Free reference · 120+ terms
Logistics glossary — Indian ecommerce & B2B shipping
112+ plain-English definitions covering every term an Indian shipping operator should know — from COD, RTO and NDR to volumetric weight, e-way bill and surface cargo. Written for both B2C ecommerce sellers (Shopify, Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, D2C brands) and B2B logistics operators (manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, corporate accounts).
A
- AWB (Air Waybill)
- A unique tracking number assigned to every shipment by a courier. The buyer uses it to track delivery; ops uses it to query status, raise weight disputes and reconcile billing.
- Air Cargo
- Goods transported by air freight, either commercial aircraft cargo holds or dedicated freighters. Faster (1–3 day SLA) but 2–3× more expensive than surface for the same lane in India.
- Allocation Engine
- Software logic that picks the optimal courier for each order based on pincode, weight, COD status, SLA promise and historical RTO. AI-led allocation outperforms rule-based by 15–30% on cost.
- AOV (Average Order Value)
- Average ₹ value of orders. Indian D2C AOV is typically ₹800–₹2,200 depending on category.
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- Generic term for how software systems talk to each other. In a logistics context, couriers expose APIs that platforms like ShipyBox consume internally to retrieve tracking events, rates and labels — these are not exposed as public merchant-facing products on ShipyBox today.
- Aggregator
- A platform that integrates multiple couriers under one interface — letting merchants ship across carriers without per-courier integration overhead. See: courier aggregator India.
B
- B2B Shipping
- Business-to-business shipping — manufacturer to distributor, distributor to retailer. Higher per-shipment weight, lower per-kg rate than B2C parcel.
- B2C Shipping
- Business-to-consumer shipping — typically ecommerce orders direct to end buyer. Lower per-shipment weight (250g–2kg), priced on slab + zone + mode.
- Base Freight
- The core shipping cost before fuel surcharge, COD handling fee, GST and any other adders. Quoted on the carrier's rate card.
- Billable Weight
- Max(Actual Weight, Volumetric Weight). The courier bills you on whichever is higher.
- Bulk Manifest
- A consolidated pickup document listing multiple shipments handed over to the courier in one batch. Speeds up handover and reduces missing-shipment risk.
- BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later)
- Payment method where the buyer pays in instalments. In Indian ecommerce, BNPL is ~3% of prepaid orders.
C
- CAF (Congestion Adjustment Factor)
- A multiplicative surcharge on top of fuel applied by some air carriers (notably Blue Dart) to reflect airport congestion costs. Format: rate × Fuel × CAF.
- Cancelled Order
- An order the buyer or seller cancels before dispatch. Different from RTO (which is post-dispatch refusal/return).
- Chargeable Weight
- Synonym for billable weight — the weight on which freight is calculated. Max(actual, volumetric).
- COD (Cash on Delivery)
- Buyer pays cash to the delivery agent on receiving the order. ~48–62% of Indian ecommerce orders in 2025. Carries higher RTO risk than prepaid.
- COD Handling Fee
- Extra charge couriers levy for handling cash collection. Typically max(₹25, 1.5–2.5% of order value).
- COD Remittance
- Process by which the courier transfers collected COD amounts back to the merchant. Standard cycle T+7 to T+14 days.
- Consolidation
- Combining multiple small shipments into one larger shipment for cost optimisation. Common in B2B cargo.
- Courier Allocation
- The process of selecting which courier handles each order. Can be manual (single carrier), rule-based, or AI-led.
- CFT (Cubic Foot)
- Volume unit used in B2B cargo pricing. 1 CFT = 1728 cubic inches. Some bulk carriers price per-CFT instead of per-kg.
D
- D2C (Direct-to-Consumer)
- Brands that sell directly to end consumers via their own storefront (typically Shopify or WooCommerce in India). Bypass marketplace fees but assume fulfilment overhead.
- Delivered (Status)
- Tracking status indicating the shipment was successfully handed over to the buyer.
- Delhivery
- One of India's largest logistics companies, listed on NSE/BSE. Strong pan-India surface coverage, especially Tier-2/3.
- Distribution Hub
- A regional warehouse that receives bulk inventory from manufacturer/D2C brand and distributes to last-mile delivery stations.
- DTDC
- Major Indian courier with strong reach in Tier-2 cities and document parcel services.
E
- E-way Bill
- GST-mandated electronic document required for shipments valued > ₹50,000 (or > ₹1 lakh for some intra-state movements). Generated on the GST portal.
- Ecom Express
- Indian ecommerce-focused courier with strong urban-cluster coverage and NDR workflow capabilities.
- Ekart
- Flipkart's logistics arm, also serving non-Flipkart merchants. Strong on Bengaluru and South India lanes.
- End-to-End SLA
- Total time from order placement to delivery. Different from carrier transit time which excludes pickup-cutoff and last-mile delays.
F
- Fake NDR
- When a courier marks a delivery as failed (NDR) without genuine attempt — e.g., to artificially inflate SLA, or because the agent was overloaded. Detected by buyer feedback or pattern analysis.
