Preparing to Work with Delivery
First, when choosing a courier service, be guided by your activity. Delivery of pizza, food, clothing, furniture, and equipment is very different, and the requirements for delivery services will be additional. You must bring pizza quickly while it is hot, for clothes, fitting rooms are needed at points of issue. With oversized cargo, there is even more trouble:
movers, trucks, and other services are required, for which you will have to pay extra.
Secondly, the online store must have business processes built, mainly logistics. The speed and price of a goods delivery to the buyer depend on how storage, packaging, shipment, and interaction with couriers are arranged. So, if your business processes are poorly established, pay attention to order fulfillment.
Thirdly, the delivery service must be technically integrated with your online store or able to customize this integration. It will indicate the cheapest delivery in the online store, tell you under what conditions you can get an order for free, and tell you what additional services to count on.
Delivery Types for an Online Store
Often, the seller connects several types of delivery to his site. When placing an order, the buyer compares prices, terms, and conditions and chooses.
Express delivery
It is the most popular type of delivery, especially during a pandemic. The main plus is that the goods are transferred to an address convenient for the buyer, and the percentage of failures decreases.
The disadvantage is that it is noticeably more expensive than delivery to the point of issue of the order (PVZ) or parcel terminal and more costly than sending it by Russian Post. The price of express courier delivery is even higher, which helps the buyer to receive the goods as quickly as possible for an additional fee. Its disadvantages are the high cost and the risk of refusing the goods if the courier is late.
Pickup from the point of issue of the order
Customers are used to this economical way of getting goods, so online stores use it. Here, the client is not tied to time and chooses the point of issue of the order. Additionally, there are fitting services at the pickup point and the possibility of returning goods. Disadvantages of this method: the percentage of goods produced is higher than with courier delivery, and there are pickup points only in relatively large cities. You must send a courier or a parcel by mail in small towns and villages.
Postamates
This method has all the advantages of delivery to the pickup point, but there are restrictions on the size of parcels and the shelf life of the order, and there is also no possibility of fitting. The cost of sending goods to a pickup point and a parcel terminal is approximately the same.
Post office
Cons – lack of express delivery, poor quality of service for both online stores and their customers, the inability to try on goods, it is an opportunity to send an order to all country points. The cost of the service is often lower than that of commercial services.
Transport companies – long-haul transportation
A particular method of delivery is transport companies. The goods are transported to the transport company’s terminal in the buyer’s city. This method is suitable for bulky goods; the cost here is often lower than in courier services. Minus – the goods are sent according to the schedule once a week or more often, depending on the region.
Courier delivery services
When choosing a delivery service for an online store, study its working conditions, ensure that the service will be convenient for customers, and consider your interests.
Delivery Service Aggregators for an Online Store
There are courier service aggregators on the market. The seller works with an aggregator that analyzes the prices and terms of different delivery services with which he has an agreement and offers options for sending an order to buyers on the site.
Advantages of working with an aggregator:
- Parcel management from a single administration menu.
- Integration with popular website CMS systems.
- Savings on logistics.
- A single courier will pick up all the parcels from you,
- Payment of one invoice and reconciliation with one counterparty
- A single tariff for receiving cash on delivery payments.
Fulfillment
Fulfillment of an online store is an exciting way to develop a company with minimal investment. It is a complex operation from when the buyer places an order until the purchase is handed over to him.
Pros and Cons of Working with Fulfillment Operators
Benefits of working according to the fulfillment scheme:
- The seller ultimately gets rid of the worries of organizing logistics.
- No need to rent your warehouse.
- No need to conclude contracts with courier services – the operator is responsible for the delivery.
- You cannot use online cash desks – the operator will accept customer payments.
But you will have to prepare for some difficulties:
- Fulfillment services may cost more than their delivery organization.
- You must establish a document flow and solve problems with labeled goods.
If the operator did not deliver the goods, you would accept claims from the buyer. If the operator accepts payments, then the seller can receive this money only on the dates specified in the contract:
Fulfillment companies can differ widely in terms of the quantity and quality of services. Pay attention to operator prices, work with product categories, coverage geography, and a set of services.
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