CARGOCONNECT-AUGUST 2025 - Flipbook - Page 40
SPECIAL FEATURE : PAY-PER-USE LOGISTICS
RAJ SOMANI
Founder and CEO,
LinkedLogi
India’s logistics will remain
contract-driven because long-term
agreements are the only way to
stabilise rates, ensure capacity,
and maintain service quality across
fragmented supply chains. However,
enterprises today aren’t moving away
from contracts, they’re upgrading
how contracts are executed. They are
now demanding smarter execution
around those contracts — faster
onboarding, dynamic benchmarking,
and overflow support when primary
lanes fail.
spikes, regional launches, or time-bound marketing
campaigns, companies today need warehouse capacity
that expands and contracts without leaving behind
underutilised space or capital strain. Jakhar highlights
that this adaptability directly prevents stranded costs
and poor utilisation—common issues in traditional
昀椀xed-asset models.
This demand for scalability is echoed by Patil,
who says, “For many fast-growing brands, the biggest
hurdle isn’t generating demand. It’s managing growth
without overextending capital. Flexible warehousing has
emerged as a smart alternative to 昀椀xed, single-client
setups. By leveraging shared infrastructure, resources,
and technology, companies can access premium-grade
facilities without bearing the full cost of ownership.”
Patil notes that at KSH, multi-client setups are
speci昀椀cally designed to help brands ramp up operations
quickly or pull back without sunk costs—offering a
level of control that supports both cautious scaling and
aggressive market entry.
Jain also emphasises this shift toward elasticity
over ownership. He states, “Growing brands today need
elasticity in logistics, not heavy upfront investments.
Flexible warehousing and on-demand freight models
empower them to dynamically adjust storage and
distribution based on market 昀氀uctuations. This means
lower inventory holding costs, faster go-to-market
strategies, and reduced dependence on long-term leases
or owned infrastructure.”
Further to that, Jain adds that integrating demanddriven freight management with tech-backed visibility
tools enables brands to test new geographies, fulfil
last-mile deliveries seamlessly, and preserve working
capital—all while maintaining high levels of service
e昀케ciency.
Prozo’s freight operations follow a similar ethos.
“Our platform integrates with on-demand carriers and
aligns routing decisions with order type, pin code SLAs,
and zone-level capacity,” says Jakhar. This integration
removes the constraints of static routes and minimum
guarantees, allowing logistics expenditures to track
closely with business activity. The ability to modulate
40 | CARGOCONNECT AUGUST 2025
NAMAN VIJAY
Co-Founder and CEO,
ClickPost
Omnichannel fulfilment today needs
the flexibility to serve walk-in
customers, same-day app orders,
and returns, all from the same supply chain. That’s only possible when
logistics is tech-driven and modular.
What cloud did for IT, programmable
logistics is now doing for fulfilment.
That is, letting brands plug into APIs,
scale by usage, and integrate online
and offline inventory in real-time. At
ClickPost, we’ve seen this become
the foundation for building responsive omnichannel supply chains.
freight dynamically means brands are not overpaying
during slack periods nor scrambling for capacity during
demand peaks. As Jakhar puts it, “The end result is a
model where logistics costs follow sales performance.”
For brands looking to expand into new territories
without sunk costs in dedicated infrastructure, this
model provides both agility and con昀椀dence.
On this point, Patil adds, “On the freight side, ondemand models provide similar 昀氀exibility. Rather than
committing to 昀椀xed routes or 昀氀eet capacities, brands
can move goods as and when required. This is especially
useful for seasonal spikes or market pilots. Our clients
bene昀椀t from a robust tech-driven solution that allows
them to enter a new zone, ramp up operations quickly,
and scale or exit without sunk costs.”
Raj reinforces the idea that flexibility in freight
and warehousing doesn’t come at the cost of structure.
“Flexibility doesn’t mean removing structure — it means
being prepared for disruption,” he notes. Real-world
logistics often collide with uncontrollable factors—
monsoons, labour strikes, port congestion—that render
primary contracts ineffective, even if well-drafted.
Enterprises today expect logistics partners to offer
reliable fall back options that activate instantly when
such disruptions occur.
LinkedLogi addresses this by providing veri昀椀ed
multimodal backup capacity—road, rail, air, and
ocean—ready to kick in without tearing down the
original contract. This form of contingency planning
re昀氀ects a new breed of logistics execution: contracts
with built-in elasticity, where resilience is as important
as rate negotiation. As Raj suggests, the focus is not on
eliminating contracts but on surrounding them with
intelligent systems and responsive backup mechanisms
that protect business continuity.
This operational freedom is transforming how
emerging businesses approach market expansion.
Naman observes, “One thing I’ve learned working with
hundreds of growing brands is that logistics can either
accelerate or kill momentum. We’ve had clients test new
regions without signing a single lease, just by tapping
into ClickPost’s integrated network of carriers and 3PLs.
