SME Times | 18 Dec, 2018
In an exclusive interview with SME Times, Parinay Itkan, co-founder
of Shyplite, a logistics solution and automation platform
enabling retailers and e-retailers to efficiently manage their logistics by
providing a single window "shipping gateway" integrated with multiple carriers,
said the Indian logistics industry is highly fragmented with processes manual
in nature, leading to less operational efficiency for companies, particularly
MSMEs.
Parinay
Itkan added the government should take steps towards encouraging and incentivizing MSMEs to adopt digitization of their infrastructure.
Excerpts of the interviewâ¦
Kindly tell us about the entrepreneurial
journey of Shyplite.
Parinay Itkan: Shyplite, is a one stop logistics solution and
automation platform enabling retailers and e-retailers to efficiently manage
their logistics by providing a single window "shipping gateway" integrated with
multiple carriers.
Since its inception in November, 2015, the platform MVP
went live in June 2016 with a team of 6 people (Currently a 50-person team) and
started gaining traction very early with hitting 1,000 registrations in less
than 100 days & getting featured as One of the Top 10 most promising
logistics solutions providers 2017 in SiliconIndia magazine.
We are a bootstrapped startup, registering 50%
quarterly growth in terms of number of sellers and shipments processed, moving
shipments of value worth more than 50 crores in Diwali 2018 season alone
We are targeting to process 1 million
shipments a month by Diwali 2019.
Currently there are more than 15000 users on
the Shyplite platform.
What are the major services you offer? What is
your competitive edge?
Parinay Itkan: We offer centralized platform to manage and
centralize all courier and logistics related requirements ranging from
Documents to Bulk Movement of Goods (LTL) by Air and Surface modes Domestic and
Internationally.
We stand out in terms of our product and
services both from services that can be termed close to a competition. Being
sellers ourselves, our product is designed from the perspective of a seller. We
have received a lot of positive feedback about our platformâs easy and
intuitive usability. In terms of services, it is the simple single pricing we
offer, along with 10+ courier partners, automated carrier selection, automated
tracking, reverse logistics and operational support to our clients.
We are also shortly launching an automated
system based address verification and quality check feature which can have huge
impact on e-Commerce returns.
What according to you are the major challenges
the Indian logistics sector is facing at present?
Parinay Itkan: Logistics industry is highly fragmented and
processes are manual in nature. Currently most of MSMEs in the country work on
completely manual processes when it comes to handling of logistics which acts
as a hindrance to operational efficiency and scaling. It takes a lot of time of
the retailer to manually book, track and manage all these shipments with
multiple courier/logistic companies.
What steps/initiatives do you expect
government to take in order to address these challenges?
Parinay Itkan: Government is already moving towards
digitization of all processes, MSMEs should also be encouraged and incentivized
to adopt digitization of their infrastructure.
SME's are always concerned about the
increasing Logistic cost, how SMEs can bring this down? Can government play any
role in this regard?
Parinay Itkan: We think State has a major role to play in
cost of Logistics as Infrastructure (Roads and Highways, Rail, Ports, Cargo
Handling at Airports) plays a major role in the overall cost and reach of
Logistics, by enabling and supporting transporters (probably by increasing
their ease of doing business and avoiding unnecessary regulations) the state
can really contribute to development of Logistics in the country.
What is your view on the current Business
scenario for Indian SME's and what opportunities can take them ahead?
Parinay Itkan: We see the market moving increasingly towards
paid and choice (speed) based shipping, slower for free and a faster paid
shipping option.
Omni-channel commerce is also coming up in a
big way where customers can "touch and feel" items in store for an enhanced
consumer experience and get them delivered to their doorstep or order them
online and pick them up later at their convenience from the stores.
One major trend for 2019 will be the
drop-shipping model in e-commerce, which enables students and housewives to run
an e-commerce business without having to invest in inventory and it is totally
a logistics management play.
Please share your future plans with our
readers.
Parinay Itkan: Shyplite is next bringing automation to the
highly fragmented and unorganized offline and Omni-channel retail and B2B
logistics.
Shyplite is also Pilot Testing Next Day and
Same Day deliveries with our select customers and rigorously working towards
enabling it for all our customer.