To ease the supply chain challenges and remove all kind of barriers it became essential to find solutions and fix issues related to supply chain. The pandemic created further disruptions, delays and created threat for companies and their competitive positions, growth and many businesses understood they could no longer meet customer expectations.
To eliminate all the problems like delays, compliance issues, surprise penalties and shocks out of cross border shipping faced by businesses and their customers’, Shypmax was launched in 2021, an AI powered logistics platform.
The aim was to be one of the largest domestic multi-carrier aggregation platforms, with the use of machine learning (ML) Shypmax emerged as one of the rusted platform to provide end-to end tracking, predictive choices of carrier as per category and geography. This also extends to automated compliances, easing out complex documentation processes that delay operations for many MSME’s and other organizations.
SMEVenture spoke to Nisschal Jaain, Founder and CEO, Shypmax, India’s first and only cross border LPaas(Logistic platform as a service) who affirmed that we developed our brand, products, and services around one thing: to address issues encountered by thousands of Indian companies and sellers who wanted to grow their operations internationally but faced significant difficulties due to high prices and complicated cross-border shipping.
Shypmax is also one of the first IOSS ready services in India, with focus on compliance for new regulations in the European Union (EU).
Gargi Chakravorty (GC): How did the idea strike you just as we were about to exit the pandemic scenario where we understood how important it is to have a smooth supply chain in place.
Nisschal Jain (NJ): It has been a good time for e-commerce enablers and for the sector as a whole, e-commerce growth has been benefiting the space by accelerating its digital transformation. The pandemic was a disruptor; it also had a positive impact on various businesses involved in the distribution and storage of goods.
There are many shortcomings in the way the current supply-chain sector operates. The paperwork is still extensive, and last-mile connectivity needs to be amped up to meet the international standard, especially for MSMEs because they usually run on a very tight operational budget. Any increase in logistics costs eats directly into their profit margin.
Identification of such pain points and limitations, coupled with the conducive schemes and the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India and Export” push, led to the establishment of Shypmax.
While Shypmax was one of the largest domestic multi-carrier aggregation platforms, our efforts to provide the same service to our customers for their international orders yielded little over the past two-and-a-half years.
It was during the COVID lockdown that we took the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and understand why we could not achieve the same result. This led us to identify the multiple problems an Indian exporter or importer faced, which led to the conceptualization of Shypmax.
(GC): Addressing cross border shipping is what Shypmax aimed for. How far have you been successful? If you can give some use cases examples.
(NJ): We have established physical presence in over 50 Indian cities for doorstep collection and delivery; globally, we have stitched our supply chain in over 10 markets, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the USA, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the GCC region, while we cover rest of the world through international partnerships.
We are looking at turning westward to increase our on-the-ground operations in strategic markets. We are on target to reach an annual run rate of $100 million next fiscal year since our present revenue is increasing by 30–40% per month. Customers have come to us naturally and in large numbers because of word-of-mouth advertising.
Over the past 8 months, we developed a captive pickup and delivery network in 50 cities. Numerous other innovations are in progress. Within the next one to 3 years, we want to establish a global footprint and become the industry’s preferred cross-border carrier.
(GC): How does Shypmax plan to empower SME’s and D2C enabling them to have a greater reach in global markets?
(NJ): For D2C brands and MSMEs, we assume responsibility over all elements in the entire door-to-door supply chain. It includes shipping services, express shipping services, high-value jewellery shipping services, and origin and destination fulfilment without shocks or surprises for the shipper or the receiver.
Many businesses have improved their cart conversion rate because of our feature-rich platform’s global reach. We participate in the transaction during the end customer’s decision-making process and not just as a post-purchase partner by giving their consumers a better checkout and fulfilment experience.
With quick on boarding, API (application programme interface) integrations, shopping cart plug-ins enabling manual, bulk, and automated order import, and booking with best-in-class door-to-door track and trace, we simplify the customer and seller experience, thus enabling them to have a superior reach in global markets.
(GC): What kind of solutions have you implemented in this shipping platform and what are some of the key features of Shypmax?
(NJ): Our one-stop shipping solution for B2B/B2C/C2C (Business-to-Business / Business-to-Consumer/Customer-to-Customer) brands aims to eliminate all the inconveniences associated with cross-border shipping for businesses, including delays, compliance issues, fines, etc by facilitating businesses and individuals to execute cross-border shipments with premium services like international and domestic express delivery, freight forwarding, and customs clearance at competitive pricing.
We offer shipping services for B2B, B2C, and C2C (Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer, and Customer-to-Customer) shipments that start or end in India with contemporary products and premium services like international and domestic express delivery, freight forwarding, and customs clearance.
(GC): If you can mention about the challenges faced initially while launching?
(NJ): We see ourselves competing with the likes of FedEx, Delhivery, DHL-Bluedart, UPS, and ARAMEX, as they are our primary competitors in the logistics space. We are competing with the market leaders of sorts. However, in the Indian logistics space, our competitors stand to be the global players only because we happen to be India’s first LPaaS, and with each passing day, we are trying to make our services more efficient and smooth.
Our bouquet of services includes regular and premium shipping services for individuals and businesses. We can ship anything from a 5-gram jewellery to a 5 tonne consignment in a cost-efficient way. That is something that is not very common in the current logistics market.
Fortunately, as entrepreneurs, owing to our diverse and rich background in global supply chain we were able to overcome common and major challenges while initially launching Shypmax.
The blueprint for Shypmax was already there in our minds while we conceptualized and launched Shypmax. Hence, it was just a step-up to a larger scale of business.
(GC): What changes do you plan to introduce in Shypmax considering the upgradation in technology happening every year and investments you are aiming for future growth.
(NJ): Some changes will involve investing in better tracking and monitoring systems to improve the visibility of shipments, adopting new technologies like drones or autonomous vehicles to streamline operations and also investing in data analytics tools to better understand our customers’ needs and optimizing the supply chain further.
Shypmax recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) exporters in India showcasing their products on Indian Business Portal.
Our expansion strategy calls for establishing a footprint in 100 locations by the end 2023 said Jain.