increased revenue for truck owners, cost
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With more than 2.5 Lakhs trucks and 10,000+
clients, Blackbuck is poised to develop an
indelible foothold over India’s $160 Billion
logistics sector. Blackbuck has been a pioneer
in bringing the offline operations of trucking
online, thus building a robust supply chain via
the process of combining logistics services with
data science.
However, with growing competition from
other well-funded logistics startups, Blackbuck
must create sturdy operational advantages
which are not easily replicable by other
players, to sustain in the long-term. During
their discussion in March 2017, the founders of
Blackbuck – Rajesh, Chanakya and
Balasubramaniam must realize that the
services platform will not only amplify truck
owners’ and drivers’ experience but will
provide the company inimitable competitive
operational advantage.
The immediate effects of launching the
platform that we recognized are: identification
of the optimal route for truck drivers,
rerouting (deviation from the usual route) in
case of economies-of-scale being generated by
simultaneous order pickup requests from
alternative routes, and truck to truck
deliveries – significantly cutting down the fuel
cost and lead time for smaller orders (time
spent in waiting for the smaller orders to be
clubbed together or included with a large
order). Extensive data generated by real-time
tracking would enable optimal routing,
rerouting, and truck-to-truck deliveries.
One of the other significant operational
advantage is potential collaboration between
truck owners having different base locations
enabled by real-time monitoring of both orders
& trucks and data based algorithmic
collaborative suggestions for different truck
owners.
Overall, the services platform will lead to
better asset utilization & consequently
savings driven by reduction in fuel
consumption because of optimal routing,
truck-to-truck deliveries and collaborative
behaviour. Over the longer-term, this solidifies
the company’s triple bottom line making it a
sustainable business model.
Not launching the Services Platform will allow
the company to expand its focus on the
existing freight business. However, scaling it
without building sustainable operational
advantage will leave Blackbuck open to intense
competition from other market players.
The Services Platform will be a separate
vertical but one which compliments the
existing Freight Marketplace.
INTRODUCTION – THROUGH
TRUCK OWNERS’ LENS
Mr. Raja Tiwari, the owner of Jaipur based Raja
Motors, has a fleet of 10 trucks, 5 with capacity
4.5MT and the rest with capacity 2.5MT. They
ship packages across major hubs of Rajasthan
and occasionally deliver orders to nearby
states of Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and
Gujarat.
Let us see how the launch of new Services
Platform offered by Black Buck can improvise
the business of Raja Motors.
OPTIMAL ROUTE
Raja Motors receives an order for 1.5MT
quantity to be shipped from Jaipur to Jodhpur
and another order for 2.0MT quantity to be
shipped from Jaipur to Jaisalmer, both to be
delivered in 24 hours. All trucks are currently
idle at the hub Jaipur. To get the best route,
Mr. Raja taps the “Find Route” option on the
application.
Our app evaluates options of shipping the
orders through different truck combinations.
Our algorithm considers parameters like
mileage, route, average travel time etc to find
the cost of shipping. With an objective to
minimise the cost of shipping and delivering
the orders on time, the app suggests the
following.
One 4.5 MT Truck goes from Jaipur to Jodhpur,
delivers 1.5MT quantity and then Jodhpur to
Jaisalmer to deliver the rest.
REROUTING
This time Raja Motors has a single order of
3MT from Jaipur to Jaisalmer, and a truck of
capacity 4.5MT is on way from Jaipur to
Jaisalmer.
With real time tracking, we know that the truck
will still take an hour to cross Nagaur.
Raja Motor receives another order to ship 1MT
from Bikaner to Jaisalmer. The app calculates
that if the trucks is drifted from Nagaur to
Bikaner, it can carry both the shipments in one
go straight to Jaisalmer, where the estimated
time to complete the modified trip is still
within the promised time to the client.
TRUCK-TO-TRUCK DELIVERIES
While a 4.5 MT truck carrying 2.7MT goods is
on the way to Jaisalmer from Jaipur, there
comes another order of 1.0MT from Jaipur to
Jaisalmer on an urgent basis. As the trucks are
GPS enabled, we know that the truck first truck
is in Nagaur. Assuming it to be a standard
delivery & still having significant time left
before the promised delivery time, the app
suggests Mr. Raja to ask the first driver to wait
and sends another 2.5MT truck from Jaipur just
to the waiting point to transfer goods to the
previous truck. This way, our priority orders
are delivered as usual, while saving cost.
OUTSOURCING
Mr. Sikander Ali is another fleet owner based
in Old Delhi. He runs Ali Transport. They usually
take shipment orders to major hubs of Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Mr. Raja gets a delivery order of 4.2MT from
Jaipur to Delhi, from Bonds India Pvt. Ltd.
Capacity utilisation of the truck is above 93%
(4.2/4.5) while dropping the shipment.
However, on the way back, the truck will have
to return empty. Say one-way cost is 20 to Mr.
Raja. He has to charge his client at least 50 to
make a 25% mark up on his direct cost.
Meanwhile there is an order of equivalent
amount to be shipped to Jaipur from Delhi. In
the normal scenario, the order for this client,
Loca Lola India Pvt. Ltd, is given to Ali Transport
for shipping it to Jaipur from Delhi.
