A startup for e-commerce delivery.

Byline: Mutaher Khan

All of us have come with at least one online retail idea at some point in life while discussing possible businesses with friends. From selling those t-shirts with a dope design to getting shawls from Kashmir, far too many castles have been built in the air. But before things even take root, you are occupied with questions like how to do deliveries, manage payments and what not. Enter Trax, and some of those plans can be materialised.

Trax is a Karachi-headquartered B2B logistics startup focusing on e-commerce fulfillment. So whether you have an Instagram handle selling something or want to create a digital footprint of your family business, these guys have a solution for you.

Be it the typical cash-on-delivery service or the last mile, the startup lets you do it all using its web portal, Sonic. Get in touch, tell your requirements to get a tailor-made quote and once you have the credentials for the system, book your order from there and then track the location at each stage until it is with the customer.

The startup has a fleet of 300 riders plus a few trucks and containers to manage bulk movement both intra- and inter-city, with operations spanning from Karachi to Peshawar.

It is the brainchild of Muhammad Hassan Khan - an entrepreneur who has previously founded and sold another B2B logistics startup by the name of Stallion Delivery - and Asad Abdulla, a whose family owns the IBL Group, the conglomerate behind brands like Searle Company and Habitt. Trax launched operations in July 2017 with cash injection from the parent company and has since then scaled to a team of more than 400 people.

'We felt that the logistics space had ample room for disruption and by that time, the idea of peer-to-peer model had taken root in Pakistan thanks to the likes of Careem and Uber. These factors convinced us to enter this arena,' recalls Abdulla. 'Initially we relied on IBL's tech department to save on costs but soon after hired an in-house team which gave us the freedom to experiment and pivot as required,' adds Khan.

While the company boasts some big names like Gul Ahmed and Diner's as clients, its focus is instead on the smaller online retailers, from a largely unknown handicrafts seller in Dadu doing business through Instagram or other social media channels to a small website catering to a specific niche.

'Many of these small sellers have a very loyal base of customers and often keep an in-house fleet to ensure smooth deliveries...

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