Posted inPeopleSectors

Breaking the glass ceiling in logistics sector

In conversation with Zaiba Sarang Co-founder, iThink Logistics

Zaiba Sarang Co-founder, iThink Logistics.

iThink Logistics is an end-to-end AI-enabled multiple courier aggregator shipping platform services to 26,000+ pin codes in India. The company’s cutting-edge online portal can be linked with marketplaces or online stores through APIs (for importing orders) and has a built-in channel that connects with multiple renowned courier partners. Clients can also book parcel shipping services and print labels using the service. The technology provides real-time shipment tracking updates. The most notable features that iThink Logistics provides are: Patented 6-step NDR, an insightful dashboard, and a dedicated key account manager. manager.

The Mumbai-based company was conceived by industrious individuals with a far-sighted vision for the Indian e-commerce market and logistics ecosystem. In conversation with Zaiba Sarang Co-founder, iThink Logistics.

About iThink & idea of establishing the brand
Vipul and Zaiba, Co-Founders of iThink, were interested in tech product development from the beginning of their college days. Their commitment helped them to develop Depasser Infotech, where they serviced large brands. During this phase, they worked closely with e-commerce enterprises and observed their issues. COD orders in this sector often brought high return ratios, indicating logistical inefficiencies. Zaiba’s friends and fellow co-founders, Paresh and Nikul, joined the team with their logistics background. They were able to marry technology and logistics to build iThink Logistics. Today, they are the only logistics aggregation company to possess a patented technology to help logistics companies reduce return ratios.

USP of the brand

  • Reducing RTO with Our 6 steps Patented NDR. (This feature will reduce their returns and avoid fake comments from couriers. Our focus is to increase the delivery rate of shipment)
  • Dedicated account manager (They need to contact only one POC to solve any courier issues. Which they won’t get while working with a direct courier)
  • Early COD remittance (we offer 1 day,2 days,3 days)
  • Your own branded tracking page (white label)
  • Real-Time Notification ((SMS, Email, WhatsApp)
  • User-friendly and Insightful dashboard (With Insightful Pincode analysis: We help them to focus on which demographic to work on more and which locations are performing poor for them. Where is good customer acceptance and where it is not.)

Expansion plans & Business Model
With the aid of technology, we are connecting all regional partners and city specialty courier partners by providing them with a platform via which they can offer their services to consumers (e-commerce sellers) that they previously could not accomplish. This will help ecommerce to strengthen their shipping. Ecom seller can deliver their products to pan India smoothly. We are also launching a new tool to revolutionize the order confirmation process. It will be completely automated through WhatsApp, and we will help you predict the RTO before your order is even shipped. Additionally, you can convert your COD order into a prepaid order.

What are the challenges and opportunities you visualize in the near future?
All the brands would want to have same-day or maybe a few-hour delivery. They would like to have complete visibility over their shipments and want more control over every delivery opportunity. Every brand is committing to a “greener movement”. Hence, they would want to partner with logistics companies that are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. E-commerce sellers are increasing in the Indian market, and we expect the demand in the logistics industry to increase as well. The present difficulties are due to increased prices of fuel, which in turn lead to a rise in the cost of shipping. The potential is in the regional warehousing and fulfillment segment, which gives good value for money by lowering shipping costs and simultaneously speeding up the process.

Women are breaking the glass ceiling. However, can the service industry make room for more leaders on the top?
Zaiba, being a strong advocate for women empowerment, wants more women to be a part of the logistics ecosystem. She also wishes to see more females lead in the service industry. She has already started an initiative internally in iThink Logistics in which she is training and developing women internally to lead different departments within the organization.

Is there a message you wish to share with the industry?
As a female entrepreneur, Zaiba feels that both genders have equal possibilities in supply chain management. Nevertheless, according to the statistics, only 10 percent of the most senior supply chain management positions are held by women, which is very low. Her message to the industry leaders is that more and more women should be encouraged, emerge as leaders, and contribute significantly to logistics.

What, according to you, will be the primary business game-changer for the next five years in specialization
Darkstore will be a primary game changer in the next five years in India. My projection is that within the next five years, supply chain management will go through a substantial shift that will alter how shipping and logistics are handled. In the years to come, businesses that have not even begun to prepare for digitalization will not be able to compete in their respective industries. Companies are becoming more innovative to suit customers’ ever-changing demands. We can only begin to comprehend the extent to which shipping and fulfillment procedures will be simplified by technological advancements in the supply chain over the next several years. Within the last five years, customers have come to anticipate receiving their e-commerce orders the next day, or the same day at the very least. The technology we begin to deploy now will determine customers’ expectations for the next five years, whatever those expectations may be. In addition, robotics, automation, and drones will all play significant roles in the future decade. The length and the amount of manual handling will be cut down, resulting in significant cost and time savings for the company. This will ultimately result in improved supply chain management.

As a provider of SAAS-based end-to-end supply chain solutions, Thoughts on iThink Logistics and why it stands out amongst others.
Everything we do in logistics is based on data science and technology. In our sense, ITL uniquely combines data insight and customer success innovations together to produce length and breadth of logistics performance that the brand has never had never access to before. It’s clear to us that the future of logistics is still with the “logistics – Ecommerce player” relationship at the center of It. We just want to enhance that. We don’t see that ITL replaces logistics partners. We are here to make that relationship more enhanced and in the future, logistics will have better methods to handle and the seller will be much more empowered.

Technology-enabled supply chain as a core differentiator to drive efficiency in your sector.
Today technology has made each truck into a driving Internet of Things. The company are covering an array of intelligent sensors that constantly interact with a real-time, responsive logistics network. For example, “smart” tires alert drivers to tire pressure, vertical load, and temperature problems. Trucking and fleet companies can use the data to measure when repairs might be needed, retain their production and delivery records, and lower drivers’ downtime.

Some of the most trailblazing logistics solutions tailored to fabricate a frictionless future in the e-commerce industry have developed tech-enabled NDR tools. These tools smoothen the NDR process with on-the-go communication with buyers through whatsapp, sms, and IVR. The novel NDR 6-step action plan is a hallmark of some advanced offerings by some logistics aggregators to their clients, and just a select few have patented it. The pioneering process will reduce customers’ returns and avoid fake comments from couriers. The focus is to increase the delivery rate of shipments.

These are just a few instances where technology is being utilized to make the supply chain network more Efficient & Smarter & Simple for the coming times.