- FAD (First-Attempt Delivery)
- Percentage of shipments delivered on the first attempt. Healthy FAD is 85–92% on prepaid, 75–85% on COD.
- FIFO (First-In-First-Out)
- Inventory rotation method where oldest stock ships first. Important for perishables and dated SKUs (cosmetics, food).
- First Mile
- The pickup leg — from merchant warehouse to courier hub.
- Flipkart
- Major Indian ecommerce marketplace. Owns Ekart logistics. ~₹35–40K crore quarterly GMV peak season.
- Forward Shipment
- The outbound delivery from merchant to buyer. Opposite of reverse shipment.
- Fuel Surcharge
- Variable surcharge applied on top of base freight to reflect fuel cost. Range 15–40% additive on surface, multiplicative on some air carriers.
- Fulfillment Center
- Warehouse where merchant inventory is stored and picked-packed for ecommerce orders. Can be merchant-owned or 3PL-operated.
G
- GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)
- Total ₹ value of orders placed. Different from net revenue after RTO, refunds and returns.
- GST (Goods & Services Tax)
- India's indirect tax. 18% on most shipping services. Charged at the end of the bill calculation.
H
- Hub
- Carrier facility where shipments are sorted between regions. Hub-and-spoke is the dominant network design for Indian B2C surface couriers.
- Handover
- When a shipment moves between custody — merchant to courier, hub to delivery centre, agent to buyer.
I
- Inbound
- Shipments arriving at a hub or fulfillment centre. Opposite of outbound.
- Insurance
- Optional cover for shipment loss or damage. Default cap typically ₹2,000–₹5,000; higher available at extra cost.
- In-transit
- Tracking status when shipment is moving between hubs/locations.
- Invoice
- GST-compliant document showing order value, taxes and seller details. Required on every B2B shipment, recommended on B2C.
J
- J&K Zone
- Special zone for Jammu & Kashmir / Ladakh shipments — higher rates, longer SLA, restricted to certain pincodes for some carriers.
K
- KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
- Measurable metric. In shipping ops: FAD rate, NDR rate, RTO %, weight dispute win rate, COD remittance lag.
L
- Label (Shipping Label)
- The printed document attached to a parcel containing AWB number, address, weight and barcode. Generated via carrier app or aggregator platform.
- Last Mile
- Final leg from delivery station to buyer's address. Most expensive and most failure-prone segment.
- Lead Time
- Time between order placement and dispatch. Includes pack-time + carrier pickup window.
- Logistics 4PL
- Fourth-party logistics — a meta-orchestrator that manages multiple 3PLs. Rare in India outside large enterprises.
- Logistics 3PL
- Third-party logistics — a partner that handles warehousing + shipping. Common D2C model.
- LR / Lorry Receipt
- Document issued by truck/cargo carrier for B2B shipments — proof of handover and chargeable weight.
M
- Manifest
- Document listing all shipments in a pickup batch. Generated electronically or paper-based at handover.
- Marketplace
- Multi-seller platforms — Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra — where merchants list inventory.
- Meesho
- Indian social-commerce platform serving Tier-2/3 buyers. Largest share of low-AOV high-COD orders.
- Metro Zone
- Carrier classification for shipments between the 6 metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata). Cheaper than non-metro.
- Multi-Carrier
- Strategy of using multiple couriers (3–5+) instead of one. Default for mature D2C and B2B operations.
N
- NCR (National Capital Region)
- Delhi + Gurugram + Noida + Faridabad + Ghaziabad. Treated as one regional zone by most couriers.
- NDR (Non-Delivery Report)
- When a delivery attempt fails — buyer unreachable, address wrong, package refused, etc. Typically followed by re-attempt.
- Net Order
- Order count after subtracting cancellations and RTO. Different from gross orders.
- NSL (No Service Lane)
- A lane (origin-destination pair) where the carrier doesn't deliver. Aggregator platforms allocate around NSLs automatically.
O
- ODA (Out of Delivery Area)
- Pincode where the carrier delivers but at a premium — typically remote/special zones. Adds 10–30% to standard rate.
- OFD (Out for Delivery)
- Tracking status — package is with the delivery agent for last-mile delivery today.
- OTP COD
- Cash on Delivery verified via OTP at order placement and again at dispatch. Reduces fake-COD risk.
- Outbound
- Shipments leaving a hub or fulfillment centre for delivery. Opposite of inbound.
P
- PAN-India
- Across all of India — referring to carriers that deliver to most/all pincodes.
- Picking
- Selecting SKUs from warehouse shelves to fulfil orders. Manual or system-directed.
- Pincode (PIN)
- Indian postal code — 6-digit. Determines zone classification, serviceability and delivery SLA.
- Pincode Serviceability
- Whether a courier delivers to a specific pincode and at what SLA.
- POD (Proof of Delivery)
- Evidence the shipment was delivered — signature, OTP, photo, e-acknowledgement.
- Prepaid
- Order paid online before dispatch (UPI, card, wallet, BNPL). Lower RTO than COD.
