SUMMARY
As the D2C ecosystem grows, brands are looking for ways to optimise their logistics costs to scale faster
Pickrr, a 3PL startup, plays the role of D2C enabler and offers end-to-end logistics solutions for ecommerce and D2C brands and is working with more than 50K businesses
Pickrr claims to reduce logistics costs for businesses by 20-30% on average through its tech-driven solutions
Inc42 Daily Brief
Stay Ahead With Daily News & Analysis on India’s Tech & Startup Economy
The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was considered a watershed for the Indian ecommerce sector for many reasons. As offline modes of trade shut down due to nationwide lockdowns, many traditional businesses went online — virtually overnight — as they needed a quick fix to survive and grow.
The steady growth of ecommerce also bolstered the faith of many sellers in the digital commerce model. According to Inc42’s D2C Report, 2021, the ecommerce market size increased from $24 Bn in FY17 to $84 Bn in FY21. It is expected to reach $200 Bn by FY26.
However, tapping into the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space for online growth comes with certain challenges, from building digital storefronts and enabling online payments to on-time product delivery, marketing and customer engagement.
Although ecommerce marketplaces resolve these issues to some extent, they also eat into a seller’s profit margins, making growth a slow process.
On the other hand, running a dedicated company website requires expertise, experience and valuable resources. Of course, social media can help with marketing or customer engagement. But the high-stakes logistics operations still perplexes sellers for all the right reasons.
There are too many variables at play, be it finding a fast and reliable courier partner, trimming shipping costs or handling multiple courier services for pan-India delivery. In short, much like the bigger supply chain, logistics would always remain a complex beast to tame.
Watch Pickrr’s Rhitiman Majumder, Cofounder And CEO, Talk About The SMB Landscape And Pickrr’s Role In Helping Businesses Get On A High Growth Trajectory.
This is where third-party logistics or 3PL companies come in, helping businesses streamline processes and offering end-to-end solutions for hassle-free order deliveries. Some of the major players in this space include Delhi-NCR-based Shiprocket, Pickrr and Ecom Express.
Set up in 2015 by Majumder (CEO), Gaurav Mangala (CTO) and Ankit Kaushik (COO), Pickrr offers AI-powered solutions to improve delivery efficiency and reduce operational costs for businesses.
Using an in-house recommendation engine, the 3PL company finds the most suitable courier partners based on the specific requirements of a business. It also analyses different regions for RTOs (returns to origin) and recommends businesses to turn off cash-on-delivery deals for certain pin codes with high rates of order failure.
“A small, two-week-old Kanpur-based brand partnered with Pickrr and saw the order volume grow to 1,500 per month from nothing, even without a website. The opportunity in the ecommerce space is abundant, and brands need to tap into that,” said Majumder.
Pickrr claims to reduce RTOs by 3-4% and logistics costs by 20-30% on average through its tech-driven offerings. The logistics company says it is currently working with more than 50K ecommerce sellers and delivering 3 Mn shipments per month.
Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.