SHIPROCKET

ABOUT SHIPROCKET:
Shiprocket, a product of BigFoot Retail Solution Pvt. Ltd., is one of India’s largest
tech-enabled logistics and fulfillment platforms that aims to democratise the
eCommerce landscape of the country. With tie-ups with multiple courier companies,
e-tailers can manage their orders and day-to-day operations, optimising shipping,
tracking, and much more from a single platform. Since Shiprocket’s inception in
2017, we have acquired over 150K happy clients and have grown more than tenfold
in the total number of monthly shipments. Innovative, easy and reliable, Shiprocket
has taken a step forward in simplifying eCommerce for Indian merchants and saving
their precious time and money. We help brands focus on their core business rather
than managing store orders and searching for reliable courier services. With
Shiprocket, hundreds of eCommerce merchants have built their brands and provided
a delightful customer experience to their users.
Shiprocket is an automated shipping solution for eCommerce. It lets businesses
choose from 17+ courier partners, print shipping labels, track orders from a single
panel, and process returns from an integrated dashboard. Apart from shipping
automation, Shiprocket offers negotiated freight rates with its shipping partners.
Businesses can choose from multiple delivery options, such as surface and air
modes, that can be integrated with various channels, websites, and marketplaces.
The company was formerly known as Kartrocket and rebranded in May 2019.
Shiprocket was founded in 2012 and is based in New Delhi, India.

Shiprocket, a shipping and logistics solutions provider, has gone live on the

government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and made its first
successful transaction on October 22.
Shiprocket said it is the first inter-city logistics provider to plug into the ONDC
network, enabling sellers from all segments to ship products to cities and towns
across India.
“We are really excited to partner with ONDC as the first inter-city logistics provider to
enable sellers from all segments to ship products to cities and towns across India.
With an increase in digitization in India, sellers from tier 2 & 3 cities are emerging
and they need logistics support, hence we are creating an inclusive and open-access
tech ecosystem for them to ease their business,” said Saahil Goel, co-founder of
Shiprocket.

Shiprocket, which serves more than 100,000 customers, will enable sellers from
24,000 pin codes to select delivery partners to ship products across India, through
both cash-on-delivery and pre-paid options.
“Our mission is to reach every independent retailer in the country and enable them
with state-of-the-art technology that can help them better manage their delivery and
customer experience and be able to compete on even keel with the larger platforms
that are out there. We are truly democratizing logistics by offering data-backed real-
time courier recommendations, software to manage operations end to end, same
day/next day delivery capabilities as well as warehousing capabilities across 45
locations pan India,” said Goel.

“ONDC’s mission is to enable an inclusive eCommerce ecosystem for all

of India where a business in a small village in a remote corner of India can have the
confidence and the opportunity to sell their products to customers anywhere in the
country. With Shiprocket and ONDC working in tandem, this is now a reality," said T
Koshy, chief executive officer of ONDC.

ONDC and Shiprocket are working to enable warehousing-as-a-service on the

network. This will allow small and medium businesses to provide same-day shipping
services to their customers.

FROM PIVOTS AND A NEAR SALE TO BECOMING A UNICORN: THE

SHIPROCKET STORY
Shiprocket's journey began in 2012 as Bigfoot retail solutions, as an ecommerce
marketplace like Shopify. It later pivoted based on demand to a logistics tech
platform that wants to provide an Amazon Prime like experience for direct to
consumer brands in India. It uses a data engine that recommends courier service for
a business and chooses a courier company, prints shipping labels, and tracks orders
from a single panel. With over 17 courier partners on board, the company enables
pan-India as well as international shipping deliveries. Its shipping solutions are
available across more than 29,000 pin codes in India and 220 destinations
worldwide. Shiprocket, which counts Zomato as a strategic investor, became a
unicorn earlier this month when it issued shares to existing investors at a valuation of
$1.2 Billion. On this episode, the founders of Shiprocket sooke about - Its tale of
pivots before it found a compelling product market fit - Raising funds amid a funding
winter - Life after unicorn - Global ambitions.
SHIPROCKET’S ORIGINS: DEEP MARKET KNOWLEDGE AND
EXPERIMENTATION
In 2012, Saahil Goel and Gautam Kapoor (later joined by co-founders Vishesh
Khurana and Akshay Ghulatis) created Kartrocket to build e-commerce storefronts
and checkout experiences. They drew inspiration from Shopify and its related
success in the US, allowing merchants to build customized web stores. The initial
premise was that India needed a platform that could support direct sellers outside of
Amazon, and that they had identified the missing infrastructure needed to catalyze
widespread growth. 

