How Stelcore Is Helping Brands Simplify Complex D2C Operations

D2C brands face substantial operational challenges when transitioning from traditional distribution methods. These challenges stem from the need to manage orders, inventory, payments, and last-mile delivery directly. The Redseer report highlights a significant reduction in delivery timelines in India, underscoring the pressure on brands to streamline their fulfilment processes.

Stelcore, a Mumbai-based company founded in 2012 by Bharat Mandot, specializes in providing this operational backbone for D2C brands. It connects a brand's storefront with the necessary systems and partners to manage the entire fulfilment process, from order capture and inventory management to logistics and returns. Unlike traditional third-party logistics providers that focus solely on physical delivery, Stelcore acts as the operational layer that integrates all these components, ensuring a seamless transition from checkout to delivery.

By leveraging a network of over 260 fulfilment locations across 150+ cities, Stelcore determines the most efficient routing for each order based on factors like customer location, service-level agreements, and delivery requirements. This streamlined approach not only simplifies the fulfilment process for brands but also enables them to save nearly 80% on operational costs by avoiding the need to maintain a large in-house team and a complex tech stack.

For instance, consider Centrum, a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement brand. When a customer places an order on Centrum's website, the transaction is initiated in Stelcore's order management system (OMS). The OMS then decides the optimal fulfilment location and logistics partner, considering the customer's PIN code, SLA, and delivery preferences.

This integration allows Stelcore to manage the order flow, shipment tracking, and post-delivery processes such as reporting, reconciliation, and returns, all within a unified system. Consequently, a single D2C order involves a brand, a fulfilment centre, a logistics provider, and multiple technology systems, all coordinated efficiently without the brand having to manage each aspect independently.

As a result, Stelcore supports more than 300 clients in India, processing nearly 1.5 million orders monthly. The platform has also worked with over 3,000 brands globally, demonstrating its capability to support enterprise-level D2C operations.