Acquisition Project - Aggregation platform for 20ft/40ft Freight Trailers
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Acquisition Project - Aggregation platform for 20ft/40ft Freight Trailers

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INDUSTRY USE CASE

India's ports act back bone for shipping 95% ( Source: Invest India ) of goods Volume into the country and outside the country. In this cargo, List of most shipped cargo is

  • containerized cargo
  • crude oil
  • machineries and others

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Due to Increased volume of trade & containerization of goods moving in ports, we see humongous vehicle traffic at ports sometimes waiting for days for loading and unloading of cargo from trailers. Lot of these trucks are operated by individual operators with demand coming from corporates.

Effectively ports operates as Hub for receiving cargo and Various spokes are roadways & railways bringing in cargo from other nodal points like Container Freight Station(CFS) & Inland Container Depots (ICD) and directly from factories.

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these trucks are majorly owned by individual owners with less than 10 trucks . 85 % are fleet in owned such small fleet owners


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PRODUCT

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Product : Aggregation platform for container trailers built on ONDC network by placing booking directly by corporates

Industry : Freight Logistics-B2B ocean Freight

Product stage : PMF

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Current Process :

Cargo movement is currently outsourced by factories to third party providers. these third parties are further involved with multiple intermediaries to reach the actual transporter. these intermediaries end up taking a cut from transporter's revenue who operate with a thin gross profit margin of 15-20%.

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Core insight for the product is currently 2 to 2.5 intermediaries are there between truck operator and shipper

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these intermediaries leads to Delay and improper communication to end customer ,sometimes causing delay in shipment and causing pain at critical situations thereby affecting TAT and operational efficiency of factories and trailers

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​Why This Product :

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Benefits For Customers:

1.Reduce Intermediaries

2. Timely availability of vehicle for Shipment of Containers for Customers ( To Avoid Paying Additional Storage Charges.

3.Standardize shipment cost for distance travelled per unit weight

4.Bring uniformity and seamless movement to and from port/CFS in supply chain

5.Digitized Documenationa and live tracking with pre-informed Estimated time and date of Arrival

Benefits For Trailer Owners :

6.24/7 Dedicated call support

7.Resting Points for Driver Welfare & safe parking points with security

8.Road side assistance for vehicles ( to ensure they reach on time)

9.Improved cash flow by quick Payment after trip completion instead of 45-60 days

10.Instant Access to loads from 100s of reputed organizations live on ONDC

Intermediaries take upto 10% of revenue from truck operators

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Focus : we are currently looking at demand side acquisition (end customers)

with assumption that supply side with be on board by discussion with various transport associations


Proposed application flow for customer:


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COMPETITION

This market is cluttered with mix. of organized and unorganized players

1. providing integrated services Such as Warehousing, Customs Clearance Documentation along with Transportation of Containers providing Customers a slew of services through mix of in-house & thirty party support.(Network & Fixed Contracts is the Moat) .Ex: kerry indev Logistics, Ceva logistics, Allcargo CFS

  1. Few Tech players are Building a platform by providing services in broad road transportation sector across various kinds of light Commercial vehicles (LCV) with little focus on port segment. most of vehicles on this platform are in less than 18MT segment in MCV . Ex: Let's transport, Trucknetic, Blackbuck, Vahak ( Data is moat with fixed contracts for recurring venue )
  2. Unorganized players : The dominant players in the market in terms of volume, but little in terms of capturing value created.( Roughly80%-market share, less than 10 Vehicles ) .this group supports the 1st and 2nd group during demand fluctuation

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MARKET SIZE

INDUSTRY TAM:

Indian Logistics Industry is $300 Billion

Intercity road logistics is 75% is $225 Billion

In this Intra city Logistics is 8 % which is $ 18 Billion( less than 200 Km)


TAM For This Product:

To Calculate the TAM , we adopt the Top -Down Approach.

Here we take the ceiling of the business from publicly available data from investor reports of public companies(ex: Adani Ports ) and arrive at TAM and deduce to SAM,SOM

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TAM= total Containers shipped to/From India per year * Average revenue per trip * Margin per trip

( 1 TEU = 1 twenty feet container)

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TAM

Containers Handled in india last year*

18million TEU

avg. distance on road

100km

Average revenue per trip for 100 kms

Rs.15000

total revenue for 18M TEU is

18M*15000=27000 crore

commission charges @ 3%

810 Crore

​ *Data from Listed company's Investor communication letter

TAM =18M*15000* 0.03=810 Crore Revenue per year

TAM is 810Crore /year

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Service Addressable Market :

SAM can be calculated by considering Share of Organized and unorganized business and Willingness to move away from traditional relationship based business to adopt Tech for this.

