BlackBuck — moving Indian trucking from physical ledgers to a marketplace that runs unassisted.
A mobile platform that connects consignors who need to ship goods with the fleet owners and brokers who move them. The work spans both sides of the marketplace, with the harder problem on the supply side: power users who barely use customer support, mostly do business offline, and need an app that mimics the marketplace they already know.
The Brief & Goal — move offline trucking online without making anyone feel the move.
and the goal
Indian trucking runs on physical ledgers, WhatsApp price-discovery and broker handshakes. Fleet owners check their phones 3–4 times a day for orders in the morning and handle everything after the bid offline. They rarely call partner support. They match prices in WhatsApp groups and accept a deal at broker price + 50.
The goal: a marketplace that works in that world — Hindi-first, milestoned one screen at a time, mimicking the offline patterns users already trust. So simple it is completely unassisted, accurate enough that the system stays ahead of the user.
Six pillars the product had to cover.
Offline to Online
- Physical ledger to a digital sheet
- Spend less time entering numbers
- Order details accessible online & offline
- App ledger maintains order status & inventory
- Accommodates layered user roles
Personalization & Filter
- Tools tuned for brokers
- Recommendations while searching
- Personalised wish-list
- Notify when in stock
- Showcase popular categories
Chat & Customer Support
- Chat available 24/7
- Major Indian languages supported
- Wide range of payment methods
- Search, filter, suggestions
Sale & Billing
- Feedback & multi-scale reviews
- Delivery rider rating
- Product quality feedback
- Customer support routing
Location
- Loading & multi-unloading points
- Address search or manual entry
- Location-based order visibility
- Real-time location-based price suggestion
- Location-based offers & coupons
Language & Communication
- Simple spoken & written language
- Offline terminology used in-app
- Tutorial-based explanations
- Accessible chat & call
- UI mimicking offline symbols
My Process — research, segments, personas, flow, system.
across both sides
of the marketplace.
Medium-size fleet
Power user. Knows his way around all BlackBuck apps and stays updated with schemes.
Large fleet owner
Asks his staff to use the app on his behalf.
Small fleet owner / Broker
20 trucks in the family, half on loan. Brother runs a parallel business.
Broker — No Fleet
2nd-generation in trucking. Lifestyle-focused, doesn't want to work the traditional way.
Large-scale industry
Manages many warehouses. Owns trucks, but needs more capacity at production peaks.
Inventory manager
Ships finished goods to holding warehouses and across cities & states.
Warehouse manager
Mostly warehouse-to-warehouse moves within the same company. Finished or partial goods.
Small-scale industry
Manufactures parts. Ships finished goods to storage or assembling warehouses.
Two supply-side personas the app was built around.
"Large-scale transporter, increase his fleet size."
Drive
- Wants to make money the unorthodox way
- Targets a profit of ₹2k–₹3k per day
- Wants more time with family
- Tries new tech to solve real issues
Goals & Needs
- Maintain his day-to-day consignment list easily
- A dependable platform to find shipping consignments regularly
- Move his data offline to online for easy retrieval
- Notifications every time a new consignment is up for bidding
- Maintain a good rapport with his peers
Hesitations & Pain Points
- Doesn't want to pay the platform
- Thinks platform fees are too high
- Looks for opportunities to place many bids
- Doesn't want all his details on the platform
"Business dominance, in logistics."
Drive
- Wants a leisurely lifestyle
- Less effort, more outcome
- Travels often, wants ops set up in multiple locations
- Uses tech to maintain his fleet efficiently
Goals & Needs
- Effortlessly maintain his fleet
- Track, pay bills and communicate in the same app
- Mostly lets his fleet manager use the app for him
- Wants discounts and preference because of fleet size
- Looking to set up a monopoly in his location
Hesitations & Pain Points
- Delegates because the app is time-consuming
- Slow POD by courier delays his payment
- Customer support never solves his queries
- Wants a referral bonus for onboarding friends
Empathy mapping — Hari Ram.
Hari Ram is a father of three who works as a logistics broker. He earns through commissions and uses the app every day for at least 4 to 5 hours.
- Heard about BlackBuck from peers in the market
- His local influencer spoke well of BlackBuck
- Heard about promotional activities and joining bonuses
- A billboard ad beside the street
- Ad material next to his broker's lane
- Sees peers using the app
- Regular promotional activities
- A steady income from BlackBuck
- Doubts his decision to go online from the traditional offline marketplace
- Talks shop with the broker lane every morning
- Checks orders 3–4 times a day on his phone
- Quotes broker price + 50 to accept a deal
Rules to follow — what the research kept saying.
Six design goals that drove every screen.
Simple
So simple that it is completely unassisted.
Milestoned
One screen at a time, for brokers and drivers.
Accurate
The system should be one step ahead of the user, every time.
Mimicking marketplace
For better adoption, follow what users are already used to offline.
Regional
Hindi-first interface, with other regional languages supported.
Personalised
Orders stacked by what each user is interested in.
Two happy paths — one for each side of the marketplace.
A UI kit built on the offline language drivers already speak.
Road signs — weight limits, "come back later", "back not permitted" — were reused on screens at moments that needed them, so drivers were reading the same visual language they see on the highway.
The Outcome — a mobile marketplace that drivers can run themselves.
"9 trucks are waiting in Bangalore."
The map view is the moment the offline marketplace becomes legible on a phone. A consignor sees, in their own neighbourhood, how much supply is parked right now — the same information a broker would otherwise get by walking down the lane. Tap a cluster, pick the truck types and quantity, and book.
