Zomato-backed Magicpin rides into Ola's territory with logistics platform for ONDC

Magicpin said that its growth in food delivery via ONDC has created the need for a reliable rider base.

Zomato-backed e-commerce startup Magicpin  has started a hyperlocal logistics platform called MagicFleet, which can be used by local fleet operators with as few as 10 riders to provide delivery services on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

This would make Magicpin the second large buyer-side app on ONDC, apart from Ola, to plug into the network as a logistics platform. The rider platform has gone live with 1,000 delivery executives and the goal is to increase the number to 10,000 by March next year.

To be sure, fleet operators like Ola and Rapido can also use MagicFleet to provide hyperlocal logistics services on ONDC.

In the last few months, hyperlocal on-network logistics has suddenly picked pace on ONDC, growing from 35,535 deliveries in April to 1.65 million in August. According to sources, Ola's logistics fleet joining the government-backed has had a major share in this surge.

Before that happened, orders on ONDC were delivered through off-network arrangements between sellers and logistics service providers.

Anshoo Sharma, CEO & co-founder of Magicpin, said, "We are now very excited to put this technology into the hands of local logistics entrepreneurs. magicFleet enables even a small franchisee with ten riders to seamlessly plug into demand from magicpin and ONDC."

"Our SaaS solution enables our partners to provide faster delivery times, branding opportunities, an improved customer experience, cost efficiency, valuable data insights, flexibility, and makes their fleets capable of providing features like surge pricing, cash on delivery, return to origin, first in first out and cross-category logistics. Under magicFleet, we aim to have 10,000 riders under our network by March 2025," he added.

The boom in quick commerce has made hyperlocal delivery vital for all retailers - large or small, online or offline. Magicpin said that its growth in food delivery via ONDC has created the need for a reliable rider base. Although the company works with prominent hyperlocal logistics providers like Ola, Rapido and Shadowfax, the consumer demand is growing faster than rider supply and multiple hyperlocal pockets across cities need more riders.

MagicFleet comes with a rider companion app which allows logistics franchises to onboard, manage, and pay riders while managing clients. By focusing on small localities and city-level expansion, it will enable hyper-localised services via franchise model, enhancing delivery efficiency and customer satisfaction in targeted areas.

This launch comes months after Magicpin had announced the launch of a platform called Velocity that acts as an aggregator of its 3PL partners such as Shadowfax, Dunzo, Rapido, Porter, Ola, Zypp, etc. At the time, the platform was registering an average of 5,000 orders per day and had plans to scale up to over 100,000 orders per day.

Over the past year-and-a-half, multiple new-age companies such as Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, Meesho, Magicpin and Shiprocket have taken to ONDC, aimed at breaking the stranglehold of a few players such as Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato and Swiggy on online retail in the country.

With ONDC, the government hopes to increase e-commerce penetration in the country to 25 percent in the next couple of years, reaching a gross merchandise value of $48 billion.

ONDC recorded a 5 percent month-on-month growth in transactions in August to 12.58 million, compared to a 21 percent surge in July, amid a tightening of cash incentives for mature segments like food and grocery by the government-backed interoperable network.

Out of the total, 4.74 million transactions were in the mobility category through Uber, Ola challenger Namma Yatri and the rest 7.84 million were in the non-mobility category, which included retail purchases made by consumers and on-network logistics transactions to deliver those orders.