It is very important to understand a transporter’s mindset and give them the autonomy that they desire. SmartShift, a technology-enabled marketplace for intra-city logistics enables cargo owners to find the right transporters based on the shipment size, weight, and other requirements. With an aggressive expansion plan in more than 10 cities in FY17, SmartShift is growing its geographical footprint. We speak to the CEO of SmartShift, Kausalya Nandakumar on the way forward.
SmartShift by Mahindra, an on-demand logistics provider, is the first digital mobility startup incubated under the USD 17.8 billion Mahindra Group. It specialises in providing small commercial vehicles for intra-city first and last-mile requirements.
The logistics startup is aggressively expanding its geographical footprint with more than 10 cities being added in FY17. “We aim to innovate on a regular basis to create a sustainable, relevant technology that impacts nearly 1 million stakeholders in the next three years. We are going to expand in a big way in the mini-metros - Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and many more. The transport system is quite scattered here, hence, there is a demand for the SMEs and we have the solution,” says Nandakumar who also feels that “Surat is not a large market but there are a genuine need and interest in the logistics space. The only challenge that can hinder growth is digital adoption as our startup is app based. But we see huge opportunity, growth and commitment in the execution plan.”
With its reverse auctioning technology platform and real-time ability to track vehicles, SmartShift aims to make daily logistics requirements of SMEs at least 30% more efficient. “For the transporter partners, the first-in-industry feature phone integration, efficient pricing through return trips and focus on community building helps it in disrupting the highly inefficient incumbent ecosystem,” says Nandakumar who currently offers services in more than 900 pin codes in 3 cities.
But how did the idea conceive? In October 2015, Kausalya along with a small band of fellow intrapreneurs came together to work on understanding the ecosystem of small commercial vehicles and SMEs who use these vehicles for their cargo transport. It took about 2000+ hours of customer insight and mapping of several industry supply chains to build SmartShift.
The focus customer base is rapidly burgeoning, close to 50 million plus Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India. SmartShift is building a strong culture of customer centricity that aims to free cargo owners from the daily hassles of logistics, enabling them to focus solely on growing their business.
On SmartShift, they decide their working hours, the right price for the cargo movement and may also decline the job if it does not suit their current conditions.
“Clocking over 50% growth month-on-month, today we have impacted lives of more than 12,000 stakeholders, emerging as leaders in our segment in both the cities of operations and growing by the day,” she says. The company has diversified and partnered with over 25 corporate clients including FMCG companies, e-commerce clients and logistics companies for their last-mile logistics requirements.
As per the funding, “We are sufficiently funded till Series A and are currently looking to build partnerships with investors who are interested in the logistics-tech space and can collaborate with us on our journey of redefining the cargo movement,” concludes Nandakumar.
BW Reporters
Vaishali Dar is a Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld and Editorial Head with BW Disrupt. She writes on corporates, start-ups, hospitality and travel
