Ecommerce players, logistics startups join hands to beat last-mile challenges

With easing of restrictions in the fourth phase of the lockdown, ecommerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart have resumed operations almost across the country but the last-mile is proving to be a challenge.

The morale of the delivery staff, containment zones, which are no-go areas that are continuously changing, and a shortage of agents are the three big issues to have cropped up over the last few days.

To resolve these problems and also to cater to the pent-up demand of a population staying in for close to two months now, ecommerce players and retailers are striking new partnerships and logistics startups are innovating.

Hyperlocal delivery players like Dunzo have joined hands with multiple retailers to deliver their products to customers directly. Shared mobility service providers, whose core business has been hit badly, are trying to utilise their fleet for doorstep deliveries.

Ride-sharing startup Rapido has tied up with Spencer’s, Big Bazaar, BigBasket for doorstep deliveries and is supporting government initiatives for delivering essentials in Karnataka and Delhi.

This is an extension of their delivery business they were operating for Eat.Fit, Myntra, Zomato and Swiggy. The company is also offering door-to-door parcel deliveries for customers so that they don’t have to step out during the lockdown.

“This also helped us support the livelihood and income of our captains (driver partners), especially those who are solely dependent on Rapido as their income source,” a Rapido spokesperson said.

Courier companies, too, have restarted service but are facing hurdles as infections continue to climb up across the country.

One positive case can affect the sentiments of the entire fleet, said Pranshu Kacholia, vice president at Clickpost, a logistics software startup.

While intercity deliveries require infrastructure and specialised capacities, for point-to-point drops within a city, a mode of transport with address and safety gear is enough. Hence, companies are pitching in with whatever resources they have to maintain business viability.

Shadowfax, a Bengaluru-based logistics startup, said they were doing deliveries across the country but their tech teams were working hard to live track the containment zones. It would enable the company to block deliveries in such locations.

“Ecommerce companies can block orders from vulnerable locations, also we will be able to enable blocking of delivery requests from  these locations from our business partners; thereby keeping our delivery staff as well as consumers safe while being compliant with government orders,” said Praharsh Chandra, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer of Shadowfax.

Containment zones are areas that have a high number of cases and where the movement of people and goods is restricted.

Companies are also relying on human intelligence to ensure their delivery partners do not end up in a containment zone.

There are websites such as covidhotspot.in run by MoveInSync that are tracking containment zones. The data is being made public and startups are using it to keep track of such areas in some the worst-hit cities.

Urban Company, which offers household services, said recently it had developed a geo-fencing technology to ensure the staff did not accept orders from containment zones and a resource residing in such zones was not allocated work.

Kacholia of Clickpost added that niche ecommerce players, who rely on third-party agents for a bulk of their orders, were looking for delivery partners to hedge their risks.

“Many niche ecommerce players in non-essentials category have not done any business during a large part of the lockdown. Now, they do not want their customers to have a bad delivery experience, hence they are now partnering with multiple delivery partners to ensure delivery,” he said.

While ecommerce companies have started taking orders, getting them delivered is not easy.

If they have warehouses in red zones then they can only work with a skeletal staff. While the easing of the lockdown is a good start, it will take some time for it to be business as usual.