Shadowfax bets big on e-commerce and quick commerce as scale, tech and automation drive profitability

India’s last-mile logistics landscape is entering a decisive phase, and Shadowfax is positioning itself at the heart of this transformation. Riding on the twin engines of e-commerce and quick commerce, the company sees sustained growth momentum over the next several years, backed by aggressive geographic expansion, technology-led efficiencies and rising operating leverage.

Speaking on the growth drivers, Shadowfax founder & CEO Abhishek Bansal said both e-commerce and quick commerce continue to deliver strong traction for the company.

“We are seeing a very high degree of growth both in e-commerce as well as on the quick commerce side. In e-commerce, between FY22 to now, we have rapidly gained market share from 8% to 23%. We see continued momentum in gaining market share and driving growth for us,” Bansal said.

Quick commerce, he added, has emerged as one of the fastest-growing verticals in the country’s logistics ecosystem.

“Quick commerce is a journey that this country is taking, where it has probably become the fastest-growing vertical in the industry. We are working with everyone. Any player that you name, we will be there, providing services to them. We are seeing good momentum across both service lines, and that is something that will continue,” he said, noting that the overall business mix is unlikely to see a dramatic shift over the next four to five years as both verticals grow at healthy double-digit rates.

Technology as a Differentiator in the Last MileAs competition intensifies in last-mile delivery, Shadowfax is leaning heavily on proprietary technology to improve speed, accuracy and cost efficiency. Vaibhav Khandelwal, Co-Founder & CTO, said one of the biggest challenges in last-mile logistics is India’s complex addressing system.“We all place orders on e-commerce platforms with our address string, but a system does not understand an address. It needs the latitude and longitude,” Khandelwal explained. “We have created our own map, which allows us to map each and every address in India to a dot location.”This in-house mapping layer, he said, enables faster and more efficient deliveries while also unlocking operating leverage by allowing nearby orders to be intelligently clubbed together.

Beyond mapping, artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded across operations. Highlighting reverse logistics as an example, Khandelwal said AI helps validate product pickups in real time.

“Our delivery partner clicks an image of the product to be picked up, and our AI engine gives a correct prompt on whether it is the right product or not. A delivery partner may not know a Tommy Hilfiger or a Gucci bag, but the AI engine understands these nuances and drives the right efficiency,” he said.

Expanding Deep into BharatGeographic expansion, particularly beyond metros, remains a key priority. Over the past three years, Shadowfax has doubled its service footprint from 7,000 to about 14,000 pin codes.

“India has about 19,000 pin codes, and we believe we will continue expanding over the next couple of years,” Bansal said. “With the capital behind us, we are going to rapidly invest in ensuring that we service every village and every town in this country.”

The company is also stepping up investments in physical infrastructure.

“We are going to heavily invest in real estate, building infrastructure and state-of-the-art automation, which can drive both speed and cost benefits for the overall business,” he added.

Focus on Enterprise and D2C PartnershipsOn the client side, Shadowfax continues to sharpen its focus on last-mile delivery for enterprise clients, particularly in time-sensitive segments such as food delivery, quick commerce and standard e-commerce.

“Our focus has been on orders where we deliver to the end customer — be it 30-minute food delivery, 10-minute quick commerce, same-day or next-day e-commerce,” Khandelwal said.

The company is consciously staying away from traditional B2B logistics models such as PTL or integrated line-haul operations. Instead, it is doubling down on partnerships with D2C brands and new-age startups.

“We are focusing heavily on D2C or direct-to-consumer brands as we grow in the next phase of the journey,” he said.

Operating Leverage Kicks InAs volumes scale, Shadowfax is beginning to see tangible improvements in profitability. Bansal highlighted a sharp turnaround in margins over the past few years.

“We have grown from minus 7% EBITDA to about 2.9% EBITDA in H1,” he said.

The gains, he noted, are coming from across the supply chain — better last-mile efficiency, improved truck utilisation, lower per-unit costs and significant leverage in fixed costs such as sorting centres and real estate.

“As more orders come in a single geography, our last mile becomes more efficient. When trucks get better utilised, we see a lower cost per truck. A large part of our remaining costs is fixed, where there is a huge amount of operating leverage,” Bansal said.

Technology and centralisation are also playing a critical role. Manpower costs, he pointed out, have fallen sharply as a share of revenue.

“Our manpower expenses have come down by close to 30–35% as a percentage of sales over the last three years. That is massive operating leverage, and I believe this will continue as we scale,” he added.

With growth visibility across verticals and improving unit economics, Shadowfax appears set to play a defining role in India’s rapidly evolving last-mile logistics story.