GRAB.In 2024: India's Top On-Demand Food Delivery Service

GRAB.in is a last-mile logistics service for food businesses and enterprises that strives to create time and cost efficiencies, allowing customers to outsource the non-core verticals of their business. In this interview, co-founder and director Nishant Vora discusses the current challenges and opportunities that food businesses are facing and invites merchants in India to join the GRAB.in revolution.

What sparked the idea for GRAB and how has it evolved so far? 

GRAB.in (GRAB a Grub), a Mumbai-based company founded in 2013, set foot in the market with the vision to organize the last-mile logistics industry by offering a fixed delivery setup, defined technology inputs, and optimized costs, to make full utilization of resources.

The GRAB team created a tech-abled delivery platform that elevated the entire delivery experience from smart order assignment, delivery tracking, and navigation to the customer while optimizing the cost for its client through building a strong network of fleets.

GRAB was one of the earliest movers into this space that has seen a number of entrants since 2015. Currently, the company has grown to be a leading national player in last-mile delivery solutions. GRAB covers a wide part of India, from Kargil to Kanyakumari, with a delivery reach of more than 13,000 pin codes.

GRAB is a subsidiary company of Reliance Industries (Reliance Retail), and the exclusive in-house logistics provider for JioMart, closely working with 500 other clients like Ola Dash, KFC, Zepto, Flipkart, Shoppers Stop, McDonald's, Swiggy, and Big Basket, to name a few.

Could you tell us a bit about the services that you offer? 

GRAB is India's largest and fastest-growing tech-abled last-mile logistics solution company that caters to businesses ranging from restaurants, online grocers, offline and online retailers, e-commerce platforms, Kirana stores, pharmacies, etc.

The company focuses on providing a host of technology-backed logistics solutions to businesses that allows them to deliver cost-effectively and efficiently to their customers. The company's vast clientele gets connected to the crowdsourced network of GRAB's 100k+ supply fleet to fulfill the pickup and delivery on a highly customizable framework.

What’s the number one challenge you solve for your clients? 

GRAB helps in providing deliveries, including smart order assignment, delivery tracking, and navigation to the customer while optimizing the cost for its client through building a strong network of fleets. GRAB also helps customers track their products on a real-time basis.

How does GRAB address the rising demand for shared economy models?

Shared economy models have trended to be a ubiquitous concept in logistics, especially with the rise of e-Commerce and quick deliveries. At GRAB, our service offerings are not sector and business agnostic.

We cater to companies like Ola Dash, KFC, Zepto, and Flipkart among others to deliver parcels to homes and businesses. Our business model is built on a crowdsourced network of fleet that allows delivery capacity to expand and contract based on varying demand cycles.

In the rise of the gig economy, we ensure that our delivery executives are paid per delivery or paid per km and that their fuel cost is also covered in their services. We’re aiding our delivery partners with incentives to switch to EVs and electric bikes, which will further reduce their dependence on fuel and thus save costs. We’re providing them with charging options and swappable battery solutions so that they aren’t delayed because of charging batteries.

What are some current trends or technologies in the industry that excite you? 

Trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are bringing efficiencies to the industry. GRAB has adopted these technologies to make deliveries smarter and faster by suggesting the optimal route and entry point based on the traffic conditions.

Last-mile logistics solution companies are seeing a lot of trends in the industry, like never before. In this competitive business environment, real-time data will play a major role in providing customers and delivery executives with smarter, faster, and more collaborative solutions.