With the growing popularity of online shopping and the emergence of e-commerce stores, the way products are delivered to customers have changed (for better) as well. Businesses that facilitate customers with online shopping are now looking for advanced strategies to deliver products to stay ahead of the competition. Needless to say, for this, they have to select the best courier service.
With so many courier and delivery services available, it can be hard to select the best out of the lot. However, you can make an informed decision by making sure the selected courier company boasts of these six key features discussed below:
Delivery Options
This is a must-have feature for a courier company to survive and thrive in this competitive world. Many companies offer same day and next day delivery services, apart from standard options. Customers, too, like their products to be delivered as early as possible. However, same day and next day delivery i.e. express courier services often tend to be expensive as compared to their counterparts. This is why some people prefer standard services, which are charged nominally.
So, the crux here is to select a company that offers diverse delivery options. It should be able to meet your customers’ need for the same day, next day or standard delivery requirements. If you also sell your products beyond geographical boundaries, make sure the company facilitates international orders as well.
Safety
Again, this feature is crucial when hiring courier services. No e-commerce company would like its customers to get broken products or not get their order products at all. This is a real deal-breaker for them. If the customer has received a wrong order, a broken/damaged product or not received the product, it certainly doesn’t reflect well on your business’ image. As a matter of fact, it can result in negative word of mouth, even if you aren’t handling the delivery services.
So, ensure the courier service you have selected offers a safe transition of products. Ask them beforehand how they handle fragile items and if they use padded or cushioned boxes for them or not.
Price Plans
Select a courier service that has different price plans. This way, you will have the liberty to choose a plan that matches your requirements and fits your budget. It should also allow you to switch to a bigger plan once your business grows.
Since every business has different requirements for delivering products to their customers, it makes complete sense for companies to offer different price plans to cater to a larger pool of clients. Selecting such a company will enable you to run your business without having to incur huge logistic expenses.
Extra Services (Warehousing, Fulfillment etc.)
Courier services, in today’s time and age, have advanced their domain instead of relying solely on delivery of products to the customers. Top companies now offer extra services such as warehousing, fulfillment etc. These services are directed to make the operations of ecommerce businesses, of varying size and nature, rather seamless and smooth. With the presence of such services, business owners can focus merely on increasing their revenue instead of facing the hassles of warehousing, storing and delivering products.
Having said that, you need to hire the best company to ensure everything is handled in a smooth manner. And for this, you can rely on IQ Fulfillment. With over 99.9% accuracy rate, we handle 12,000 orders per day and deliver what we promise – exceptional services.
Courier Tracking
This is another important feature that you need to pay attention to when hiring courier services. Online shoppers like to keep a track of their orders to have an idea about the expected delivery date. This is why you must select a company that offers courier tracking services. It will be even better if the company offers real-time tracking services so that the customers can get to know where exactly their order has reached and how much time it will take for it to reach them.
Personalized Services
As stated above, every e-commerce business works in a different way. The difference could be in terms of budget, nature and size of products etc. This is where the element of personalization comes in.
A one-size-fits-all formula may not suit delivery and courier services if they intend to cater to a diverse clientele pool.
All in all, selecting a courier service for your business is, more or less, as important as maintaining the quality of the products you offer. So, you need to settle for nothing less than the best in the market. And for this, IQ Fulfillment has got you covered. Contact us now for the most advanced fulfillment and delivery services in the Middle East region.