Ecommerce Push: BigBasket Unveils SaaS Platform To Help New Players Enter Digital Market

Tata-owned ecommerce major BigBasket has rolled out a SaaS based supply chain platform BB Matrix to bolster its deliveries across verticals and help businesses enter the ecommerce fray. 

The company, which has been in the digital marketplace for about 13 years, said that the logistics platform will potentially help businesses better manage their entire supply chain for deliveries.

The ecommerce major’s CPTO Rakshit Daga, who will also be leading the platform’s operations, asserted that the venture will offer businesses’ supply chain solutions that can help them curtail costs associated with deliveries as well as increase their productivity. 

“Over the past two years, we have meticulously productised every aspect of the supply chain in ecommerce, including warehouse management, transportation from inter-warehouse to last-mile consumer deliveries, and comprehensive order management on our platform,” he told Inc42. 

Speaking about BigBasket, which has been piloting the tech over the past one and a half years, Daga claims that the SaaS solution has reduced the company’s transportation costs by nearly 50%, lowered the lead time by around 60%, and ensured visibility across the supply chain. 

It is pertinent to note that BigBasket operates as an online grocery store, making deliveries in three modes: one day delivery BBDaily, quick commerce vertical BBNow, and Slotted Delivery. 

The company said that the platform has helped it achieve a close to 99.1% on-time delivery record. Further, Daga claims that BigBasket currently receives 500K orders on a daily basis. 

During its pilot phase, he observed that the introduction of the platform has helped it bolster its quick commerce vertical in specific. 

The Tata-backed company entered the quick commerce fray back in 2022 with the launch of BBNow. He sees it to further help it scale the vertical as it expands its BBNow dark stores across the country. “With BB Matrix, we’ve developed capabilities for rapid order picking and distribution. When we commit to delivering in 10 minutes, there’s zero tolerance for logistics delays. These operations span across India, emphasising the criticality of time. It operates seamlessly at large scale. As BBNow expands with more warehouses, I’m highly optimistic about the scalability of our architecture.”

The platform consists of the company’s Warehouse Management System (WMS), Transport Management System (TMS), and Order Management System (OMS). 

Under the platform, the company is targeting enterprises across different sectors that go beyond retail and e-commerce, like manufacturing, automobiles, aviation, consumer goods, etc., as potential customers. As for pricing for the platform, Daga said that that will be dependent on the customer’s operation size, order volumes and number of warehouses. 

BigBasket’s B2B entity Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Limited reported a net loss of INR 1,785.4 Cr, up over 71% year-on-year (YoY) from the INR 1,040.6 Cr loss it incurred in FY22. Its B2C arm, Innovative Retail Concepts, reported a net loss of INR 1,535.2 Cr in the financial year 2022-23, up 89% year-on-year (YoY) from the INR 812.7 Cr loss it incurred in the fiscal prior.

However, BigBasket is not the first company to offer a SaaS logistics platform for external businesses. Earlier this year, Meesho also launched tech platform Valmo to fill the gaps in the supply chain network in the country by enabling micro entrepreneurs to deliver orders.

Flipkart’s logistics arm eKart also offers a similar service to small, medium and large (SMB) businesses and brands across India. Moreover, Amazon invested an additional INR 400 Cr in its Indian logistics arm Amazon Transportation Services last year. With it, the company planned to deliver non-Amazon orders with a new vertical called Amazon Shipping.