Move a parcel from a shop in Kathmandu to a doorstep in Jumla — or to a flat in London — and dozens of small decisions determine whether it actually arrives: who carries it, what the customer is told, when the seller gets paid, what happens on a failed attempt. Udan Express is built around getting those details right, and Lacspace built the platform end to end.
The problem worth solving
Domestic logistics in Nepal is famously hard: 77 districts across mountains and highways, cash-on-delivery as the default payment method, and sellers who need to trust that the money they’re owed will actually land. Cross-border adds another layer — customs, gateways, and timelines that are easy to over-promise. Udan Express wanted one system that could do all of it honestly, so Lacspace designed for two things above all: transparency and reliability.
What we built
Udan Express isn’t a single app — it’s a connected platform, each piece talking to the others.
- The customer site & tracking. A clean marketing site plus live tracking that speaks plain language — “Out for delivery from Pokhara Hub, 8:42 am” — over SMS and web, with a promise date set at booking and failed attempts shown with the reason instead of a silent “pending”.
- The merchant dashboard. E-commerce sellers book in bulk, upload CSVs, print labels, raise reverse pickups and watch their delivery performance and COD balance in one place.
- Cash on delivery, settled weekly. COD is collected at the door and paid out on a fixed cycle, backed by an append-only ledger reconciled per rider and per branch — the part sellers care about most.
- A real developer API. A versioned REST API with webhooks, idempotency keys and a sandbox, plus WooCommerce, Magento and Zapier integrations, so a store can book and track without ever leaving its own admin.
- Offline-first rider apps. Route navigation, call-before-arrival and photo proof of delivery — designed to keep working where the signal doesn’t, then sync when it returns.
- A services engine. Same-day and express, overnight nationwide, cargo and freight by the kilogram, international door-to-door with customs, warehousing and 3PL, fragile handling, returns and declared-value insurance — all one booking flow.
The engineering that makes it honest
Two ideas shaped the build. First, an append-only ledger for money: COD collections are never edited in place, only appended and reconciled, so a seller’s weekly settlement can always be traced back to individual parcels and riders. Second, plain-language, event-sourced tracking: every scan becomes a human-readable status, and a failed delivery records why — so the customer, the seller and the branch all see the same truth.
Underneath, the API is versioned and idempotent (retries never double-book a shipment), and the rider apps are offline-first because the last mile in Nepal often has no bars of signal. Transparent pricing rounds it out: the rate calculator shows the full breakdown — base, weight, surcharges, discount, VAT — before you confirm.
Built to scale
The platform is designed for 9,000 parcels a day across 12 branches and 6 regional hubs, with a 96.4% on-time target and three documented delivery attempts before anything is returned. Nine overseas gateways — Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Doha, Istanbul, Frankfurt, London and beyond — connect Nepal to 220+ countries, with door-to-door timelines quoted honestly by region.
Why it matters
Logistics platforms live or die on trust: does the parcel arrive, and does the seller get paid on time? Udan Express is built so the answer to both is verifiable, not just promised. That’s the kind of end-to-end product Lacspace builds — from the website and dashboards to the APIs and the field apps that move the real world.
See it live: udanexpress.com · Read the case study: lacspace.com/projects/udan-express · Build something like it: lacspace.com/services.
Frequently asked questions
What is Udan Express?
Udan Express is a Nepal-wide and international delivery company — courier, cash on delivery, cargo and cross-border shipping — covering all 77 districts of Nepal and 220+ countries. Lacspace built the platform end to end.
What did Lacspace build for Udan Express?
The whole platform: the customer-facing website, a merchant dashboard for e-commerce sellers, live plain-language tracking, weekly cash-on-delivery settlement on an append-only ledger, a rate calculator, a versioned REST API with webhooks and a sandbox, and offline-first rider apps with route navigation and photo proof of delivery.
How does cash on delivery settlement work?
COD is collected at the door and settled to the merchant on a fixed weekly cycle. Every collection is recorded on an append-only ledger and reconciled per rider and per branch, so the money trail is auditable end to end.
Can I integrate my online store with Udan Express?
Yes. There is a versioned REST API with webhooks, idempotency and a sandbox, plus ready integrations for WooCommerce, Magento and Zapier, so merchants can book, label and track shipments straight from their store.
Does Lacspace build platforms like this for other companies?
Yes. Lacspace designs and builds custom software, logistics and commerce platforms end to end. See lacspace.com/services and the Udan Express case study at lacspace.com/projects/udan-express.