- Pickup
- Carrier collecting shipments from merchant location. Daily cutoff window (typically 4–7pm).
Q
- Quick Commerce
- 15–30 minute delivery model (Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart). Operates on dense urban dark-store networks, separate from traditional ecommerce.
R
- Rate Card
- Document listing carrier rates by zone × weight slab × mode × COD/Prepaid. Master input to shipping cost calculation.
- Reattempt
- Second/third delivery attempt after an NDR. Each attempt may or may not incur extra freight depending on carrier.
- Reconciliation
- Process of matching what carrier billed vs what should have been billed. Weight, COD remittance, AWB counts.
- Refused (Status)
- Tracking status when the buyer refuses the package at delivery. Common in fashion COD.
- Region
- Geographic cluster larger than a city, smaller than national. Often equates to Zone B/C.
- Remittance Cycle
- Frequency of COD payouts to merchant — daily, weekly, T+7, T+14.
- Reverse Pickup
- When buyer returns a delivered shipment to merchant. Generates a new AWB for the reverse leg.
- RTO (Return to Origin)
- When a shipment is returned to the merchant after failed delivery (NDR exhausted, refusal, wrong address). Single biggest margin drain in Indian COD ecommerce.
S
- Sales Tax / GST
- Indirect tax on goods/services. In shipping context — applied at 18% on freight + fuel.
- Self-Ship
- Merchant operates their own delivery fleet — rare except for hyperlocal/quick-commerce.
- Serviceability
- Whether a courier serves a given pincode. Aggregator platforms automatically check across carriers.
- Shipment
- A package being moved by carrier. Identified by AWB number.
- Shipping Slab / Weight Slab
- Discrete weight bands used for pricing — 0–250g, 251–500g, 501g–1kg, etc.
- Shipping Zone
- Geographic distance category used for pricing. See full zone guide.
- Shopify
- Most popular ecommerce storefront platform in Indian D2C. ~60% of funded D2C brands on Shopify.
- SLA (Service Level Agreement)
- Promised delivery time. Carrier publishes per-lane SLA; missed SLA may carry penalty in negotiated contracts.
- SMB (Small & Medium Business)
- Merchants with monthly volume under ~5,000 shipments. Largest segment by count in Indian ecommerce.
- Surface Cargo
- Goods moved by truck/rail on land. Cheaper and slower than air. Default mode for most Indian D2C ecommerce.
- SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
- Unique identifier for a product variant. Used for picking, inventory and weight slab calculation.
T
- Tier-1 / Tier-2 / Tier-3
- City classification by population/economic activity. Tier-1 = metros, Tier-2 = major non-metro cities, Tier-3 = smaller towns.
- Tracking
- Real-time shipment status updates. Standard milestones: picked, in-transit, OFD, delivered.
- Transit Time
- Carrier's commitment for hub-to-buyer movement. Excludes pickup window.
U
- UPI (Unified Payments Interface)
- India's dominant digital payment rail (RBI/NPCI). Powers 71% of prepaid ecommerce orders.
- Undelivered
- Catch-all status for shipments that didn't reach the buyer — NDR, refused, or lost.
V
- Volumetric Weight
- Weight calculated from package dimensions (L × W × H ÷ divisor). Carriers bill on max(actual, volumetric). India standard divisor is 5000.
- Volumetric Divisor
- The constant used to compute volumetric weight. India domestic surface: 5000. Some air carriers: 6000.
- Verification (Address)
- Process of confirming buyer address before dispatch — automated pincode check + manual review for high-risk orders.
W
- Warehouse
- Inventory storage facility. Single warehouse for small D2C; multi-warehouse for pan-India SLA optimisation.
- Webhook
- Real-time HTTP callback from carrier to merchant system on status changes. Enables tracking automation.
- Weight Dispute
- Process of contesting carrier's weight measurement when it differs from merchant's recorded weight. 60–80% recoverable with disciplined workflow.
- Weight Discrepancy
- Difference between merchant-declared weight and carrier-measured weight. Industry rate: 3–8% of shipments.
- WhatsApp Business API
- Programmatic WhatsApp messaging for delivery notifications, NDR confirmation, OTP COD. Standard channel for Indian ecommerce comms.
- WooCommerce
- WordPress ecommerce plugin — second most popular Indian D2C storefront after Shopify.
X
- Xpressbees
- Major Indian ecommerce courier with strong metro B2C surface and competitive COD remittance.
Y
- Yield
- Net revenue per shipment after RTO, refunds, weight disputes. KPI for shipping P&L health.
Z
- Zone (Shipping Zone)
- Distance bucket couriers use to price shipments. Typical India structure: Zone A (Local), B (Regional), C (Metro), D (National), E (Special/Remote).
- Zonal Hub
- Carrier facility serving a zone — receives bulk inbound, sorts and dispatches outbound.
Operate on these terms every day?
ShipyBox turns every term in this glossary into a workflow — from NDR re-attempts and weight disputes to AI courier allocation and COD remittance reconciliation.