India Intra-City Logistics Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Key Highlights

• The Indian intra-city logistics market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 5.3% during the forecast period. Further, the last-mile delivery sector in India is on an upward trend. Despite the country being under lockdown for the previous year, with only critical deliveries permitted, e-commerce shipments increased from 814 million in 2018 to 1.36 billion in 2020. It is estimated that intra-city logistics accounts for approximately 15-20% of the road transport industry.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the widespread adoption of online services. Notably, small and medium firms, which form the backbone of the Indian economy, continue to have a minimal online presence.
• It is believed that just 20% of small firms presently offer online services, leaving a largely untapped market and limitless opportunities for the logistics sector to flourish. Intra-city logistics providers are becoming critical for these small and medium-sized firms to cater to their customers' demands.
• Intra-city logistics providers typically deal with rapid and on-demand delivery requirements and are highly dedicated to assuring same-day deliveries. As a result, the entire chain of operations is subject to demand variability.
• Orders may suddenly rise from one city area, necessitating swift identification and connection with an available delivery person. Innovative technology is the foundation of a system that efficiently meets demand and supply needs to provide flawless function, resource optimization, and positive unit economics.

India Intra-city Logistics Market Trends

Growing Demand for Intra-city Logistics from Tier-2 and Tier- 3 Cities

E-commerce volume growth in India's tier-2 and tier-3 cities surpasses in tier-1 cities. Further, smaller Indian cities now account for more e-commerce sales. The volume share of these smaller cities in India's e-commerce sector climbed to 48% in Q4 FY21, up from 41% in Q4 FY19. Furthermore, online spending per customer in tier-2 and tier-3 cities has increased, with these cities accounting for 46% of e-commerce sales value in Q4 2021, with a Y-o-Y growth from 28%.

During the festival season, all major e-commerce brands saw a considerable increase in new clients from these cities. During its month-long festival sale in 2021, global e-commerce giant Amazon witnessed 79% of recent buyers from towns such as tier-2 and tier-3 cities, such as Ernakulam, Guntur, Krishna, Godavari, and others.

During its month-long festival sale in 2021, value e-commerce company Snapdeal reported a 93% increase in demand from tier-3 cities compared to 2020. The company also added that tier-3 towns accounted for 58% of all orders, while tier-2 and tier-1 cities accounted for 15% and 27% of all charges.

Growing e-commerce demand in tier-2 and tier-3 markets has increased income for intra-city logistic startups like LetsTransport and Cogos, who provide logistic fleets (trucks and three-wheelers, among others) to companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, and BigBasket.

LetsTransport said that an increase in delivery to tier-2 and tier-3 markets contributed significantly to the company's growth. In 2021, the company's revenue increased by more than two to four times, with tier-2 and tier-3 markets accounting for 55% of this growth. The companies are capturing this opportunity to expand their services in the country.

Demand From D2C Companies Driving Intra-city Logistics

The D2C model is becoming so popular in India that MamaEarth took only four years to generate an income of INR 100 crore (USD 13.9 Million), whereas globally recognized beauty firms have previously required 20 years.

Companies such as Sugar and MamaEarth benefited greatly from the digital D2C model, which resulted in the exponential growth of this industry. Additionally, established FMCG brands such as Himalaya, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, and others are experiencing severe competition from D2C businesses, such as MamaEarth, Pee Safe, Moms Co., and others.

The holiday season is the most profitable time for small, medium, and large merchants to generate sales and the need to meet growing demand becomes more pressing. As demand patterns are good and sellers are aware of the items that are certain to see increased customer demand, i.e., seasonal inventory, they concentrate their efforts primarily on segregating inventory for easy order pickup and delivery.

Small D2C sellers may lack the resources to manage end-to-end operations on their own, so they turn to third-party logistics and fulfillment companies for effective order administration, streamlined operations, and flawless last-mile delivery. "Last mile," as the name suggests, refers to the final stage of delivery and continues to remain a challenge. This is where efficient intra-city logistics and last-mile delivery services are gaining prominence.

Owing to the widespread popularity of online shopping, 3PL aggregators in India have come a long way. The majority of these firms provide full-service logistics solutions, such as inventory management, warehousing, shipping, and last-mile delivery.

Businesses like Shiprocket, Shipway, Pickrr, and others, often known as D2C enablers, have assisted hundreds of firms in streamlining these procedures to scale up quickly. The growing D2C sector is creating more opportunities within the intra-city logistics sector in line with changing customer preferences for shopping and delivery.

India Intra-city Logistics Market Competitor Analysis

The market is relatively competitive, with many local players, including FM Logistic India, Lets Transport, Shadowfax, Cogos Technologies, and Ecom Express. The industry has seen many investments in recent times. For instance, in April 2021, third-party logistics service provider FM Logistic India deployed its first batch of electric vehicles (EVs) in Bengaluru for intra-city last-mile delivery. The EVs will be used to carry out intra-city deliveries for WayCool, an Indian agri-commerce company, thus, driving social impact while transforming the food economy.

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