Onboarding project | Porter

About Porter: The Largest Truck Booking App in India

In FY-2023, India spent more than 14% of its GDP on logistics costs. For context, this number was 10% in the case of China and 7-8% in the case of developed countries like the US and Japan. This shows how inefficient and expensive the Indian supply chain is when compared to other nations. Even countries like Vietnam and Thailand rank better than India when it comes to the Logistics Index.

Logistics determines how efficient an economy is. The cheaper and faster it is to move goods inside a country, the more productive it is going to be. In 2024, 90% of India’s logistics sector is still unorganized, and this situation was even worse 10 years ago when two college friends decided to start Porter. The primary problem they were trying to solve was simple yet significant: making intracity logistics efficient and cost-effective.

Their initial pitch was simple: “Book from us, we are 20% cheaper”. This pitch worked, and in less than a year, Porter had more than 500 business customers, processed more than 3,000 bookings a month, and had a monthly revenue run rate of 30 lakh rupees.

They developed an app that would allowed users to book trucks with just a few clicks. The app quickly caught on and Porter became the largest truck booking app in India. What makes Porter so popular is its simplicity and efficiency. The app is very easy to use and allows users to book trucks with just a few clicks. Additionally, Porter offers discounts and loyalty programs that make it even more attractive to users. They also focused on ensuring timely deliveries and efficient operations. They introduced GPS tracking, constant driver check-ins, and per-minute charges for loading and unloading to incentivize efficiency.

Porter expanded its services to include two-wheeler parcel delivery, and Packers and Movers, quickly becoming a leader in this segment as well.

Porter's Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs):

B2C:

Criteria	User 1	User 2
Name	Avi	Dev
Age & Sex	22-26, Male	26-32, Male
Income Level	20-25LPA	20-25LPA
Occupation	Corporate Lawyer	Growth Manager
Life Status	Young Professional	In a relationship
Geographic Location	Delhi NCR	Bangalore
How do they spend time?	1. Mostly at work 2. Then Gym followed by leisure with flatmates / friends 3. Movies, night outs	1. Mostly at work 2. Then leisure with girlfriend / friends 3. Movies, night outs, weekend trips
What do they spend their money on?	1. House expenses 2. Leisure 3. Savings & Investments	Household Expenses Leisure Travel
Pain Point	Forgetful. Often forgets his charger/tie/coat/notes at home	Moving-in with his girlfriend of 5 years. They're trying to furnish their house. Both of them are constantly scouting Facebook marketplace for used furniture (and a WhatsApp group!)
Need	Quick, hassle-free, and safe delivery of whatever he's forgotten at home	Need help transporting furniture within the city
Solution	Porter's Two-Wheeler Service	Porter's three-wheeler service
Technology Adoption	Early Adapter	Tech-Averse
Perceived Value of Brand	Has seen multiple three-wheelers driving around with the porter logo. Has heard good things from his friends about Porter. Known to be slightly expensive than other intracity delivery companies, it's quicker and safer than its competitors	While he prefers to support local businesses, people he's buying furniture from, recommend Porter because of their seamless pick-up and delivery
Frequency of use case	3-4 times/month	1-2 times/month
Average Spend on the product	150 Money is not a barrier, he puts safety and speed above money spent	500-700
Value Accessibility to product	High	Medium
Value Experience of the product	Excellent	Good

B2B:

Criteria	ICP1	ICP2
Name	Yash	Bhanu
Company Size	3-5 employees	7-10 employees
Location	Chandigarh	Jaipur
Funding Raised	No	No
Industry Domain	Customizable Action figures	Fashion
Use case	Need to pick-up products from the factory	Need to pick-up products from various suppliers in and around Jaipur
Frequency of use case	twice/month	8-10 times/month
Organizational Goals	Create a website, then start Ads on meta	Increase RoAS on Ads, Optimize Website to increase Conversion%
Preferred Outreach Channels	Has an instagram account; Currently users discover his account through hashtags and WoM	Meta Ads
Growth of company	Has great plans to expand, because his user feedback is excellent, and he's seeing repeat orders already (despite starting his business only 8 months ago)	Expand Portfolio, while optimizing the website to increase discoverability. Increase Repeat orders Increase CSAT Score
Motivation	He's a final-year engineering student, and a geek when it comes to anime, marvel, and comics. He saw a gap in the market for good-quality and affordable action figures and started an instagram account to gauge the demand in the industry	Has really good products (because of a personal connection in the fashion manufacturing industry in Jaipur), wants to grow his business by optimizations mentioned above, and provide for his family
Decision Time	Low; Yash takes all the decisions himself; his 'employees' are his friends who help with packaging and customer service	Medium; Bhanu has a business partner who is risk-averse and not a decision-maker. Every new strategy must be okay'd by both of them
How do they deliver their products to their customers?	Uses post-office to do so. Comes with a lot of cons, but is the cheapest option out there	Uses a local vendor who Charges Re70 for orders across india (<500gm); Bhanu doesn't want extra work-load by having a staggered price model for delivery across regions