To ensure seamless last-mile delivery, storage, and pick-up experience for businesses across the country, especially in the e-commerce segment, ekShop- a platform under Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme of the Bangladesh government- has developed the country’s first Internet of Things (IoT)- based custom innovative locker system called DigiBox.
As per its developers, DigiBox can help businesses ranging from a small, local hotel to a multinational manufacturing corporation, and is not just limited to e-commerce.
Within just a few weeks of operations, the system collected and distributed more than 5000 parcels, as per insiders, portraying the sharp demand for such a simple, yet sophisticated IoT logistics device in the market.
Said to be well-suited for solving storage and distribution challenges in any industry, DigiBox was inaugurated on Tuesday at the a2i office in the ICT Tower of the capital’s Agargaon area by the State Minister for ICT Division, Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
So far, DigiBox has been established in the Daraz network through the e-commerce giant’s hubs at Tejgaon, Jigatola, Mohammadpur, as well as other places including Celebrations Point in Gulshan, BCC Bhaban, ICT Tower and Agrabad Hotel Chittagong.
Apart from that, work is underway to install DigiBox at Jamuna Future Park, Shimanto Shambhar, North South University, Dhaka University and Mirpur as part of its nationwide expansion agenda.
As per Palak, the ICT division’s footprint in union-level digital centres, district level Sheikh Kamal incubators, hightech parks as well as Sheikh Rasel Digital Labs all across the country can house Digibox in the future.
It is estimated that with 1000 such boxes across Bangladesh, the total logistics lead time can be reduced by 50% for the whole e-commerce sector.
On top of that, the locker system has been designed in such a way that one single installation can serve up to 300 customers a day, without spending Tk50-100 per delivery which amounts to savings worth five to nine lakh taka per month.
Amazon started a similar service called “Amazon go Locker'' in 2018, while Alibaba started a similar service in 2018.
All of these solutions are either American, European or Chinese and would cost anywhere between $15000 to $30000 dollars per installation, whereas ekStop-Digibox is completely manufacturing them in Bangladesh and saving on that cost.
“Digibox is the First Bangladeshi IoT Smart delivery solution, which champions ICT Division’s motto of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ for hardware and software solutions,” the state minister of ICT said.
“The delivery sector has expanded in the country in the last four years. We have seen the private sector employing more than 1 lakh people in the past 4 years. However as the logistics infrastructure is still lacking, a lot of innovation is still needed in the sector. And this is where ICT Division’s ekShop comes in. We required investment for development, and that is why Digibox Limited was formed with private equity and ekShop together to take this journey forward,” Palak stated as the chief guest.
The local e-commerce sector is expected to be worth Tk26,000 crore or $3 billion next year.
At present, there are about 2,500 e-commerce companies in the country and at least 50,000 business pages on Facebook.
For example, Daraz– one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in Bangladesh and the partner of the DigiBox project alone, makes more than 1,00,000 orders per day.
Courier service company eCourier now makes over 300,000 deliveries per month.
“E-commerce also falls under the ITES service domain and foreign investment is always welcomed. I came to know that Alibaba group has invested more than Tk800 crore in Daraz Bangladesh through official channels and plans to further invest another Tk600 crore in the coming years, which is very encouraging,” Palak informed.
