Shiprocket B2B Acquisition strategy

Background

Let’s imagine you are starting a D2C brand, or would like to take your B2C business online.

How would you choose a delivery partner? 🤔

Let’s say you went to the nearest courier service around your office. Maybe DTDC.

But you realise that DTDC is charging you high because you are new, and your volumes are low!

Or

DTDC isn’t able to service certain pincodes where your customers are ☹️

You go to another courier partner, and you face the same issue! What would you do? You’re confused right?! 😕

Let’s layer this with another problem 😶

Your business is listed on 6 marketplaces and also you have a website of your own (duh, you’re here to make money, so let’s tap into all possible places right?)

How will you manage orders across all these platforms and handle their shipments simultaneously? Seems daunting right? 🤯

ENTER SHIPROCKET!! 🚚 📦 

​

🚚 Shiprocket is a logistics and shipping aggregator, offering e-commerce shipping solutions to small and medium businesses businesses. It has integrated with 14 courier/delivery partners in India that ship to 24000 pincodes and 220 countries, and offers you discounted rates. This is not it! Shiprocket integrates with several marketplaces and e-commerce enablers like Shopify so that you can manage all your shipments through a SINGLE platform! Shiprocket has now emerged as one of India’s leading logistics company.

​

​

​Company fundamentals:

1. Valued at $1.23 bn
2. Revenue (as of 2022): INR 611 Crores
3. Total Funding: $386 Mn

Shiprocket helps D2C brands master their e-commerce game by:

• streamlining their shipping and order processes by integrating with all major channels/marketplaces like Amazon, Shopify, Majento through their platform — users have to use a single platform to manage all their deliveries. For early stage starups that have to fulfil orders from multiple marketplaces, it is half the effort done 🥲
• delivering to 24000 pin codes and 220 countries at discounted rates – early stage D2C startups need low costs, and would want to reach every corner of India through a single platform to manage all their deliveries. By aggregating volumes from different D2C companies, Shiprocket brings all of them bargaining power indirectly 💪🏼
• lowering RTOs (return to origin)
• providing the best pricing across various carriers through its Courier Recommendation Engine
• providing the fastest COD settlements – cash flows are extremely crucial for an early stage startup
• offering warehousing as a service solutions (fulfilment and packaging) to increase customer experiences for D2C brands. – not everyone can afford warehouses, can they? frugal at an early stage is most important.

India has witnessed a significant uptick in the number of D2C brands in the last 5 years. COVID-19 also forced B2C MSMEs to embrace an omnichannel presence with an online store front – reaching consumers directly, and also in newer geographies/markets. This has led to a huge demand/surge for logistics and courier companies amongst D2C brands/companies. Shiprocket has captured a significant chunk of this market, and is a leader in the space.

Who are Shiprocket’s customers? What do they look like?

Note - For the sake of this assignment, I shall bucket various potential Shiprocket customer personas into 4 broad categories/personas. Using the ICP prioritisation framework, I shall pick one category, and delve deeper into the different personas that fall in that category!

There are several possible D2C ICPs for Shiprocket. The following is a list:

ICP 1: Large consumer brands and almost mature scale D2C brands. The former can leverage their power over Shiprocket on pricing, or shift to an actual courier service like Delhivery, DTDC etc. The latter prefer direct courier service partners as CX becomes paramount. ❌

ICP2: Small-Medium/SME D2C brands/companies: These are D2C brands that are in the early scaling stage. Need to optimise for logistics, fulfilment and packaging costs. They prefer a single platform to interface and manage logistics across marketplaces, and their website. Quick growth (volume and revenue) are their major concerns without having to worry too much about logistics and delivery to consumers. ✅

ICP3: Solopreneurs (with/without a proprietorship) who sell certain goods like paintings, handicrafts, apparel, food items etc through online channels. They are tech savvy, but willingness to scale quickly is low. Prefer slow and organic growth with minimal efforts. ❌

ICP4: Individual sellers (without a registered business) of apparel, handicrafts, and sarees on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram groups. Take instant payments via UPI, but deliver through a local/nearby courier partner. ❌​

​

ICP Prioritization Framework:

👉🏼 Given the potential and limitation of the above ICPs, it is best for Shiprocket to focus and double-down on small-medium D2C brands and companies (ICP2) that are in:

• the early stages of scaling
• and (or) are trying to achieve PMF

*The D2C sector currently stands at $55billion, and is poised to grow at a CAGR of 34.5% between 2022-2027. By 2025 it is expected to reach $100 billion. Capturing value here, seems the best way forward for Shiprocket.

