Logistics companies are raising prices or considering festive-season surcharges as labour, warehousing and last-mile delivery costs climb, putting pressure on e-commerce brands and sellers to absorb higher costs or pass them on to consumers.
Blue Dart has announced a 9-12% increase across its domestic portfolio from 1 January 2027, while Mumbai-based Emiza has revised prices by 10-15% over the past few months, citing higher labour costs and temporary workforce shortages.
Quick-commerce-focused logistics provider Zippee is considering selective festive-season pricing adjustments in regions where demand and operational requirements warrant them, its founder and chief executive officer Madhav Kasturia told Mint.
The pressure comes as logistics providers contend with rising costs across labour, warehousing and last-mile delivery. The impact on customers is likely to vary by business model, geography and service requirements, with providers adopting different approaches to pricing, executives said.
With festive-season volumes adding to operational demands, higher logistics charges could force e-commerce brands and sellers to reassess discounts, delivery options and order-level profitability. The pressure comes as oil prices and other operating costs add to the uncertainty over how much of the increase sellers can absorb without passing it on to consumers.
Ajay Rao, founder and CEO of Emiza, said disruptions in LPG and fuel availability in April and May affected workforce availability across locations, leading to temporary manpower shortages that continue to pose a challenge.
“To maintain service continuity, we relied on additional overtime and local workforce deployment, which increased operating costs. Around the same time, statutory wage revisions in states such as Haryana also increased costs. These changes are being transparently communicated to our customers,” Rao said.
Rising pressures
Zippee said last-mile delivery remains its biggest source of cost pressure, given the speed and reliability expected from a premium fulfilment service. Its order volumes across the network grew 4.5 times during the festive period, Kasturia said.
Higher volumes require additional staffing, delivery resources and operational support, he added. Rather than imposing a uniform increase across services and clients, Zippee evaluates pricing adjustments based on specific operational requirements and cost structures. Special pricing linked to festive demand or surges may also be introduced in regions where additional operational requirements warrant it, Kasturia said.
Listed logistics company Shiprocket highlighted the cost implications of failed and delayed deliveries. It is focusing on courier-performance tracking to help sellers identify delivery risks and reduce return-to-origin (RTO) shipments, said Atul Mehta, CEO of Shiprocket’s domestic shipping division.
Listed logistics stocks have seen divergent performance recently. Shadowfax shares have gained about 168% since their January 2026 listing, while Delhivery has declined around 13% over one year and Blue Dart about 17%. Shiprocket, which went public in August, was trading near ₹134 on 12 October, compared with its IPO price of ₹97.
According to Aakash Agrawal, associate director for digital and new-age business at Anand Rathi Investment Banking, higher logistics costs could prompt brands to reassess discounting and delivery economics.
Fewer discounts
Logistics already accounts for a meaningful share of e-commerce businesses’ costs—often 10-20% of total expenses—particularly for brands with low average order values and high order volumes, Agrawal said.
“With brands also competing on discounts, customer acquisition and delivery speed, there is limited room to absorb repeated cost increases,” he said.
Brands are unlikely to respond uniformly, Agrawal said. Depending on their category economics, some may reduce discounts, introduce delivery charges or revise minimum order values. Price increases remain possible, but may be harder to implement in categories such as apparel and electronics, where consumers can easily compare prices across platforms.
Sakksham G, a seller of fashion and accessories on platforms including Flipkart and Myntra, said he would avoid raising prices during the festive months to minimise the risk of dampening demand. “We plan to increase prices by around 7-10% on our mid-range products priced between ₹800 and ₹1,500 starting January,” he said.
Higher logistics costs could also prompt brands to reassess where faster delivery makes commercial sense, rather than abandon it altogether. Sakksham said he prefers marketplaces because they bundle last-mile logistics with listings, while fulfilling orders independently can be more expensive.
Technology to improve efficiency
Logistics providers are looking to increase technology investments to improve operational efficiency. Emiza’s Rao said the company is working to expand its use of warehouse-management technology, automation and workforce planning to improve productivity and reduce losses.
Shiprocket’s Mehta said failed and delayed deliveries add to the cost burden. Reverse logistics alone costs ₹40-60 per shipment, while repackaging adds another ₹15-25 per unit. Such expenses can further erode seller margins, making the cost of a completed delivery a more relevant measure than freight charges alone.
“Once these costs are factored in, the effective cost per delivered order can rise to ₹85-110. Indian D2C brands collectively lose over ₹8,000 crore annually to return-to-origin (RTO), highlighting the importance of improving delivery reliability,” Mehta said.
Shiprocket is also expanding the use of its proprietary tool, Shiprocket RADAR, which provides predictive intelligence to help sellers minimise network congestion.
Rising logistics costs could push businesses to focus more on order profitability, inventory placement and fulfilment efficiency, rather than simply maximising order volumes, Agrawal said.