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Trends Which are Transforming the Indian Packers and Movers Industry For companies who are striving to make a change in the relocation business, it's important that they understand the aforementioned trends

By Aulina Mithal Sood

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Technology has massively innovated and benefitted businesses in India and across the globe. The relocation industry is no different. It has powered relocation businesses with tools that offer low-cost pricing and real-time solutions to customers. This wasn't the case a few decades ago. Shifting to a new house or transporting goods from one city to another was a daunting task, involving heavy manpower. But technology has improved it and made it organized, convenient and transparent.

At present, the industry is facing many impediments; it's a highly unorganized state is one of the major ones, as of now, which is hindering growth. With this, there is a stereotyped notion about many movers and packers across India. Many companies are still handling their operations through a poorly trained workforce and using mini tricks loaded with riskily-tied household items, which are more concerned about reaching the right destination on time and safely move the cargos to the right place.

Here are a few newest trends that are driving transformation in the Indian Packers and Movers Industry

1. Cheating in Pricing – This business has many hidden charges involved in the overall process of relocation, which a customer is updated about only at the time of final payment. And for years, this system has only attracted complaints from customers. Businesses in the beginning lure customers with low rates, which later turn out to be a huge cost for an average person. They are charged in the form of extra carriage, disassembling or anything else, which extremely vexes customers. But with instant pricing, companies ensure fair price and practices to their customers and they never feel cheated. Today, companies provide pricing information instantly to customers at the time of booking the service, basis of the volume and nature of household items to be shifted; they provide every minute detail to their customers.

2. Real-time Tracking – Technology has given birth to diverse mobility solutions. Some come with GPS tracking, allowing customers to relax while their shifting process is work in progress. A customer is enabled to do live tracking of their household items/ shipment from anywhere. GPS services are more beneficial for long-distance transportation of goods. Such services enormously add value to an organisation's offerings, build trust among customers, and develop better reliability in the long term. This strategic approach clearly removes the long-old challenge that customers have been facing for ages – transparency. Earlier, customers just used to book a local transporter to get their things shifted, which incurred a lot of expenses with no transparency. Fortunately, the advent of tech advancements has completely freed customers from such issues.

3. Digital payments – Modern technologies have almost replaced all the cash transactions, which earlier was the only choice for customers. Still, in some cases when you have no money in your bank account, but only cash to make payments, you can go for the cash on delivery (COD) option. Plus, digital mode comes with additional benefits as well such as instant payment option, maintaining the transaction history of debit/credit cards or internet banking, and many more. Today the payments have become much faster due to UPI services. Therefore digital payments save a lot of time and give seamless transaction experiences to customers. Besides, they are also a secure way of transferring money from one account to another.

4. The Rise of Chatbots – Artificial intelligence is not a buzzword anymore. But the kind of innovations it's still bringing into our lives will always create a buzz from time to time. Chatbots are AI-based creations that are designed to offer seamless customer support services. It's a software that interprets whatever you write or ask through a voice message and accordingly responds to them. The best part about these awesome bots is: they can chat and resolve multiple issues and queries at the same time. Well, in this case, we can say robots have absolutely replaced humans. Research says that chatbots are 18 times more efficient than humans when it comes to giving instant responses and ensure customer satisfaction.

For companies who are striving to make a change in the relocation business, it's important that they understand the aforementioned trends, timely adopt tech innovations and leverage the digital wave to deliver better and personalized customer experiences. There can be many techniques and strategies to do that, but success will always depend on how well you embrace such disruption.

Aulina Mithal Sood

Co-founder, ShiftKarado

Mrs. Aulina Mithal Sood is the co-founder of Shift Karado, a prominent relocation and moving service provider in India. She completed her schooling in Modern School, Delhi in the year 1998. Later, she voyaged to the USA for pursuing a double major in Economics and Business Administration at Clark University. Soon after her course completion, she joined her family relocation business, Star Worldwide Group Private Limited, in India.

To understand all in and outs of the relocation business and services, Mrs. Aulina Mithal Sood attended several international seminars, conferences, and pursued various industry-related courses. She completed the programmes such as Essentials in Moving, Masters in Moving, and Leaders in Moving offered by the FIDI (International Federation of International Movers) Institute for training the aspirants in the management of moving and relocating. She became an accomplished expert in the moving industry as she soon became certified Gold Graduate.

Mrs. Aulina Mithal Sood served FIDI 39 Club diligently from 2007 to 2014. Her expertise and skills led her becoming a president of the FIDI 39 club in 2012 for which she worked for two long years. Later appointed as a Director of Star Group, she managed the daily management errands of Star Worldwide Relocation and Warehousing Division. Refining her expertise and polishing her skills, she pursued Image Consulting and Soft Skills course. She turned out to be expert trainer certified by Image Consulting Business Institute (ICBS) and National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET).

As a brilliant businesswoman, lovable wife and a responsible mother, she lives in Delhi living her work and the personal life full of delight and contentment. She practices yoga before starting her busy day. Also, singing and cooking interest her a lot.

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