How Pidge Transformed Last-Mile Delivery for India’s Premier Hyperlocal Plant Marketplace

The Story of Urvann

Urvann gets its name from combining the words ‘Urban’ and ‘Vann’ (forests). Their goal is to bring the essence of nature and forests to every urban home. Founded by alumni from IIM-Ahmedabad and ISB, Urvann stands as India’s pioneering hyperlocal marketplace for plants and gardening products. With a diverse selection of over 2000 products, Urvann itself is growing like a well-nurtured tree from the ground up.

So what was stopping Urvann from going into full bloom?

#1 Manual operations delayed growth

In the early stages, handling the entire order management, rider allocation, routing, and distance calculations manually on spreadsheets was manageable. However, with business expansion, the manual process became time-consuming, error-prone, and hindered accurate data analysis, delaying their growth trajectory.

#2 No visibility to customers

While Urvann’s customers received a basic notification about their shipment’s dispatch, the absence of a tracking link left them in the dark about the delivery time. This lack of transparency diluted the overall brand experience, and resulted in critical customer communication gaps.

#3 High First Attempt Failure

Without tracking links or ETA notifications, customers frequently missed deliveries, resulting in a high first-attempt failure rate. As riders were compensated per delivery attempt, this significantly inflated Urvann’s service costs.

#4 Inefficient Routing and Sequencing

Urvann’s operations team spent 1-2 hours daily creating fresh delivery routes based on orders. Relying solely on riders’ ‘tribal knowledge’ of the delivery areas led to serious inefficiencies, with multiple riders covering the same area under different routes.

#5 No control on remote rider fleet

Without trackWith no in-house riders in Bangalore, Urvann relied on local delivery providers. However, the lack of visibility and control over last-mile deliveries made ensuring efficient and timely service a constant struggle for Sambhav’s team.

How Pidge Is Helping Urvann to Sprout, Blossom, and Flourish?

With the Pidge SaaS solution, Sambhav and Akanksha got complete flexibility on managing their own fleet and operations in Delhi NCR.  The Pidge team kicked off their transformative journey at Urvann’s Ghaziabad hub. Running meticulous simulations, Pidge delved deep into the unique process flows, ultimately automating delivery operations across all 5 hubs. Today, Pidge is the driving force behind Urvann’s last-mile delivery evolution, offering:

#1 Multi-Pick-up, Single-Drop

Each Urvann hub has tied up with multiple nurseries and plant vendors around it. With Pidge, the Urvann team can do  Multi-pick-up, Single-Drop deliveries very easily. For e.g. If a customer places an order for 5 plants, all those plants may come from 5 different vendors.

Empowered by Smart Allocation, Urvann optimizes order delivery by selecting partners based on criteria such as lowest cost, quickest rider, and SLA adherence rating. This intelligent system ensures that every order, whether On-demand (same day) or Scheduled (next day), is assigned to the most suitable riders, enhancing overall delivery efficiency.

#3 Higher Customer satisfaction

As customers proactively receive notifications via email, SMS and WhatsApp on their shipments, customer complaints have dropped significantly, and Urvann has started receiving positive feedback  appreciating overall delivery experience.

In Bangalore, they entrusted Pidge with their entire last-mile delivery management through Pidge Managed Services. With deep experience on managing fragile, delicate and perishable shipments, the Pidge team helped Urvann scale quickly with the right team of riders trained in handling such orders and also manage the riders efficiently with smart Pidge technology. Dedicated account managers seamlessly navigated Urvann’s last-mile operations presenting Sambhav and Akanksha with:

#1 Consistent Delivery Quality with Smart Partner-Pairing

Pidge has partnered with specific local delivery partners that meet Urvann’s unique requirements. Whether it’s a 1-ton covered truck ensuring proper plant storage without unnecessary stacking or other specialized needs, Pidge ensures consistent and tailored delivery solutions.

#2 Zero Unfulfilled Demand

Within Pidge’s extensive ecosystem of local and major 3PL partners, Urvann is assured that every order reaches its destination and not a single order is left undelivered.

The Pidge Impact, Urvann numbers do the talking…

As Urvann continues to sprout new shoots in different directions, Pidge is proud to power that journey with exceptional solutions that deliver the highest efficiency and fastest growth. 

Wishing them a journey that is as resilient, fragrant and fast-growing as the Madhumalti from Urvann’s own gardens.