What to Consider Before Offering Home Delivery

Running a business requires a lot of work. As the business owner, you will need to ensure all process run smoothly to ensure your customers receive the very best service. With this in mind, you might be considering that home delivery is a service you should begin to offer.

Home delivery can be a tricky service to get right, especially when more and more online shoppers will change their shopping habits to ensure they have the best delivery experience. Before you begin offering home delivery to consumers, you should read the three aspects listed in this post to learn more.

Products Being Delivered

One of the first aspects to consider before offering home delivery is the products that will be available for this service. For some businesses, not all products will be available for home delivery; instead, they might be limited to in-store pickup. This might be because the item is costlier to deliver, which is often determined by the sensitivity, size, and weight of the product.

The product’s size and weight are used to determine the way it is shipped and delivered to the customer, and this will then affect the cost. Delivering a book, for example, will not require the same type of vehicle or level of manual labor that is necessary when delivering a television. Being heavier and larger means the television delivery would likely need a larger vehicle and possibly additional equipment, such as a delivery dolly.

Similarly, the television is much more sensitive to damage than a book. Although all items should be handled with care during the delivery process, some products will require extra packaging or smoother transportation to ensure they are delivered in perfection condition.

Flexible Shipping Options

With so many customers preferring, and even expecting, fast delivery, businesses now need to offer multiple shipping options. In fact, it is said that roughly 50% of online shoppers will abandon their carts if delivery times are too long, so offering quick delivery as well as other services is vital. These shipping options might range from same-day delivery to standard delivery, which might require three to five days to reach the customer’s doorstep. 

To ensure you can provide flexible shipping options, you must partner with a courier that can meet those demands. For example, California Courier Services offers on-demand, routed, rush, and same-day delivery services across the state 24 hours per day, seven days a week. These different services ensure that all businesses, no matter the industry, and their customers can be tailored to.

Depending on the shipping options you offer your customers, you might need to implement delivery charges. If you would prefer to avoid this, then it could be worthwhile increasing the prices of your products to ensure you can adequately cover the costs of shipping.

Distance to Destination

Finally, it is essential to think about where you will be delivering products to. The distance to the destination will influence the cost of shipping, depending on how far the order needs to travel and the resources required to transport it there. These resources include the fuel, labor, and time put into ensuring the order is received by the customer. 

Due to this aspect, most businesses will use a courier that is local to them, especially if their customers are all located nearby. However, if you know that some customers live in a different state or country, you should consider a nationwide or international courier service to meet these needs.

To conclude, there are several factors you must consider when you opt to offer delivery as an additional service for your business. As outlined in this post, you must think about what products you will deliver, the shipping options you will offer, and the locations you will deliver to.