Socio economic upward mobility pushing demand for delivery services in Delhi NCR

Author: Priya Seoni

This article studies the Indian upward mobility and its impact on the delivery services in Delhi. This article studies how the growing Indian population is going up and down the economic ladder and the result of the growing upward mobility on the need for more advanced hyper locals.

Let me share some of the findings from the Global wealth report 2019 that shall help us understand how the economy is growing.

1. In the past decade, China and the United States of America might have been the highest contributor in global wealth creation but the emerging markets like India have also shown steady growth and will continue to do so in the next five years.

Here’s a snapshot of the state of wealth of the world nations

United States – Growth amid worries

China – Stalled growth

India – Still growing

Russia – Changing fortunes

Germany – Holding pattern

United Kingdom – On the brink?

Switzerland – View from the top

Singapore – Renewed growth

52 Japan – Keeping calm

South Korea – Carrying on

Indonesia – Renewed growth

South Africa – Little movement

Brazil – South American giant

Chile – Latin American wealth leader

Canada – Paused growth

Australia – Still resilient

  1. The household debt has increased at a double-digit rate in China and India.
  2. India at 5.2% grew at the fastest rate.
  3. India was one of the nation’s experiencing a robust housing market.
  4. The regional distribution of wealth is higher in India. India has a huge population that is further growing and also high wealth inequalities mean there is a significant number of citizens who fall under the top wealth owners.

The impact of income inequalities can affect economic mobility; therefore, it’s essential that steps are taken to deal with the same. While this represents a challenge to the Indian government what else is critical is to meet the needs of the ones that have already taken a step upwards on the economic ladder.

As per McKinsey’s report "India’s urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth", by 2030 India’s growing urban population 590 million people by 2030. With the increase in the working-age population (270 million people by 2030) India will see a change in terms of difficulty to find time to travel and complete tasks that are of personal need basis. Also, the younger generation wants quick and convenient solutions to things at the tap of a button. Similar is their expectation from the professional courier service.

With a mobility handicap on the increase in Delhi NCR, many are not able to take time out to do their chores. The reason is that either single individuals are staying away from family or can be a couple living together and both are working or siblings living together without family or couple with young kids and both are working. All of these face the challenge of doing their chores like buying groceries or getting clothes picked from the dry cleaners or going out to eat food. Why it becomes so difficult is because as more and more people move to tier 2 cities looking for opportunities to move up the economic ladder the slow pace of infrastructure makes it difficult for them to move with ease to run the errands. With limited time and immense responsibilities and no one to share the workload parcel service in Delhi has taken up the responsibility to get things done sitting at home.

Hyper locals make life simpler for people. People get courier pickup from home so that you do not have to spend hours on road to get things delivered or picked. Let’s further analyse the role of hyper locals:

  1. Online courier service – The hyper locals' most critical role is to provide a platform that helps them use courier service on their phones. With India going digital no one wants to walk to a courier office to book requests or check status updates. Apps like Pidge provides LIVE order tracking for delivery orders.
  2. Book courier online – The hyper locals are tech-based. Just like any eCommerce website hyper locals also have apps that help you maintain addresses, check previous orders and place new orders. The user can select locations and enter addresses to make the courier pick up and also enter the delivery address. The prices are reflected as per the location selected just like any cab booking app.
  3. Fast courier service – Many hyper locals have further enhanced the eCommerce shopping experience by making deliveries faster. Now users can get deliveries much faster which has led to returning customers.
  4. Same day delivery or one day delivery – Intracity deliveries are now same day deliveries or one day deliveries. The user does not have to wait for longer for local deliveries. Many hyper-locals understand the need for being on time for example document deliveries for banks and financial institutions can now deliver their package the same day. Also, perishable food items or organic milk or other dairy items need same day delivery. Hyper locals are changing the face of logistics.
  5. Professional courier – Hyper locals not only meet the need to pick and deliver but also ensuring safety and reliability. Together Safety, Reliability, Convenience, and Consistency make hyper locals branded as professional courier service. Customers in India are getting demanding and with more disposable income they are ready to pay more for better services.
  6. Courier pickup from home – The game-changing part of a hyper-local is courier pick from home. Delhi NCR is always crowded, instead of getting stuck in jams just to deliver a wedding invitation or sending across sweets to relatives on Diwali people are looking forward to starting ups that provide quick courier pick up and same day delivery. Even to send courier they do not have to pick a car and get stuck in traffic jams.
  7. Schedule or immediate delivery –Many SMEs (Small and medium enterprises) are at a big advantage. They can either get them good delivered immediately after giving a request or they can also schedule deliveries. Even for individuals working in urban cities, they can book a courier online at night for a scheduled delivery tomorrow when the shop opens. Booking a night before makes them save the time of doing the same during their working hours.

India represents a great opportunity for hyperlocal space and thus so many start-ups have come up in the last 5 years to meet the need. Start-ups like Pidge have already started disrupting the hyperlocal space and are to watch for to meet the new age demand of the Millenials. The need for hyper locals is so huge that will see more players entering the market and more investors investing in them.