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Marketing Research

Submitted By:
Name: Fatima Javed
Roll No: 1743
Semester: 8th
Programme: BBA (hons.)

Submitted To:
Ma’am Abiha Syed

Hajvery University, Lahore.

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Why Airlift Shuts Down?

Problem definition
1. Airlift had been working on the belief to get more customers, scale their business and
become profitable. Maybe they ignored some facts about the local market and the type of
business they are in. Increasing the Client list is not directly proportional to more profit.
2. 900,000+ local Karyana Stores are accessible with cheap house labor.
3. A global recession, rising inflation and increasing gas prices are impacting aggressively
the buying power and company’s operational cost. So people are not willing to pay for
facilities like immediate grocery delivery.
4. Above all, the global economic meltdown has made services like Airlift more expensive,
it has had a devastating impact on Airlift and rendered its shut-down inevitable. Investor
tightens their fists and they are not convenient to move with the same strategy.

At present all these reasons are directly affecting many other industries as well. Citizens in
Pakistan have also lost their inclination to pay for such services due to price hike and inflation.

Introduction

Airlift Technologies was a Pakistani company that offered instant delivery service. It was
founded in March 2019. Airlift was launched in 2019 as a mass transit service that operated an
Uber-like service for buses in Pakistan. As the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, Airlift
scrapped its transit service and quickly pivoted to grocery delivery. It closed all operations on
13th July 2022. Airlift was on a mission to build a world of self-empowerment using technology-
backed logistics solutions that enable safe, reliable and affordable access to necessities.

Airlift scaled Pakistan's largest decentralized transportation network to change the way people
move, shifting away from private vehicles towards shared mobility and affordable mass
transport. Airlift diversified into last-mile delivery through Airlift Express, delivering essentials
across households.

Hajvery University, Lahore.

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Customers of the company used a mobile application or website to order groceries and essentials
online, and secure the items from their warehouse, delivering the items to the consumer within
30 minutes. Airlift Express spans across food supplies, household supplies, pharmacy, stationery,
pet food, fresh fruits and vegetables, small electronics and more. Within 12 months of launch,
Airlift team had scaled operations to 8 different cities in Pakistan, and had closed $85m in Series
B financing to scale operations to international markets.

Airlift had set new precedent that will bring world-class investors to invest in Pakistan. It
increased the confidence that great technology and consumer products can be built in Pakistan,
and that this region of the world has some of the best talents. 

Airlift build a platform for consumers, drivers, and small business owners to move consumer
goods. With an agile supply chain, Airlift was best positioned to succeed and eventually create
thousands of jobs within Pakistan. But unfortunately they are no longer running. The company
confirmed the decision to shut its business in a statement to Rest of World. This has been an
extremely taxing decision that impacts a large set of stakeholders and an emerging technology
ecosystem.

The company was considered Pakistan’s best shot at a unicorn. But the company’s fortunes
changed due to the global startup funding crunch and some bad business decisions that increased
its operating costs.

As we all know that d-Mart by Daraz, Panda mart by Food panda, and the online grocery
delivery services of Airlift have created a huge shift in the consumer buying behavior of
Pakistanis for online grocery shopping and it has created a need for all to get groceries delivered
during the COVID-19 pandemic. These three important stakeholders in the online grocery
industry of Pakistan have tremendously taken the advantage of e-Grocery during the time of the
pandemic. Both Airlift and Panda mart have a rich product category. From the breakfast and
bakery items to all the cooking essentials, one can easily select on the app and order it at home.
Not only this, they both offer pharmacy, pet care, health, and beauty items. But in comparison,
Airlift is ahead of Panda mart with its additional items like Grooming supplies, USB flash drives,
mops, bins, and more.

Hajvery University, Lahore.

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The grocery delivery market in Pakistan is a competitive one, with food-panda’s panda mart also
operating in the space. Panda mart has an advantage: it's built into the food-panda app and can, to
some extent, rely on those who regularly use the app to get food delivered to then also use the
same app for groceries. And if you search for a product on the app, which is unavailable/out of
stock for the moment, it will not show up at all. Whereas there were some issues that Airlift was
dealing with, as some customers had complained of slow delivery times and items being out of
stock. There’s a small difference in pricing as well. Airlift is a little bit cheap as compared to
Panda mart. The delivery time of Panda mart is 15-20 minutes whereas Airlift is of 30 minutes
these are the reasons due to which airlift cannot keep up with the online grocery market. Airlift
hoped that the closure will not affect the overall technology ecosystem in the country. The
company has announced a severance package for its employees, providing them two months’ pay
and setting up a platform for job placement.

Hajvery University, Lahore.