Interviewed By Sumaiya Siddique, MBR Team

MBR: Can you please tell us how Paperfly’s core business concept was developed and talk about its importance in enhancing the e-commerce industry of Bangladesh?

Shahriar Hasan: E-commerce, by its name, may sound like something that entirely takes place in the digital cloud. Reality is just the opposite! Apart from display of products, intelligent behavior driven campaigns, purchase commitment from customers, and in some cases, payment processing, everything else actually takes place onthe-ground. This includes warehousing, packaging, labeling, sorting, sending to destination locality, delivering at doorstep and collecting the money from customers. This is a mayhem that requires different skillsets to bring in order and globally large e-commerce players hand it over to modern 3rd Party Logistics (3PL) service providers.
Back in 2015-16, when we started Paperfly, we could foresee e-commerce to go through the initial growth phase within couple of years in Bangladesh. Also, we could understand that the industry would definitely
need good 3PLs to carry out the ‘on-the-ground’ part. Here only ‘delivering to doorstep’ will not melt the ice, rather the industry would need the service to be faster and cheaper. This meant 3PLs would have higher dependency on ‘good management’ than ‘more fund’, so we fully committed ourselves behind developing and actualizing the concept. From the ‘spark of idea’ in August 2015 to ‘commercial launch’ in Feb 2016 – it took us around 6 months to get prepared.
The dependence of e-commerce on 3PL is well-established globally, purely because of taking care of the on-the-ground jobs. Especially in Bangladesh, our role was even more critical as the industry needed someone to provide the exact efficient services in rural/suburban areas as well. Paperfly was the very first 3PL to start providing seamless deliveries across the country from April 2017. We thus have played a pivotal role in creating e-commerce demand beyond big metro towns.

MBR: We know that the pandemic has had an enormous impact on trade and businesses all over the world. What are some strategies used by Paperfly to cope with the pandemic’s impact on the firm?

Shahriar Hasan: First wave of the pandemic was challenging and it created real roadblocks all over the country. E-commerce faced similar adversities like import/production supply chain getting dry, consumer spending moving towards essentials only, etc. On top of that, overall logistics and transportation system was at a standstill. The first two months of the first wave of the pandemic was about understanding the critical changes our operations required to continue in the pandemic scenario. And, from 30th May 2020, we were back into countrywide services catering to the then Eid-ul-Fitr demand. The major changes we had to induce quickly were to increase field level allowances while cutting expenses at back-offices and to develop a new vertical to cater to increased demand of essentials deliveries. Also, we worked closely with Bangladesh Bank, EBL and Mastercard to launch a contactless payment system named ‘CashlessPay’ keeping the social distancing in mind.

MBR: Paperfly has quickly become one of the largest logistic-tech ventures in Bangladesh. Will you kindly share the core strategy that enabled you to add value to your clients compared to your competitors?

Shahriar Hasan: Running a 3PL operation requires good initial fund. But, running a 3PL operation with the fastest services at very competitive price while covering each and every corner of the country requires comprehensive market understanding, adaptability and above all, leadership skills to mobilize a high performing team. These, to us, are prerequisites to any strategy a 3PL in Bangladesh would take. We believe, we are ahead of other players in the market in all these areas. Ensuring these in place, the strategy we took was very simple – being the first mover in bringing in tech-based solution driven efficiency to offer the best services at optimum price. We are here with a vision that needs long-term outlook. Solving core problems core problems in the system before others along the way is our main differentiation.

MBR: In Bangladesh, retail e-commerce is expanding at a massive rate. However, the government is considering to create legislative rules to control the segment. If imposed, what are the possible impacts that Paperfly will undergo?

Shahriar Hasan: Legislation, if inclusive, will enhance the growth of e-commerce in Bangladesh. Other neighboring countries in Asia, like India, Vietnam and China – all have some form of legislation in place to guide e-commerce in the direction. Because of the convenience and value it brings, business and/ or industry experience unconventional growth in a very short period of time. If no guidelines are in place, there are possibilities of individual wrongdoings creating major negative impacts before anyone even fathoms it out. Paperfly welcomes an inclusive legislation from the Government for creating a sustainable growth track for e-commerce. This would probably need the 3PLs to become more tech-oriented so that different parties can integrate effectively in ensuring a smooth experience under the legislation. We believe we have the readiness to take advantage over traditional logistics service providers when the situation will demand for it.

MBR: Paperfly has been wildly successful, starting as a one room business to now becoming a giant logistic start-up that delivers to over 4400 unions. Will you kindly share your future plan with us?

Shahriar Hasan: Paperfly has been ensuring doorstep coverage across the country for more than 4 years now. But, our services could be much faster, less costly and more professional. This is an ongoing process and we shall continue spending behind technology and people in the coming years to set global benchmarks in our arena.
From early September 21, after working on it for 4 months at the background, we have launched our commercial services in the domestic courier-cargo industry in Bangladesh. For this, we had to fine-tune our countrywide offices and vehicles network along with bringing in numerous developments in our tech system. We are having ambitious plans to modernize the services this sector needed for long and we are very confident that our users are delighted with our services so far. We shall soon start to create awareness around the novelties we have brought in and in immediate future, we aspire to be a significant player in the domestic couriercargo arena while continuing to serve the e-commerce transformation as our core business.