*In 11 million parcels per day, Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho etc are also included. These companies have their own delivery services or sub-contract them to large 3PL players like Mahindra logistics. The assumption considers that they too have similar delivery costings.

Deep Dive into ICP2: Small/Medium D2C Brand Personas

To understand the this ICP better (their needs, pain points and expectations), I interviewed 5 small-medium D2C brand founders. The following table broadly captures their personas.

Most early stage D2C brands/companies prefer aggregators like Shiprocket due to the following reasons:

1. Low logistics costs: An aggregator like Shiprocket, with the volume of orders it provides to individual courier services, has the bargaining power to bring prices down and pass it onto its users. Early stage D2C brands get low shipping prices from Shiprocket.​

1. Hassle free logistics from a Tier 2 city in the south to the whole of India.
2. Customer experience is key. Wish to store products in an urban fulfilment center to delivery to customers within a single day.
3. Frugality is key. Outsourcing everything from storage to packaging (printing barcodes, invoicing etc) will cut operational costs.
4. Customer experience needs to be seamless. Willing to take a small hit on revenues as long as everything is delivered to customer as promised.
5. Quick turnaround in money deposited for COD orders. | 1) Low logistics costs
6. Prefer one-day deliveries all over India.
7. Need their own control over packaging. But willing to explore third party fulfilment once they reach a significant scale. Cosmetic products are temperature sensitive. Prefer storing by themselves.
8. Prefer a service provider who can cater to various pin-codes.
9. Presence on multiple marketplaces. A single platform to manage all logistics and delivery is key.
10. Prefer low RTOs. Need a proper NDR system in order to support customers.
11. Provide tracking links and updates via various channels to customers | | Number of orders/month | 1200 | 5000 | | Average value of order | INR 800 | INR 1000 | | Ratio of website orders vs marketplace orders | 80:20 | 70:30 | | Where do they spend most time? | LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, OTT (Netflix, Hotstar, Prime Video), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube | LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, OTT platform, Apple and Spotify Podcasts, Youtube, D2C communities (D2C Insider) | | Where do they get most info (on running different aspects of their D2C business) from | Google search and self-learning. Talking to peers | Google search and self-learning. Online D2C communities (Whatsapp), friends in VC circles. | | Pain Points (with Shiprocket) | Customer support is slow. Not very responsive. | Customer support is an issue as Shiprocket is a third party that integrates services. As they scale, they wish to consider moving to a single player |
    
    

💡 Main Insights from Interviews:

Most early stage D2C brands/companies prefer aggregators like Shiprocket due to the following reasons:

1. Low logistics costs: An aggregator like Shiprocket, with the volume of orders it provides to individual courier services, has the bargaining power to bring prices down and pass it onto its users. Early stage D2C brands get low shipping prices from Shiprocket.
2. A single platform with multi channel integration: Shiprocket is a single platform through which you can manage all your orders across your own website and other marketplaces.
3. Low RTOs
4. Multiple courier channels: Can reach various pincodes directly, and different costing options to choose from.
5. Fastest COD settlements: Cashflow becomes crucial for early stage D2C brands. Shiprocket’s settlement timelines for COD orders are the fastest in the industry.

<aside> 💡  Early stage D2C founders often rely on google search to get information on anything related to building their business (choosing vendors, partnerships etc). Once they shortlist a few players, they reach out to people in their networks who have had prior experience and seek their reviews before choosing a vendor or product. Referrals/WOM are key in the B2B ecosystem before choosing a product.

​

One of the founders remarked, “once we choose a company/vendor to work with, the relationship will last for at-least for 1/1.5 years, unless customer experience is really pathetic. Hence, we often tend to ask others for their reviews and experiences of a vendor’s products/services before signing them on”

TAM and SOM for Shiprocket’s preferred ICP

*Shiprocket has various revenue streams. It includes warehousing/fulfilment, packaging, checkout tools etc other than delivery services. In this project, we shall only look at delivery revenues.

In 2022, India shipped 4 billion e-commerce parcels.

This translates to ~ 11 million parcels per day. Let’s assume the cost to get a parcel delivered is Rs 60 (in user interviews, most founders mentioned their average delivery cost per order is between Rs 60 - 80. This was cross referenced by using Shiprocket’s calculator for a combination of various pincodes. We will choose the conservative figure)*

The Total Addressable Market (per day) for e-commerce logistics ****= 11 million * Rs 60 = Rs. 660 million/per day or Rs 66 crores/day. Per year, the TAM translates to Rs 24,000 crores.