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SAM

TAM

810 CRORE

*Assuming 40% organized business is held by intergrated Shipping Companies like MAERSK,CMACGM, MSC

324 crore

remaining businesses are

=810cr-324cr=486 Crore

SAM Is 486 Crore/year

*Integrated Companies provide end to end solutions including cargo booking slots in ships, storage at warehouse, port services along with transportation. these customers are not ideal target for PMF stage as their needs are even bigger and we are Providing a limited offering now. so, they are not considered now for now during acquisition.

We have this opportunity to serve remaining Business with SOM of 486 Crore potential Revenue/year


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Servicable Obtainable Market:

India has 13 major ports and 12 minor ports spread across 8 states and over 150+ Inland Container Depots in the hinterland.

As in PMF Stage, we are not active in all markets. we are focusing on one specific city in one state to find right fit before scaling.

so, we further narrow down market size to current geography where we are active in now

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SOM

SAM

486 CR

80 % container traffic originates at 4 major cities(Chennai, mumbai, mundra, Kolkata)

=80% of 486=388cr

Initial target city is Chennai (with 30 % share among the four)

388*0.3=116 Cr

Serviceable Obtainable Market is 116 Crore /year

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ICP

Customer-ICP

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ICP 1

ICP 2

ICP3

ICP4

ICP 5

Job title

Logistics Head

Customer success manager

CFS-Import/Export Head

Transportation Company-Owner

Transportation Manager-Integrated Supply chain

Age / Gender

35-45

30-35

40-45

30-50

30-40

Organizational
Goals

Increase manufacturing/shorten inventory

Increase revenue from user-timely cargo movement

Increase utilization ratio of space

reduce vehicle idle time

increase contract value-diversify customer base

Company Type

Manufacturing company(Ex:mfg of Steel,Glass)

Sea vessel Shipment company(Ex:MAERSK)

Container Storage and dispatch company to & from PORT(node in supply chain)(ex: allcargo,SATTVA CFS)

Pure Transportation Company

Integrated Supply chain Company(ex: kerry Indev,NTC Logistics)

Role
Priorities

Timely delivery of material to plant

Ensure cargo in shipped timely to and from mentioned location without

 

damage in material

Increase Revenue and capture more wallet share through additional services

Do planning of shipments according to Customer requirements on within mentioned period .

meet Company metrics and turn around time requirements with max.revenue

 

to company

Role in
buying process

end user-influencer

head of influencer

influencer

Decision maker

influencer

Reporting
Structure

reports to Supply chain manager

reports to operations manager

reports to head-operations

owner

Divisonal Head

Preferred
Channels

mail,whatsapp,web

web,inhouse apps

email,sap,cargoes

whatsapp,call

email,call,

Products
used in workplace

call,Email

Email,call

call, face to face,text

call,whatsapp,face to face

email,call,

Where do
they spend time

Youtube,gmail,prime

outlook,youtube,whatsapp

email,sharechat,google

facebook,whatsapp,youtube

amazon,myntra,primevideo,youtube,insta

Pain Points

Avoid Excess Charge for storage,timely delivery for factory

Coordination with mulitple Parties responsible for shipment like PORT staff,Custom clearance team,Tranport incharge

Timely

 

Consolidation and movement of goods to their location or to customer location(depending on requirement) with smooth flow in operations.Ensure vendors move in and out timely coordinated to meet time commitments

Vehicle availability at all times, time Quote to new customers, Ensure Driver discipline during duty.timely payment

 

of bills to him.

 

Ensure timely availbility of vehicles for multiple customers on same date. Rent vehicle from outside apart from owned vehicle to satisfy demand. Balance fluctuation without additional impact on revenue

Priority (Money vs time)

 

time

time

Money

Money

Time


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Here we have identified the various Potential ICPs for the product

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we use this ICPs and apply our framework For user selection depending on stage of product .


