Reinventing Last-Mile Deliveries: How Covid -19 has Changed Last-Mile Deliveries Forever
When news of the COVID-19 outbreak surfaced late last year, little did we know that it will become  one of the biggest global health crises in history after the Spanish Flu.Â
 With social distancing now being the norm throughout the world, businesses that - in the past - have relied on inbound foot traffic to move merchandise, food, groceries, drugs, medical supplies, and other items are now scrambling to get into the game of âlast mileâ deliveries so they can compete.Â
 Today, as people shop online for everything from shoes to sofas, and new technologies continue to spur double-digit ecommerce growth, online merchants must innovate their last-mile delivery experiences or lose customers to competitors that offer superior services.Â
 The Indian e-commerce logistics sector has not only witnessed remarkable growth since the onset of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic but has also evolved drastically to keep pace with the fast-changing world. While the onset of the pandemic resulted in multiple lockdowns and restrictions on movement, it also gave way to a dramatic increase in the demand for essential items such as food, groceries, and pharmaceuticals, and people turned to online shopping for doorstep delivery of products.
As consumer demand increased, so did the competition in the market amongst e-commerce sellers, paving the way for the rise of hyper-local delivery services. What is hyper-local delivery? Today, online shopping is more popular than ever, especially in metro cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai with the number of online shoppers in India projected to cross 220 Million by 2025. Online retailers/e-commerce sellers are now delivering goods to more than 20,000 pin codes across the country, mainly with the help of third-party logistics providers/logistics aggregators. Simply put, hyper-local delivery refers to a delivery model that caters to a smaller geographical area.
Third-party logistics providers have managed to widen their array of services to hyper-local deliveries, warehousing and order fulfilment, and cost-effective packaging solutions. In addition to these, aggregators have also expanded their geographical footprint by catering to an ever-increasing number of pin codes to ensure that doorstep delivery becomes a pan-India prerequisite amidst the current crisis.
 The pandemic has indisputably changed the rules of the game when it comes to last-mile delivery businesses. Not just in metro cities, e-commerce logistics players are also ensuring last-mile deliveries in tier-II, tier-III cities that are witnessing greater penetration of logistical networks largely due to the pandemic-induced reverse migration.