Online Indian shopping platform, Meesho is reportedly planning to become the largest e-commerce player as per shipments volume via 3PL (third-party logistics) providers.

Sources claimed that in the financial year 2022-2023, Meesho is expected to double its shipments through 3PL operators to over 1.2 billion, which in turn, helps the SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm to become a major-e-commerce player surpassing Flipkart and Amazon, who also use 3PL platforms but only for a portion of their shipments.

Sourabh Pandey, CXO – Fulfillment & Experience, cited that at the end of the quarter last year, the company expanded over 5 times in order volume propelling Meesho to become the single biggest contributor to the end-to-end 3PL operators. The firm accounts for 35% of all shipments delivered by national third-party logistics companies, he further stated.

Meesho asserts that it follows an asset-light methodology. Moreover, among its key 3PL partners, it counts Shadowfax, Ecom Express, Delhivery, and Xpressbees. The rapid rise of the 3PL sector is fueled by Meesho's quickly expanding scale. In January-March 2022, average daily orders on Meesho increased over fivefold to 2.4 million, year-over-year.

Shipment volumes in the third-party logistics industry in India often surge around the festive season, mirroring the seasonality witnessed in the e-commerce space. However, Meesho, maintained its 3PL shipments at a 16% growth even in the January-March quarter of 2022, adding to an already high foundation from October-December 2021.

With the proliferating digitization, India's USD 792 billion unorganized retail sectors are fully prepared for the next wave of expansion, and Meesho’s target is to enable 100 million small companies.

Meanwhile, the social-commerce platform secured USD 570 million last year from investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Fidelity, Prosus Ventures, B Capital Group, and Facebook. Notably, within five months after the financing, the company's valuation has doubled to USD 4.9 billion.

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https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/meesho-eyes-1-2-bn-shipments-by-next-year-using-third-party-logistics-122060701063_1.html