Same-Day and Next-Day Deliveries To Boom This Festive Season

The way Indians shop online has been evolving constantly, and this festive season isn’t going to be different. Indians are expected to shop a lot more and will likely want deliveries quicker than ever. While earlier the demand for same-day or next-day deliveries were related to essentials, now this expectation also extends to non-essentials.

Shipyaari, a last-mile delivery service provider, expects to handle around 50-60% more volumes this season in the metro cities. “A fair bit of it will be processed by the same and the next day delivery. This offering is seeing exceptional demand from our merchants, and we are constantly adding it to our capabilities,” Nayaan Ratandhayara, the founder and CEO of Shipyaari told The Core.

Just a few years ago, the concept of next-day deliveries seemed unrealistic. However, there is a growing demand for the service and customers report that the availability for next-day delivery has boosted their likelihood of shopping online.

What began with Amazon’s same-day and two-day delivery has now become an industry standard.

Scaling New Heights

The year 2023 for the quick commerce industry was about public validation, where consumers in the metro cities demonstrated a strong demand for quick commerce service, while this year is said to be looking more at profitability.

For quick commerce platform Zepto, it will be a combination of organic and inorganic growth. Zepto also expects a massive increase in volumes. Anurag Doshi, zonal head (east-west) at Zepto said they were expecting 1.5x more volume.

“We will also see growth due to SKUs (stock keeping units), marketing and our expansion. This year we will be serving areas where we haven’t reached,” Doshi said.

In 2023, the Indian logistics market reached US $282.3 billion, according to IMARC, a leading market research company. The Indian logistics market is expected to reach US $557.4 billion by 2032, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 7.85% during 2024-2032.

To reach a broader audience, Zepto is now expanding its services beyond metro cities into tier 2 cities, aiming to make its service accessible to more pin codes.

“We are expanding in cities like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and a few in the South of India as well. We are anticipating that our stores will be doubled in the next three to four months,” said Doshi.

This won’t be easy, as bigger players like Reliance’s JioMart and Big Basket have a first mover advantage in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Quickshift, an e-commerce fulfilment centre and logistics solutions provider, handled about 1.5 million orders last year during the festive season and this time too the business looks positive for them as they are expecting more volumes to handle.

“We have grown since last year by almost 30 - 40%. So I would expect this time we would be handling 25-30% more volume than what it was last year. It looks like it will be a good season,” Prodipto Roy, co-founder at Quickshift, told The Core.

Ready To Roll

Festive orders begin to increase in August, around Ganesh Chaturthi and peak before Diwali. Heavy discounts and offers, and the season for gifting means volume goes up manifolds during this month. Quickshift has already started receiving intimations from clients on expected volumes.

“Our clients have intimated to us that they are expecting an increase in sales of nearly 2.5 to 3 times more volumes this year compared to last season. In line with the projection, they are preparing to ship inventories in advance,” Roy added.

To scale up operations, Quickshift is increasing the number of pickers and packers and planning for packaging materials to ensure timely deliveries. It also has an optimisation plan to ensure products are safe in the inventory and the festive load can be well managed.

“Let’s say a company sells different products (called SKUs) and at the fulfilment centre (FC), we store them in separate baskets on the shelves to identify the products easily. To create space for more volumes during the festive season, if some of the baskets only have a few items left, we can combine these products into one basket on the shelf. This process helps keep the FC organised and makes operations more efficient,” Roy said.

JB Singh, Director of MOVIN Express, a B2B logistics company, aims to enhance customer experience by offering real-time tracking, flexible delivery options and efficient customer services.

For better performance this year, MOVIN has implemented advanced tracking/tracing systems and optimised route planning to enhance delivery precision.

“Our strategy includes agile logistics planning to ensure timely responses to these demand shifts while maintaining service excellence. Continuous training for our team aims to elevate service excellence and client satisfaction,” Singh added.

What About Returns?

The pressure to deliver the products on time also poses challenges in reverse logistics. With quick commerce now delivering electronic items too, the question arises: how will the returns for these items be managed?

For Zepto, handling returns also depends on the agreement they have with brands.

“For some brands, we manage pickups directly. In cases where items are returned due to faults, we have agreements with vendors who are responsible for handling the return processes,” Doshi said.

With the volume of sales growing, it is likely that the volumes for returns will also grow. But during festive seasons returns may not be as quick as deliveries.

“Unfortunately returns do take slightly longer during the festive rush due to stretched bandwidth,” said Ratandhayara of Shipyaari.