 

ICP1

ICP2

ICP3

ICP4

ICP5


Ability to pay

Medium

high

Low

low

medium


Frequency of use

Medium

high

high

medium

medium


TAM

Large

Large

medium

low

medium


Urgency

High

 

Medium

High

High

Medium


Distribution

 

High effort to scale

High

Proportionate Impact to scale

Impact medium for the effort

Low margin to scale



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Based on above analysis ,ICP-2 is shortlisted,


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ICP2

Job title

Customer success manager

Age / Gender

30-35

Organisational
Goals

Increase revenue from user-timely cargo movement

Company Type

Sea vessel Shipment company(Ex:MAERSK)

Role
Priorities

Ensure cargo in shipped timely to and from mentioned location without

 

damage in material

Role in
buying process

head of influencer

Reporting
Structure

reports to operations manager

Preferred
Channels

web,inhouse apps

Products
used in workplace

Email,call

Where do
they spend time

outlook,youtube,whatsapp

Pain Points

Coordination with mulitple Parties responsible for shipment like PORT staff,Custom clearance team,Tranport incharge

Priority (Money vs time)

 

time


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CVP

​Core value Proposition of the Product:


1.Book Trailers on-Demand from vast selection at your price point. (For Shippers)

2.Avail Direct Loads from reputed companies directly in ONDC, Reduce waiting time and Increase Profits.

3.Pay Transporters Early with Invoice Discounting Model (For Truckers).

4. Use Govt. Port data From Unified Logistics Interface Platform(ULIP) Portal to plan trips Timely reducing waiting time at ports

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Stage : PMF

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JTBD :

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Functional: Ability to serve fluctuating demands

Financial : On-time Clearance , saving additional Cost on storage

Personal: Time Saved from frequent calls and follow ups with transportation companies

Social :



Primary job is to serve fluctuating customer demands

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Channel Prioritization

For the Product , we do the Channel categorisation

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Sl. No

Channel name

Cost

Flexibility

Effort

Lead time

Scale

1

Founder Brand

Low

High

Low

Slow

Low

2

Referral

Low

Medium

Low

Slow

Medium

3

word of mouth spread

Low

High

Low

Slow

Low

4

Google search

High

High

High

High

High

5

On the Ground sales team

Low

High

Medium

High

High

6

Physical Ads at strategic locations

Low

Low

Medium

Low

Low

7

Google app campaigns

High

Low

High

Low

High

8

 Youtube

High

High

High

Low

High

9

Facebook

High

High

High

Low

High

10

SEO

Medium

Medium

High

High

Medium

11

Partnership Program

Low

Medium

Medium

High

Medium

12

Product integrations

High

Low

High

High

High

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From the above we have decided to engage via the below channels considering the cost ,effort& feedback

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  • Founders brand ----> from interactions from in-person meetings, writing on FAQs, trends ,industry updates and update about the events happening and Conducting AMA online
  • on the ground sales---->Will be engaged effectively at Industry events and exhibitions.
  • Word of Mouth ----> By borrowing trust from current customer, posting their recorded feedback about product and experience to audience via linkedIn, Website and Twitter of organization .this they futher share in their circles creating virality
  • Physical ads ----> near ports/CFS and Near Special Economic Zones .
  • SEO -----> From queries to founders and keyword search database, utlizing founder's answers and replies across forms, we can re-purpose and to optimize it for long for content and creating back links to website

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Users can be Acquired by

Hypothesis

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Linkedin Brand Awareness

Building trust by building brand awareness by posting long form content and curating masterclass sessions with engaged community to introduce products


Database from EXIM(Export/Import) Business category wise shippers

Being part of EXIM Group and utilize the import/export database available to reach them via targeted email marketing

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Exihibiting in events/expo

Top Warehousing expos/manufacturing expos are conducted by govt. ministries to boost opportunities. engaging with manufacturers and storage service providers in entry to organization

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Connections through Industry body (ASSOCHAM)

Tie-up and involve in regional industrial body meetings and offer solutions


partnering with small scale regional freight-forwarders

Freight forwarders are one of the channel to connect and introduce to transportation services which can be accessed digitally


Product integrating with ocean carriers

Integrating our products and services with up in value chain. this brings in huge benefits of volume and revenue


publishing content in prominent shipping newsletter/providing guidance on trends

Engaging in logistic specific newletter which are wide read by management provide visibility of brand and services to upper management , thereby easy entry to organization by showing demo


loyality program

provide bonus miles for every 1000 miles shipped.this gives free trips for customers,incentivizing for usage of platforms and they comeback to utilize offering in a loop creating stickiness to product


driver as a acquisition channel to reach factories

Offering free benefits for long distance drivers like food and coupons for family outing provide sense of encouragement of current drivers to refer it across other tranporters during peak business ,which helps sustain our operations demand. Effectively serving customer and increasing revenue

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Channel-1

Events/Expo

As current mode of initial contact with customers in this industry are mostly physical, followed by through email and contact over call. we have to establish trust and relationship with customers before doing a transaction. so, warm in-person introductions and briefings create trust, reliability and awareness on the technology before doing a transaction .