As they began operating, it was apparent that trust between merchants and
consumers in Indian e-commerce was low, and crucially, payments and delivery
reliability was abysmal. Kartrocket adoption was mixed, and in the intervening years
as Saahil and Gautam continued experimenting, a few idiosyncrasies emerged in
India.

 Proliferation of cheap smartphones and practically free mobile data 

 Whatsapp and Facebook Groups emerged as places for small merchants
to sell goods

Then there was a clue: medium and large merchants would buy Kartrocket just for
the purposes of integrating with Magento or Shopify which offered ~$10 shipping.
Why buy storefront and checkout integrations just for the shipping?
This led them to the realization that the Indian E-commerce Transaction (the
confluence of successfully checking out, completing fulfillment, and shipping the
package) was failing – not the storefront. “Return to Origin” rates, when a delivery
fails such as if the consumer rejects it or because the destination was not found,
were, and still are, a staggering 20-25%.

They gave a team of 5 engineers and 1 product manager 6 months to explore, and
they quickly saw the opportunity was immense. They launched Shiprocket in 2017,
and in early 2018 they made the core web shop free, and monetized transactions
instead. 

Shiprocket’s goal is to make shipping and logistics for merchants so simple that it
could be available to every merchant, no matter their size or sophistication. Over the
18 months from April 2018 to October 2019, the new Shiprocket product rapidly
dominated their business. Their business model: charge the merchant more than the
courier charges Shiprocket when a package is shipped. Why could they exert this
pricing power? Because without their vertically integrated approach, the transactions
they were facilitating would have never happened.

Put in context, Kartrocket grew at a decent rate of 2x year over year since inception,
but during this 18-month period, the new Shiprocket courier aggregator product grew
10x in volume, processing 1.5 million shipments a month by October 2019. Today,
this divergence continues to persist through successive orders of magnitude, and
has reached over 10 million shipments a month.

7 Challenges In Last-Mile Delivery

Rising Costs
Last-mile is the final step of the delivery process. However, it is the most expensive
for both the end consumer and the business. Not only this but integrating new
infrastructure to manage the overload of demand also adds to the cost. Also, many
hidden expenses arise during delivery, such as delays and order cancellations. 

Unfortunately, you cannot pass on these costs to the consumer. Customers can
abandon carts when they see any added expenses they didn’t expect. Therefore, the
best option is to absorb and minimise these costs elsewhere. 

Delays
Late deliveries and failure to meet delivery deadlines can be extremely expensive for
a business. In global shipping, delays are simpler to foresee. However, it is costly to
cancel orders. So, the best is to plan the delivery routes carefully and avoid delivery
delays and keep your customers satisfied.

In some cases, late deliveries can lead to cancelled orders, and if you can anticipate
order cancellations beforehand, then it is best to cancel orders on the go. This can
save your time and energy from undergoing a complicated returns process.
However, you will have to deal with the high expectations of the customer and late
delivery penalties. 

Unpredicted Issues
Always keep a buffer for things to go wrong and have an unexpected tolerance for
things that go wrong. Depending on the industry, we should set aside a financial
reserve of around 5% to 15% of the total amount in case of any unforeseen
expenditure. 

It is also paramount to have a contingency fund in place. You should have the funds
to deal with any unforeseen complications. The amount can depend on the
difficulties you have previously dealt with.

Real-Time Visibility
Lack of visibility is one of the biggest challenges in last-mile delivery. Fortunately, it
is also one of the easiest issues to solve.

You can implement visibility tools that allow real-time communication with the
delivery executives. Customers will also appreciate the ability to track their
shipments in real-time instead of relying on tracking codes that don’t update timely.

Inefficient Routes
Optimizing delivery routes is one of the best ways to reduce your operating costs for
last-mile delivery. This has a higher chance of increasing customer satisfaction and
making on-time deliveries. 
Outdated Technology
Many modern-day businesses still use obsolete delivery and supply chain
technologies. Even when businesses implement modernisation, for some reason,
last-mile delivery is often overlooked. The changes that are done are mostly for
warehouse upgradation or global transportation.

However, even small last-mile delivery changes can present excellent results.
Optimising your deliveries is an art, and there are many tools that’ll help you manage
that. On a broader scale, using GPS devices and tracking softwares can help you
manage and increase the visibility of real-time deliveries. 

Reverse Logistics
In case you have no clue what we are talking about, reverse logistics refers to when
a customer returns your goods, and you bring them back to your warehouse or
manufacturing facility. Your brand will also need a return shipping system for efficient
product returns. 

Reverse logistics doesn’t only benefit the customer but also builds trust with the
consumer and increases the chances of repeat purchases.