India’s D2C market stands at $55 billion and comprises of 66% of India’s total e-commerce ($83 billion). The Serviceable Addressable Market of D2C e-com logistics, therefore, will be 66% of the TAM (24,000 crores) of e-com logistics

SAM = INR 15,900 crores

Let’s assume that small-medium D2C brands comprise of 80% of the entire D2C pool in India. Out of this, let’s assume Shiprocket captures 50% of the market share.

Then the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) for D2C logistics will be = 0.8 * 0.5 * 15900 = Rs 6360 crores.

TAM = Rs 24,000 crores.

SAM = Rs 15,900 crores

SOM = Rs 6360 crores.

*In 11 million parcels per day, Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho etc are also included. These companies have their own delivery services or sub-contract them to large 3PL players like Mahindra logistics. The assumption considers that they too have similar delivery costings.

​

​Channel Prioritisation Framework

Shiprocket has become a leading player in the industry. For most upcoming D2C brands, the brands of Shiprocket and Delhivery are/have

• synonymous to logistics i.e. go-to for all things logistics
• a strong brand recall effect (most of us have often receive our e-commerce orders through one of these companies)
• a new-age, tech-savvy and approachable perception

If you look at the traffic channels below, organic traffic into Shiprocket domain >>> paid search

AND

founders of upcoming D2C brands, often rely on reviews and referrals before choosing a logistics partner. As mentioned earlier, WOM/Referral becomes an important before choosing a product in the B2B ecosystem

One of the founders remarked, “once we choose a company/vendor to work with, the relationship will last for at-least for 1/1.5 years, unless customer experience is really pathetic. Hence, we often tend to ask others for their reviews and experiences of a vendor’s products/services before signing them on”

In short, Shiprocket has reached a stage where organic (also WOM) and referrals are key to acquiring new customers.

➡️ Based on the channel prioritisation framework and above insights, I would like to explore organic (SEO) and referrals as channels. ✅

In organic, I chose SEO since our ICPs (upcoming D2C brands) also tend to search on google for logistics services and respective reviews on Google apart from talking to existing users of the products.

Channels for Shiprocket’s domain. Note that most of Shiprocket’s traffic is driven directly. This could be attributed to the sheer volume of links tracking clicks by the end user/users who receive couriers.

​​

​Organic – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

​

In organic, looking at SEO is the way to go —> given most D2C founders first turn to google search for to find solutions to problems related to their business

​

First Step 👉🏼 Assessing Shiprocket’s Domain Authority (DA)

👉🏼 Domain Authority is an overall metric to measure a website/domain’s overall quality and SEO performance. It is a function of the overall quality and quantity of backlinks, monthly organic search traffic and spam factors of the website.

Shiprocket holds a DA score of 54.

​

❌ While it is not an alarming score, it is very low when compared to its competitors Delhivery, DTDC and Blue Dart which have DA scores of 71, 65 and 63 respectively (check screenshot below). The organic traffic into Shiprocket is also extremely low when compared to these companies.

source: semrush

⚠️ Furthermore, Shiprocket’s DA score has dropped over the last 12 months 👇🏻

As mentioned earlier DA score = f {quantity and quality backlinks, organic traffic and spam factors} with backlink quantity and quality holding the highest weight followed by organic traffic.

A Semrush backlink analysis shows that Shiprocket has a high number of backlinks from relevant and reputable domains ✅ 👇🏻

​

Backlinks are not the problem here for Shiprocket’s relatively low DA score. But then what is the problem? 🤔

semrush backlink analysis of shiprocket’s domain

I ran a SEO site audit by crawling over 200 pages of Shiprocket’s domain on Semrush to detect issues . A major issue was that 56 pages have duplicate meta descriptions. ⚠️

👉🏼 Meta descriptions are short summaries of a page’s content to help search engines understand what the page is about in order to show it to users in search results. Duplicate meta descriptions are a lost opportunity to use more relevant keywords. They make it difficult for search engines to differentiate between different webpages.

How to fix it 👇🏻

<aside> 📌 Solution: Shiprocket needs to crawl all its webpages and fix these issues by either:

1. providing a unique, relevant meta description on all pages using relevant keywords or
2. not have meta descriptions at all than having duplicate ones.

​

Second Step 👉🏼 Understand/Analyse Keywords used by Shiprocket, and analyse if weak/missing keywords that could be used in their overall SEO performance including meta descriptions.

