How Shipway Is Using AI to Drive Post-Purchase Efficiency for India’s D2C Brands
Buying online is easy. Getting the order delivered without trouble is the hard part. Shipway, a logistics-tech company owned by Unicommerce, is using AI to fix this. It helps India’s D2C brands handle everything that happens after a customer clicks “buy”. This is called the post-purchase stage. AI, or artificial intelligence, is software that learns from data to make smart decisions. Shipway uses it to cut failed deliveries, lower costs, and keep shoppers happy.
D2C means direct-to-consumer. These are brands that sell straight to shoppers, often through their own websites, without a middleman shop. For these brands, a smooth delivery can decide whether they make a profit. Here is how Shipway is helping.
Why the post-purchase stage matters
For years, brands spent most of their energy getting people to buy. Now the focus is shifting to what happens after the sale. Kapil Makhija, CEO of Unicommerce, put it simply. “Historically, brands focused heavily on customer acquisition and conversion. Today, profitability increasingly depends on what happens after checkout,” he said.
The big problem is failed deliveries. In India, many orders come back unopened. This is called return-to-origin, or RTO. It means the parcel could not be delivered and came back to the seller. D2C brands often see RTO rates of 20% to 30%. In fashion and footwear, it can be even higher. Every failed delivery costs the brand money in shipping, packing, and lost sales.
What is ShipSense?
Shipway’s main AI tool is called ShipSense. It is a “fulfilment intelligence engine”. In plain words, it is smart software that studies data to make delivery decisions better. Fulfilment means the whole job of getting an order to the customer.
ShipSense looks at three types of data to decide the best way to ship each order:
- Order intelligence: where the order is going, its value, and the delivery timeline.
- Customer intelligence: the buyer’s past orders, return history, and whether they often refuse cash-on-delivery parcels.
- Carrier intelligence: how well each courier is performing right now, including delivery speed and RTO trends.
By combining these, ShipSense can pick the right courier for each parcel and flag risky orders early. Cash-on-delivery, or COD, means the customer pays in cash when the parcel arrives. COD orders are riskier because buyers can simply refuse them at the door.
The results so far
Shipway shares real numbers from brands using its tools. The improvements are clear and measurable.
| Brand / metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Dr. Veda — delivery success rate | Rose from 79% to 85% |
| Bummer (innerwear) — RTO | 67% reduction |
| ONYC (children’s footwear) — delivery success | 94% success rate |
| ONYC — shipping cost | 31% reduction |
| Platform-wide — RTO | Up to 50% reduction |
| Platform-wide — WISMO queries | Up to 60% drop |
WISMO stands for “Where Is My Order?”. These are the messages customers send when they are worried about their parcel. Fewer WISMO queries means happier customers and less work for support teams.
The business behind it
Shipway is not a small experiment. It processes millions of shipment events every year across India. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) run rate was about Rs 85 crore in the fourth quarter of FY26. ARR is the yearly income a company expects from its regular, repeat customers. A “run rate” takes recent results and projects them over a full year.
The opportunity is large. India’s D2C market is projected to cross $310 billion by 2030. As more brands sell online, more parcels need smart handling. Beyond ShipSense, Shipway offers courier allocation, shipment tracking, COD verification over WhatsApp and IVR, returns management, and automated workflows for failed deliveries. IVR means interactive voice response, the automated phone menus you hear when you call a helpline.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | Shipway, owned by Unicommerce |
| CEO (Unicommerce) | Kapil Makhija |
| Main AI tool | ShipSense fulfilment intelligence engine |
| ARR run rate (Q4 FY26) | ~Rs 85 crore |
| India D2C market by 2030 | $310 billion (projected) |
| Typical D2C RTO rate | 20%–30% |
What comes next
Shipway wants to be the “operating system for ecommerce fulfilment intelligence”. That means a single brain that runs all delivery decisions for a brand. The company is expanding into Shipway Cargo for B2B and quick-commerce logistics. B2B means business-to-business, where one company sells to another. Quick-commerce is ultra-fast delivery, often within minutes.
This fits a wider trend. Indian companies are weaving AI agents into daily work. For example, marketing firms are betting big on automation, as seen in news about how MoEngage is betting the future of marketing on millions of AI agents. AI is moving from a buzzword to a daily tool across Indian business.
FAQ
What is Shipway?
Shipway is a logistics-technology company owned by Unicommerce. It helps online and D2C brands manage the post-purchase stage, from choosing couriers to handling returns, using AI.
What is RTO and why does it hurt brands?
RTO means return-to-origin, when a parcel cannot be delivered and comes back to the seller. It costs the brand in shipping and lost sales. D2C brands often see RTO rates of 20% to 30%.
How does ShipSense reduce failed deliveries?
ShipSense studies order, customer, and courier data together. It picks the best courier for each order and flags risky parcels early, which lowers failed deliveries and shipping costs.
Why it matters (especially for India / founders)
For Indian D2C founders, this is a profit story. A 20% to 30% RTO rate can quietly eat into margins. Tools that cut RTO and shipping costs can turn a loss-making order into a profitable one. The message is clear: the post-purchase stage is now a place to win or lose money.
It also shows where Indian startups can build. India’s D2C boom is creating demand for smart logistics tools. Founders who solve real, costly problems, like failed deliveries, can grow fast. AI is the engine, but the value comes from fixing everyday pain. Builders looking at this space can also explore top generative coding tools to ship such products faster.
The takeaway
Shipway is showing that AI’s biggest win in ecommerce may come after the sale, not before it. By using ShipSense to study order, customer, and courier data, it helps D2C brands cut failed deliveries by up to 50% and lower costs. With India’s D2C market headed toward $310 billion by 2030, smart post-purchase tools are set to become essential, not optional.
