We have clients now that are doing the bulk of their business through delivery.
The big problem is often that the public is demanding free delivery. You can work this to your advantage by setting a minimum order amount for free delivery.
So I suggest that you take the time to figure out your delivery logistics so that it is both efficient and affordable to your business.
If you’re looking for ways to cut costs on delivery, here are a few suggestions.
* Can you make a route and do it yourself? One big plus here is that by going to the customer, you can maybe pick up more orders.
If not, then let’s begin
* Try asking businesses near you who they use and why?
Now get quotes from a few delivery companies and some will be cheaper for some areas for others.
Make sure that all these costs are listed as you could find unexpected extra charges coming in. What I do find surprising is that you will find sometimes the costs vary greatly between areas that are very close.
Some delivery companies run specials which you can tag onto eg one may say on Thursday they have a cheaper rate so you would push delivery to your customers on those days. If they have an Xmas special, you can use that too.
Investigate their other services, e.g. the COD service which we find very useful.
You want a decent tracking service from the delivery company, there are always problems and you often need to find out where your goods are. I find being able to find out exactly where the parcel is and how long before the customer can expect its arrival makes me look very professional.
As you will probably be using more than one delivery company, an average client of ours doing lots of deliveries, I would say is using two to five delivery companies.
* You need a tape measure and scale, as most delivery agents require both measurements for their costings. If you do not provide these, the delivery company driver will often estimate these and you could be paying more.
Reduce the parcel size and/or the number of cartons both can often dramatically reduce the price.
If you start to find that you are shipping a lot, then you can look into:
* Insurance who pays for this? I would suggest getting your insurance agent to give you on your business policy, shipping insurance which works out much cheaper than the delivery companies insurance policy.
* Save on packaging costs by buying in bulk
* You will be able to negotiate better discounts from deliveries.
Hope this all helps.
