Have you ever placed an order and then immediately gotten the link to where you can track your purchase? Although you shipped something from another state you are able to see the process and journey your parcel takes before it arrives to you. This is one of the many benefits of a courier company.
However, what happens when you want to start one? How does one plan and organize their business strategy in order to start a shipping or courier company. There are a number of functions needed in order to start one and it can be quite complex initially. However, that is not an excuse not to, here is a list of things you need to consider when trying to start your own shipping or courier business.
Where do you want to ship or deliver?
Starting transport within a country for domestic travel might be the best way to do things when you start out initially. This way you can get a feel of the market before you launch your business and go international.
Regardless of how big your country is the obvious decision is what locations do you choose to go to first. Do you stick with the big cities and branch off over time or do you start operations in all districts and states? In order to get a feel of how it works, if you are looking for companies who do domestic shipping Australia has quite a few that you can check out.
How do people access you?
Everything now works online so if you want potential customers to not only get to know about you but also pay for your services you need to have a platform that allows you to do so. Having a website that enables customers to get in touch with you is crucial. How do they contact you and are payments made online are all technicalities that need to be carried out before a purchase.
What services do you provide?
Initially it is important to state the role you play. What kind of services will you be providing and to who? Will you be doing door-to-door domestic transport services, can people from outside the country place order for those within and will you have online shop too.
Having an online shop means that you too have a collection of items that customers can place orders for and have them delivered. This is different to door-to-door services but is still important.
Will you work with customers or B2B?
Many smaller businesses all use domestic courier companies to distribute their products around the country. This is a great way to start till you are able to deal with customers directly.
Get your drivers
Finding the right drivers and vehicles in all necessary locations is the other biggest factor you need to consider. How do you organize the process and find the right people to work for you is crucial for the success of your business.