How democratising last-mile delivery can power Indian SMEs

As India lights up for Diwali, the country’s delivery ecosystem moves into overdrive. Packages race through highways, couriers stretch capacities, and festive campaigns flood digital storefronts. For over two lakh emerging D2C and SME brands, this isn’t just a season of celebration; it’s their biggest opportunity to win new customers and build loyalty. Yet, every on-time delivery strengthens trust; every delay chips away at reputation. In today’s market, delivery performance is brand experience.

The access and expectation gap
India’s D2C market, growing nearly 40% year-on-year and projected to reach $35 billion by 2027, is rewriting consumer commerce. But while online visibility has become democratized, logistics access hasn’t. Large enterprises pre-block courier capacity and secure preferential rates, leaving smaller sellers to navigate inconsistent pickups, higher costs per order, and limited service reach, especially during festive surges when India’s e-commerce GMV crosses $14 billion. And customers don’t adjust expectations for brand size. Whether it’s a household name or a first-generation founder, they expect enterprise-grade speed, live tracking, and delivery assurance every time.

How freight aggregation levels the field
Freight aggregation is redefining logistics participation for small and mid-sized brands. By consolidating shipment volumes from hundreds of sellers, tech-led freight orchestrators negotiate enterprise-scale rates with courier partners. This shared capacity gives SMEs access to the same pricing, speed, and reliability once reserved for large enterprises, without minimum commitments or long-term contracts.

For a founder, that means:

• Lower freight costs per order through collective bargaining power.
• Access to multi-courier routing and performance-based allocation across zones.
• Visibility dashboards showing real-time courier performance, order tracking, and landed cost per shipment.
• Integrated shipment insurance, protecting against in-transit loss or delay.

In short, brands no longer need to “own” infrastructure to deliver with enterprise precision, they can plug into it.

A modern, tech-led freight network
Modern freight orchestration is about data, not depots. AI-led allocation models balance cost, speed, and reliability dynamically. Courier decisions are made lane-by-lane based on real-time performance data, ensuring continuity even during peak weeks.

Platforms like Prozo’s freight orchestration stack unify multi-courier management under one dashboard, giving founders end-to-end shipment visibility, predictive exception alerts, and data-driven insights to plan promotions and scale responsibly.

The real shift: From delivery to credibility
For SMEs, every shipment carries the weight of a reputation. The customer doesn’t see freight aggregation or courier networks, they only see whether the parcel arrived on time and intact. That’s why logistics is no longer just a backend function; it’s the frontline of brand experience. As shared freight networks make enterprise-level service accessible to everyone, India’s festive economy isn’t just expanding it’s becoming more inclusive. Because when access meets agility, even the smallest brand can deliver like the biggest one.