The following consists of keyword research done for Shiprocket:

​

Observations/Findings:

​

Pros

• Shiprocket is generally doing well in terms of its SEO strategy and execution when it comes generic keywords related to logistics – especially when there is significant competition for space in search results.
• In terms of keywords that are very specific to its D2C ICP (look at the table below), Shiprocket is doing extremely well. The table shows the search keywords related to D2C ICP requirements and their respective ranks on Google. There was no data available on Semrush on the search volume, ranking difficulty, and cost per click for these keywords. Hence relied on ranking/position on Google Search.
• Shiprocket has done a great job in writing a lot of blogs and articles for D2C founders. Given that most of these founders, turn to google for all their D2C related problems (insight from user interviews), Shiprocket tends to rank in the first pages. Screenshots in the link here.

Improvements

• Increase SEO efforts of common but difficult keywords with high search volumes: The keywords highlighted in yellow (in the above table) are ones where it is weak compared to its competition (Delhivery, DTDC and Blue Dart). Even though some of them are difficult to rank, Shiprocket has enough resources at its disposal to capture these keywords. Effort would be low as they have several articles and blogs – all they would have to do is modify them to include the above keywords.
• Bid on competitors: They should also capture real estate space when users specifically search for their direct competition like Delhivery or DTDC.
• Fix meta descriptions: Needs to work on fixing its meta descriptions with relevant keywords.

keyword searches specific to D2C ICP

​

Referrals​

Current Referral and Partner Programs

Brag-worthy thing about Shiprocket: Ease of managing all logistics for all orders across all marketplaces through a single platform, and the ability to choose from different courier partners –––> based on user calls

Shiprocket currently has three different partner and referral programs:

1. Channel/Strategic Partner: It is for website/software developers, ad/marketing agencies, freelancers, influencers, photographers and catalog managers to plug and play Shiprocket with clients setting up D2C businesses and earn money.
2. Referral/Ambassador Program for existing sellers ✅
3. Affiliate Partner

👉🏼 For this assignment, let’s focus on the Referral/Ambassador Program for existing sellers/clients.

​

Current design of the referral program 👇🏻

​

​

The referral program is designed to provide cash rewards upto Rs 5000 to the referrer in a stacked/milestone based model. As the referee signs-up, and completes a certain number of shipments the referrer keeps earning cash. See below:

Current Flow (on the Shiprocket App) 👇🏻

​

​

What is missing ⁉️:

• Awareness 👎🏽:  Most users interviewed were not aware of Shiprocket’s referral program.
• Doesn’t stand out: The refer and earn option is located in the “more” section of the app bundled along with multiple other features.
• Effort or incentive is low: The stacked approach displayed above will probably cover logistics costs for a maximum of 30-50 orders (based on the company’s scale and product profile).
• Social Risk: Some users have had bad experiences with Shiprocket - orders being misplaced, higher RTOs than they expected, and bad customer support experience. The risk involved for them to refer Shiprocket is high and not worth the incentive they offer.
• Doesn’t target happy customers: While a few customers have had a few bad experiences, the ones that are happy aren’t being targeted to refer new clients.

New/Revamped Referral System Design

The program’s effectiveness can be improved by -

1. Working on awareness, visibility, and targeting happy customers (using data and design)
2. Improving the incentives and decreasing the social effort required to refer Shiprocket

For point 2 (i.e. improving incentives and decreasing social effort), Shiprocket can add a layer to its existing referral flow by facilitating a conversation for potential new users to speak to existing happy users on their experiences.

But why? 🤔

in our user research calls, a significant insight we discovered  👉🏼 potential/new users (especially in B2B) would always like to speak to existing users about their experiences with a product before adopting it 💡

Shiprocket can facilitate the same by connecting existing and happy clients/D2C companies with potential clients/D2C companies that can compliment each other.

​

For example, let’s say one of Shiprocket’s happy customer is a vertical marketplace selling medicinal and neutracteutials products and a new potential client is a neutracteutials brand. By connecting the two, Shiprocket is not only allowing new clients to get first-hand experiences of Shiprocket’s services, but is also facilitating synergies for both companies to scale both the businesses.

The vertical marketplace gets to add new brands to its suite of products, and the new nutraceutical brand gets access to a new channel for its sales/distribution efforts = WIN-WIN ✅ ———> Access

+

Shiprocket changes the monetary incentive structure to give X amount of money (credit) for every Y set of conversations to the happy customer/client that gets onto these calls with potential clients ———> what existing users get

and

For potential users who sign-up after the call, Shiprocket will give Rs 200 in shipment credits as a gift from the Shiprocket happy customer/client they spoke with.

