How Shipway Is Using AI To Drive Post-Purchase Efficiency For India’s D2C Brands

by · Inc42

SUMMARY

  • India's D2C market is projected to surpass $310 Bn by 2030, but fulfilment is emerging as a key profitability challenge for ecommerce brands
  • Shipway by Unicommerce is betting that post-purchase operations will become a major competitive differentiator as ecommerce expands beyond metros
  • Using shipment data across thousands of pincodes, Shipway's AI engine ShipSense aims to help brands improve delivery success
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India’s D2C economy is projected to surpass $310 Bn by 2030, and the brands driving this growth have largely mastered the front end of ecommerce, building products, acquiring customers and driving online conversions. However, managing what happens after checkout remains a far more complex task.  

As ecommerce penetrates deeper into Tier II & III markets, fulfilment is becoming increasingly complex. D2C brands in India typically report return-to-origin (RTO) rates of 20-30%, while categories such as fashion, footwear and lifestyle often see even higher rates due to their reliance on cash-on-delivery orders. 

For context, an RTO occurs when a delivery fails, and the package is returned to the seller, creating additional costs. Failed deliveries, fragmented courier networks and rising customer support costs can quietly eat into margins, turning fulfilment from a logistics challenge into a data and intelligence problem. This is the opportunity Shipway by Unicommerce is looking to address. 

Shipway operates an AI-powered ecommerce logistics and post-purchase automation platform that helps brands manage fulfilment after checkout. Today, it serves thousands of brands and processes millions of shipment events annually across India, providing visibility into delivery patterns across customers, courier partners and geographies.