India’s E-Commerce market is growing at a fast rate due to cheap & fast internet availability and penetration of smartphones. Last mile delivery service is provided by most of the E-commerce platforms, including third-party delivery service like Delhivery and E-Kart, etc. Indian online grocery companies like Groffers and Big basket are gaining popularity due to the ease of access and fast doorstep delivery. Online grocery portals deliver a wide variety of daily used products that include perishable items like vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and frozen goods. These items need special care during delivery. At present, order items are packed in card boxes and carried in the canvas bag. Since these bags don’t provide proper cooling and adequate storage, vegetables and fruits often get damaged or seem as sufficiently not fresh. These products are returned to the companies, generating a significant amount of waste on a daily bases.
Furthermore, weight carried by the delivery person of grocery portals is way more than the person doing standard package delivery. This excess amount of load is causing various physical and mental health issues. Also, the security of the orders is a major concern in the current delivery system.
This project deals with designing a new delivery vehicle for online grocery portals. For this project, a user study was done by visiting grocery portals such as Groffers and Big Basket to understand the current delivery system, problems faced by the delivery persona, and issues with existing delivery methods. The insights from this exercise led to developing a design brief, which led to the design of new concepts. These concepts were evaluated on specific criteria, and the most suitable one was further developed. The final design is battery operated, has dedicated compartments for various items, better ergonomics, provides security to the orders, and it eliminates weight carried by the delivery person.

Submitted by: Parthkumar Chaudhari, MDes (2017-19), IIT Bombay
Guided by: Prof. Sugandh Malhotra