Indian start-up Smartbox, headquartered in New Delhi, has launched the country’s first network of automated parcel delivery terminals for online shoppers while solving “last-mile delivery challenges for e-commerce companies”.
“Last mile delivery is one of the most critical challenges for e-commerce companies due to high costs incurred. Also, 4-5% of online orders result into returns caused by logistics failure at the final delivery location. You can now solve these challenges for your e-commerce business by partnering with Smartbox,” the company said on its website.
In the preliminary phase, Smartbox has installed 12 terminals at primary metro stations and business centres in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). It encompasses the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi including New Delhi and urban areas surrounding it in neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
By the end of this year, the company plans to expand its parcel terminal network to 1,000 locations in eight top major cities in India.
Smartbox uses state-of-the-art technology including a cloud-based system that is robust and scalable and integrates easily and quickly with e-commerce portals.
“Today’s busy online shoppers are either unavailable at home or busy at the office which results in delayed delivery, delivery reattempts, or just unwanted courier coordination for an already short-on-time consumers. Now, these shoppers can choose a Smartbox terminal near their office or home as a delivery option at the time of checkout while shopping at our partner e-shops. When the parcel arrives, consumers will receive an OTP that can be used at Smartbox terminal to pick-up the parcels at a time convenient to them.” Smartbox said.
Amit Sawhney, the founder of Smartbox Ecommerce Solutions Pvt. Ltd., commented: “We are getting an overwhelmingly positive response from most e-commerce companies and are in advanced discussions to partner with several leading e-shops. Our mission is to create a large network of terminals at various convenient locations across the country to help everyone in the e-commerce eco system.”
