In the near future we plan to expand by signing with more players in the pharma sector

Most pharma products come with a limited shelf-life as they are environment sensitive. Shadowfax, crowd sources delivery platform, is using technology to provide a solution for this challenge with 45 minutes hyper local deliveries, same day heavy shipment deliveries and express logistics pan-India. Abhishek Bansal, Co-Founder & CEO, Shadowfax share more details about his company with Usha Sharma

Tell us about Shadowfax and its ongoing activities.

Shadowfax is India’s largest crowd sources delivery platform. Using our advanced state of the art technology we are completely disrupting the way businesses look at logistics and supply chain. We’ve three prime offerings right now, namely – NOW, INSTA & CONNECT wherein we enable businesses to carry out 45 min hyper local deliveries, same day heavy shipment deliveries and express logistics pan-India respectively.

How do you partner with online and offline pharmacy stores and what are the regulatory requirements you adhere to before joining hands with them?

We partner with many online and offline pharmacies and help them in movement of goods from the wholesaler to retailer and also the last mile to the end consumer. In terms of regulatory requirements we partner with these pharmacies and procure the necessary approvals wherever required.

Is the less than 90-minutes delivery also happening in the medicine segment?

Yes, it is pretty much happening and growing at a rapid pace. With penetration of internet and shift in consumer behaviour, we’ve observed that this segment is one of the fastest growing ones and also helps brands immensely increase the customer delight quotient and thus increase their popularity.

What is your opinion on the role of IOT in the pharma industry? What role will it play in bridging the gap between manufacturers and suppliers and removing the inefficiencies across the supply chain?

Most pharma products come with a limited shelf-life in a controlled environment. The environment sensitive products, specially those susceptible to temperature variations and sunlight exposures, may degenerate immediately with fluctuations in the environment. The IOT helps in tracing the environmental benchmarks at all times and making a real time info regarding packages / shipments / lots available to the manufacturers and suppliers. This helps in maximising controls, reducing costs and minimising damages. The IOT of course covers the logistics issues of determining the real time location of package / shipment, estimated delivery time and lags if any, thereby improving the tractability and trace-ability of the package.

What are the challanges  faced with implementation of IOT in the pharma supply chain and how is it dealt with?

Like other sectors, the first challenge is to get the pharma supply chain to adopt IOT. With changing mindsets, awareness building and a positive cost-benefit analysis the hesitations can be tackled. The other challenge is to train people on the use of a new technology but that can be easily tackled with training and continuous usage.

In the Indian market whom do you deem as comeptiotrs and how do you deal with them in a healthy manner?

We tend to focus on the first principle and build our solutions from the bottom. We aren’t worried much about the competition and firmly believe that the markets will always choose the best solution.

What is your market presence in India for the pharma sector and how do you plan to expand it?

Shadowfax has made its presence felt in the delivery sector in the pharma industry as we deliver for a number of major players in the industry. We use LCV and bikes to ensure safe and on time delivery of the products. In the near future we plan to expand by signing with more players in the pharma sector.

Tell us the company’s business strategies for next three to five years?

We as a company plan to invest strongly in technology and cost optimisation solutions which we are rolling out to our business partners, thereby giving them a never seen before level of transparency, convenience and trust.