovative solutions can really take your brand experience to the next level. Darren shares valuable insights into what it takes to turn delivery into a true loyalty builder. Thanks for listening and until next time,

Nathan Bush: keep adding to cartoon.