The end out come is that:

• incentive increases ⬆️ - existing happy customers don’t only a monetary benefit, but also increase their “surface area of luck” to grow their businesses by partnering with complimentary and adjacent companies ✅
• two platform currencies to again from: money (referral money) and access (opportunity to partner with companies to increase their business). ✅
• positive social outlook: the referrer/happy customer gets a good image in front of the referral/new potential user for gifting credit which can further spur their business relationship since they compliment each other.

​

New Flow of the Revamped Referral System 👇🏻

1. How to identify happy flows and happy users?

Current system of rating: Shiprocket’s only rating system is a “Rate us” button in the profile section. They never ask their users to review each delivery.

​

New way to identify happy customers: After the first 10 deliveries/shipments are completed for a user, a pop-up/in-app notification asking them to rate Shiprocket can come on the screen.

What will this pop do? 👇🏻

​

Ask happy users for a 15 min convo with new/potential users who can compliment their business: If users rate Shiprocket’s services as very happy, ask them if they would like to speak to potential/new users who are confused on whether to obtain Shiprocket’s services and can also compliment their business with potential partnerships. Nudge them in the direction of helping a fellow D2C brand/entrepreneur make the decision by speaking about their experiences, and while also also exploring the feasibility of partnerships for increasing their businesses.

The following is flow for the same 👇🏻

If yes 👉🏼 connect them with potential/new clients or customers who compliment their business.

1. How to identify potential/new clients?

• On Shiprocket’s website, allow potential users to book slots with existing happy customers to talk to them about their Shiprocket experience.
• By collecting the user’s details, Shiprocket should connect them withexisting happy customera with complimentarty business interests.
• Shiprocket has to faciliate this conversation without any presence/interference. This adds TRUST - for both the existing and new potential users. This messaging should be in line with Shiprocket’s ethos of promoting D2C entrepreneurship in India ––> like an initiative towards community building.

The following is a flow with design mockups for the same 👇🏻

1. Match and facilitate calls over over email by sharing call links.

The following are email copies for the same 👇🏻

1. Post the call, reward both the new/potential user and existing happy user/customer:

• Shiprocket to reward happy users with Rs 700 in credit for every three, 15 minute conversations per month. That would save shipment costs for ~ 10-12 orders per user (~ assumption of Rs 60 as delivery free)
• Shiprocket to provide a credit of Rs 200 to the new customer after sign up. The credit will be delivered as a token and gift sent by the happy customer/user they had a phone call with. An email will be sent for the same. This could act as a delight for the potential user.

Platform currency here 👉🏼 Money (shipment credits for referee and referrer) and Access (allowing the referee and refer to discuss and form complimentary business synergies)

email copy for the above👇🏻

<aside> 💡 Hey X,

Hope your call with Y went well.

Y would like to gift your Shiprocket voucher of Rs 250 for your brand/business.

INSERT VOUCHER CODE

Here are his/her words of encouragement for you

It was great chatting with you X. Your products are amazing, and I am sure a lot of people will love them. Wishing you the very best in the journey ahead

Sign-up on Shiprocket using Y’s voucher code. We would love to serve.

If you are still confused, and could like to speak to other users, click here.

For any queries, reach out to us at sales@shiprocket.com

Regards, Team Shiprocket

Visuals: Main Shiprocket banner with a gift arriving into their inbox – as if a shipment was being delivered by a Shiprocket agent can be designed

​

1. How will the referrer track the referrals?

• Insert a widget in the home page to track their progress on the Ambassador program
• If they click on the widget, they can have a detailed view on the calls completed, credits earned, calls scheduled and number of referee sign-ups completed.​​

​

Benefits of this entire referral progam:

1. Allows potential users to hear first hand experiences of existing happy users without interference from Shiprocket. This adds significant TRUST.
2. It contributes towards community building for the D2C ecosystem in India.
3. It solves for the exact B2B adoption problem of users: talk to others before embracing a product.
4. Facilitating synergies between two complimentary businesses
5. Increasing incentives (two platform currencies through money and access) and improving social

Revamped Referral System and Flow :

For existing users/referrers:

​

Flow can be found here: https://whimsical.com/PshW7FA6T555TbdgjuhM36

​

For new/potential users:

Flow can be found here: https://whimsical.com/PshW7FA6T555TbdgjuhM36

​

Post call flows | existing user (app dashboard) and Post call flows | new, potential user (email):

Flow can be found here: https://whimsical.com/PshW7FA6T555TbdgjuhM36​