Running your retail business brings with it a slew of challenges, no matter the size of your operations. Whether you’re a global retailer supplying to multiple countries or you’re a small, independent company providing hand-made trinkets to a small, dedicated fanbase, an in-house courier service could be a great option for you. Of course, outsourcing your deliveries can be good too, but if you can run your own courier network for your business, it could be a very beneficial move.
Save Money
With the ever-increasing popularity of outsourced delivery services, it’s understandable that these courier companies would start to capitalize on this. Fees and overall shipping costs continue to rise, which in turn will drop your profit margin even more if you’re using their service. Of course, if you’re running your own delivery service, you need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to cut costs by choosing fuel-efficient vehicles and have a great fleet manager to choose the best delivery routes. The fees that you avoid, as well as the overall charge for outsourced services, can be better spent on your own in-house delivery service, potentially even making you a bigger profit. But even if you just break even, there are other benefits to this too.
Showcase Your Brand
Running your own fleet of delivery vehicles provides you with another avenue of advertising your entire brand. Vehicles driving around the country with your branding on the side and even website address can bring in many more customers than you might expect. While it’s not targeted advertising, those vehicles will pass thousands of people every year or so, and some of those people may check out your business. Removing the enforced branding that you’d get with an outsourced service allows you to keep all of the public’s attention on your brand too.
Keep Track Of Your Deliveries
A big issue with using outsourced deliveries, especially more cost-effective options, is the lack of ability to keep tabs on where a specific parcel is. But using GPS van tracking from FleetGO for your own vehicles will allow you to identify exactly where a driver is and provide you with a rough estimate of how long it’ll take for them to reach their destination. Without this ability, a late or undelivered parcel will incur the ire of your customers, who will likely reach out to you, rather than the delivery company, asking where their order is. Being unable to provide an answer looks bad for you and your team and will further aggravate your customers, putting you at risk of losing your future customs.
Improve Customer Relations
When it comes to managing your customer relations, a good delivery service can make all the difference. Friendly, considerate drivers who don’t mishandle packages and endeavor to make their deliveries within the estimated timeframe can significantly improve the opinion of your brand. Having your own dedicated delivery service will go towards showing that you care enough about your customers even after they’ve paid for your products. Failed deliveries lose UK businesses around £68k every year on average, so focusing on the delivery aspect of your business instead of just the initial digital shopping experience is incredibly important.
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- Formerly a senior accountant with a business degree, Linda now manages to generate story ideas; planning, assigning, and editing content for our website.
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