National delivery partners like India Post, Blue Dart and Delhivery offer pan-India coverage across major cities and pincodes, which is essential for wide reach. Regional partners have specialized coverage in their local areas. When choosing a last mile delivery partner, e-commerce companies should consider the partner's pincode coverage, technical capabilities like shipping APIs, delivery timeliness to keep customers happy, cost effectiveness, and the company's reputation and experience in the industry.

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What are the parameters to evaluate last mile
delivery partners for E-commerce companies in India?
By
Zubin Poonawalla
Following parametersshould be considered while choosing Last
Mile Delivery Partners:
1. Pin-code coverage or Serviceability :
Thisfactor plays a significant rolewhile choosing Last Mile
Partner. Thewider is your reach, more customersyou can
deliver to. Last MileCourier Partnerscanbesegregated into
two categories- NationalPartnersor RegionalPartners.
a. NationalPartners:
They have PAN India network with their delivery hubs located
acrossmajor citiesinIndia. ExamplesincludeIndia Post, Blue
Dart, Delhivery, GoJavas, Busybees, Aramex etc. While
choosing them do checkfor their pin-codescoverage, 3000 &
more pin-codesserviceis a must. (P.S. India Post covers
around 29,000 pin-codes)
b. RegionalPartners:
These are small courier partnershaving specialized coveragein
cityof their inception. ExamplesincludeTanvi Expressfor
West (Maharashtra Gujarat) , Citipost, Ondot for North
(UP,UK, Delhi, HP), Shipdelightfor South (Tamil
Nadu,Kerala), Zodiac for East (West Bengal). Whilechoosing
such partners, completecoverageof their Strong Zones is a
must.
2. Technical capabilities:

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It is needed for keeping trackof your product. Shipping APIis
a must.
3. Delivery TAT:
Customer is the King; so the faster Delivery Partnersdeliver
the products, thehappier areyour customers!
4. Cost effectiveness:
With so many alternativesavailablefor LM Partners, the one
which is cost effective& has had significant e-commerce
experiencewith other players should be selected.
5. Company history:
Market reputation& good word of mouth should also be taken
into account. With e-commercemarketgrowing, everydaya
new logisticscompanyis established. Hencedo visit your LM
Partnerswarehouse/ processing hubsfor checking thefacilities
provided which includesman-power, securityin their hubs
(CCTV camera should be installed), scanning & packing
facilitiesetc.