If both Raja Motors and Ali Transport are
registered on our Services Platform, it suggests
Mr. Ali to outsource the delivery to another
fleet driver (Raja Motors) using a revenue
sharing model.
With a portion of costs covered in the return
trip for Raja Motors, Bonds India can now be
priced at 40. Ali Transport also can now charge
40 to Loca Lola. Keeping 15 for himself. He
shares the rest 25 with Mr. Raja

With an improvement in operations, we are
able to benefit not just the fleet owners Mr.
Raja and Mr. Ali, but also their respective
clients. This helps them run a better business.
AMENITIES MAP
While Mr. Raja is now making good profits out
of delivery services, he now wants to make his
employees’ work life better. Blackbuck
understands needs of truck driver during their
work hours, and for every trip we provide Mr.
Raja information about the petrol pumps and
local motels on way, so that drivers could
access facilities on the way itself.
EXPROPRIATING AND IMPROVISING
THE RIVIGO MODEL
Mr. Raja is now well known for the quality of
his services at a lower price. Distributors rely
on him for long-distance orders. To give better
service, he now has a hub at Varanasi, Uttar
Pradesh to cater to the market nearby.
He just received an order from Ajmer to
Varanasi and Driver A is all set to driver the
order. Another shipment, taken by Driver B is
on way from Varanasi to Ajmer. While he is
happy about his business growing and
distributors trusting him, he is worried about
truck drivers who have to spend time away
from their family, as Varanasi is around 18hrs
away from Ajmer.
In order to give a better personal time to his
drivers, he takes support from Blackbuck.
Blackbuck gives the following solution: Jhansi,
a hub midway Ajmer and Varanasi is chosen as
a point of exchange. Both drivers, Driver A and
Driver B reach Jhansi individually, exchange
their vehicles and go back to their hubs. While
the pick up and drop location remain the same,
the travel time for each driver is significantly
reduced.
Ajmer Jhansi Varanasi
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS
With on time deliveries and better services
along with better life for employees, Raja
Motors is a trusted fleet service provider not
just for distributors, but for local companies
too, so much that they want to shift the onus
of local distributions to Raja Motors itself.
Claystore is a local company that manufactures
decorative items like wall hangings and toys
made of clay. It has 4 production units within
the state and 7 shops. The owner of Claystore
asks Raja Motors to deliver the units produced
to the shops. Coupling known costs for each
route with advanced transportation algorithm,
BlackBuck now provides with Raja Motors, the
most optimal way of transporting items from
production units to shops. This helps Raja
Motors make margin out of such orders and
keeps the faith of local companies in Raja
Motors.
OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
 Better Asset Utilisation
 Increased revenues for all
stakeholders
 Cost savings for all stakeholders
 Fuel savings
 Higher packing efficiency
SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL
BENEFITS
 Higher employee satisfaction
 Optimal use of fuel for a sustainable
future
 Logistics is huge cost component of
upcoming businesses in the
eCommerce space. Blackbuck is
helping such startups to grow by
optimizing their logistics costs.
HOW TO USE DATA?
With a number of fleet owners like Mr. Raja
and Mr. Ali signing up on Blackbuck, we are
now enriched with data of fleet operators.
Going forward, we can use this data for more
improvements and additional benefits to our
models, some of which are listed below.
THE ROUTE MAP
Usually trucks pass through areas which are
less inhabited by the local city commuters, and
it is likely to be changed by regulatory
authorities. Our platform will calculate the
expected time in each of the allowed routes
and give an estimate of the same to the truck
owner. With the expected traffic at each route
known, the model will also provide a detailed
map to the driver, where (s)he gets the entire
route with minor details.
SAFETY
Truck drivers sometimes have to work
overnight, which is risky. Our platform can
help digitize the speed limit, maintain
accident-prone areas’ list and monitor drivers’
live speed, fuel levels, tire pressure etc, thus
enhancing the safety of both the truck and
the driver.
INCREASED PORTFOLIO OF
SERVICES FOR DISTRIBUTORS
With a higher number of fleet owners
registered on Blackbuck, the matching
algorithm will work in an even better way as
options of outsourcing or applying any other
model will increase. BlackBuck will have the
opportunity to reduce the social cost (cost of
each fleet owner, time savings, better handling
of articles), the improvement being Pareto
optimal.
It will allow Blackbuck to offer a portfolio of
services to its business clients e.g. mass,
popular or premium with differential features
like live tracking, one day delivery etc.,
therefore catering to a larger customer base
and maximizing the economic rent it extracts
per user.
COST CALCULATOR
With huge database of travel time and price of
each trip, cost estimation efficiency of an
upcoming trip gets better. BlackBuck with its
cost calculator” feature gives its business
clients a better idea of not just their logistics
expense but also that BlackBuck is the value for
money partner.
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES OF
STEPPING IN
 Both businesses mutually benefit each
other
 Long term sustainability of the
company
 Winning people in all forms
 Higher goodwill generated over time
DOWNSIDE