Businesses are making great strides into the virtual shopping domain thanks to the help of all expedite courier providers across the world. While back in the day shops were housing a lot more staff, premises, and infrastructure to run their routine retail operations face-to-face, today a big percentage of the business takes place in between warehouses, collection points, and courier drivers. This shift in demand has urged the need for fast same-day delivery services that work effectively for all the different business models online.
And even though a one-size-fits-all courier solution for all retailers in the E-commerce land may sound totally doable, a standardized solution that works equally well for everybody is not technically possible. This is why finding a courier provider to accommodate your needs and respond with a bespoke solution takes some time, research, persistence, many inquiries, and personalization.
Whether you are choosing to go down the road of same-day, next-day, or on-demand deliveries with your E-commerce function, you should make sure that you find a courier provider that responds to all your questions promptly and effectively, without holding anything back in the most important decision-making steps.
What makes your courier company stand out from the rest?
There are many courier providers to choose from based on your specific business needs and requirements. Some of them focus on dispatch automation, others on last-mile delivery optimization, a range of different time functions over specific locations, or ensuring high customer satisfaction through a personalized approach.
When you stumble upon a courier provider, make sure that you inquire to know about their core values as a business and where they stand with their general approach in the industry. This way, you can make sure both of your ethics align and cooperation will be beneficial for both parties in the long term. Zendfasts stands for all of the aforementioned principles and we ensure our customers receive a bespoke approach based on their individual model and demand.
What are the delivery options and services available?
Every provider has different focus areas and strengths, which makes picking and choosing a little harder than it seems. Some carrier companies specialize in distribution across cities, districts, or countries while others operate for the most part cross-country and internationally. You can find couriers that offer more flexible time functions, and others who prefer to stick with their well-thought-out delivery windows within a day, two, three, or more.
It’s also useful to know about the storage and fulfillment options of the carrier in case they operate near or further away from your main facility. This way you won’t have to spare extra resources to ship your stock backward and forwards for delivery when you have a more convenient and also cheaper option near at hand.
What is the cost to use a third-party courier company?
When it comes to pricing, you should always be straightforward and inquisitive. It’s ok to ask for a quote as soon as you find a provider that matches your idea of a courier solution for your retail business. Third-party courier companies should always be responsive and transparent when giving you a price estimate about their services. They should also provide you with quotes that reflect the whole total rather than a small portion of the whole payment including a lot of hidden add-ons. Our recommendation is to choose a courier company that will give you the right balance between quality and service cost, without compromising one for the other.
How good is your customer service?
This is not the easiest question to ask especially if you expect to get an earnest answer that you can trust. A lot of courier companies claim that they value their customers and they put their needs at the forefront, but in reality, that is not always the case. Make sure you do your own bit of research before you sign up for a courier solution. You can always check for clients who work with the company within your local area and find out more about their ethics, practices, and general approach straight from the horse’s mouth. Also, you can check reviews and testimonials to get to know about the customer service by hearing the customers themselves.
What extra features and benefits do they offer to businesses?
After you feel like you have found the right pick, it’s always a good idea to dive deeper into the cons of the courier solution and the specific benefits for your business. You can inquire about special features such as proof of delivery, package security, personalized courier service, and the courier’s flexibility to accommodate special requests on demand. You are also free to ask about the tools they use to operate their deliveries, tracking software, and the use of in-house technology, if any. At Zendfast, we utilize a custom-made software solution that connects drivers to customers and makes the whole parcel journey fully traceable from point to point.
If you want to inquire more information about our Same-day, Next-day, and On-demand delivery solution, do not hesitate to contact us for more information.