As Life Time Value of customer is high and B2B conversion lead time are longer, Connecting with right person in authority and user at event gatherings can make big impact to business and shorten the lead time. Industry events and exhibitions provide a unique opportunity where a lot of interested audience converge at a single location to know about the developments in the industry.

We can list down the associated events and gathering happening over next quarter with regards to logistics, Manufacturing, Warehousing. enrolling and booking stalls earlier and preparing demos will keep us ready.

Implemenation:

We have to identify prominent entry/visible of physical real estate to place physical ads in TVs and banners once entered into the event venue. This creates first impression of brand before entrying the stall/podium area.

Then we have in stalls and run live videos of application working on large TV. thereby attracting interested Customers quickly to location as we have established visbility early on.

Clean neat visuals, attract customers to our podium/stall.

we sit and give a neat brief and have a discussion about their expectation and how our tech can solve that. We show live demo and functioning of product. this creates an excitement to explore the product.

Promos:

we give on the spot offers for customers willing to digital experience in transportation.

we give a 3 month trial with zero platform/service cost.

Post Event Promos:

then, For Those who signed up,we give a 3 month trial with zero platform/service cost with additional progressive rewards like free miles to book again and encourage positive behavior.

Further Follow up:

Those who have given a positive feedback on the form post event ,we get back with a personal email to check in for direct factory meeting, where we establish contact with senior authority and bring awareness about our current product and offerings.

Introducing new business specific offerings such as guaranteed availability of vehicle at peak demand, Quarterly offers like no service charges for next 100 container Shipments.

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Event Buzz:

1.Quick video from Current customer of our company visiting the stall and talking about product in social handles such as LinkedIn and Twitter and youtube with appropriate tags of industry body is going to increase impressions and engagement attracting potential would be customers to platform.

2.Engaging well with organizer and giving short videos for event organizer which they will post on their social handles will bring brand awareness with almost zero cost.

Metrics :

1.No of new Enquires

2.Enquiry to Conversion ratio

3.Rating of product on feedback form

4.guage interest for adoption

5.Over 3 months, we can measure Net Cost /Customer acquired from events/exhibitions

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Channel-2

LinkedIn-founder's/Senior Leader's Long Form Content

This Place brings professional High Quality/High Intent Audience

Writing about relevant queries and FAQs from social handles bring engagement to brand .

Having a genuine audience, writings from senior folks by borrowing their trust , create a funnel of potential customers and activity to website

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Implementation Plan :

First 1-6 Months:

1.Initially starting content with most popular doubts from events /exhibitions, beliefs and further expanding slowly based on user problems and happenings in industry.

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Next 6-12 Months

2.This Content can be curated by looking at questions in quora,reddit,linkedin, personal inbox and search requests and further be directed to industry newsletter thereby providing valuable knowledge for free. this brings top of mind awareness of brand to potentially interested people in organization to engage with us in times of change.


Then:

3.Conducting AMA and helping out in dealing with specific issues such as pre or post transportation will bring legitimacy to our brand and attract right customers


Metrics to track:

  1. Subscription rate
  2. Engagement time period.
  3. Opening Percentage of newsletter.
  4. Percentage increase in Web traffic over the period.
  5. Percentage increase in top level at entry of funnel -would be customers

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Channel-3

Word of Mouth

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With Event Conducted, Founder's Engagement in Linkedin and Emails Weekly,we have Created buzz across industry circles


We can Further Amplify this by implementing the below

1.we can further improve by Spreading our top 3 customer word of mouth feedback videos given in events by using social media such as linkedIn, twitter and on website.

By tagging industry events where this happened , we increase brand awareness and the customer also spreading the video in their social media which brings wider distribution across other companies and colleagues who are spread across in different companies.

This way we gain authenticity and trust by word-of-mouth from customers and also leverage the power of distribution of social media platforms with little to no cost and also drive traffic to our site.

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2.As our core pitch is vehicle anytime, we can partcipate in industry gathering /meetings like GATI SAKTHI ,SAGAR MALA,ONDC and Unified logistics interface program .these programs give free visibility and access to other customers engaged with port . we can easily tap into trust and endorsement of Port Authorities, as we are easing in reducing their traffic and streamline easy movement of goods.

These cost effective ways drive increase in customers and also keeping cost in check during initial stages and also giving getting faster feedback as we are closely engaged with customers

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Metrics to track :

  1. Cost involved
  2. New users increase over months


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