Choose the Best Courier Company in India for eCommerce Business
Finding the right courier partner for your e-commerce business is like searching for treasure. All you need is a road map to point you in the right direction. With that in mind, we’ve compiled an exhaustive list of the map you need to follow, i.e., the criteria you need to consider, to find the perfect shipping company.
List of Points to Take Care of While Selecting the Best Courier Company in India
In today's world, the success of any size eCommerce business heavily depends on selecting the right courier service provider. Some of the major factors include COD (cash on delivery), Product size, less percentage of RTO (return to origin), shipping delivery time period, cost per k.g., etc. Further, you can check the ClickPost blog post to know in detail about the list of top 10 best eCommerce courier services provider companies in India for the eCommerce business and further ensure 100% growth. In the below section, all these points are well explained with examples in detail.
1.Delivery Range and Capacity
Whichever courier partner you tie-up with needs to fulfill your most basic requirements, i.e., they must be capable of handling the volume of orders you receive on a daily basis and they must be able to service the range of pin-codes and locations you require.
2. Average Weight of Cargo
The weight of the cargo can impact the mode of transportation that needs to be used and the safety of the product in transit. This applies to both heavyweight and lightweight products. Any courier partner you integrate with would accordingly have to be able to safely handle products of that general size. For example, BlueDart is a preferred carrier for heavy cargo, like furniture while companies with smaller cargo like jewelry prefer Ekart.
3. Shipping Rates
This may seem relatively straightforward but the ideal shipping rates for you are based on your volume of orders. Some carriers may charge an overall monthly fee for a sum-total of orders. However, you may find it more beneficial to pay per shipment. You also have to keep an eye out for additional costs like those listed below.
4. Additional Costs
Additional and hidden costs can end up piling on to your monthly payments to carriers if you’re not careful. Being prepared and aware of what hidden costs may pop up later, like fuel surcharge, COD handling charges or labor costs, will allow you to better estimate what your monthly costs will be.
5. Options for Speedy Delivery
Now, customers want products faster and faster. So depending on how demanding your customers are, you may want to ensure your courier partners can provide a wide variety of speedy delivery options, like hyperlocal delivery, same-day delivery, next-day delivery and express delivery.
6. Percentage of RTOs
The bigger your company gets, the more cumbersome RTOs become. Eventually, you’ll need to specifically target reducing your RTO numbers. Checking the methods used by a carrier to reduce RTOs and their overall RTO rates in the past can help you understand whether that particular carrier can actively help you keep RTO down, or at least not bring those numbers up.
7. Specialized Services
Depending on the product you have, you may find yourself in need of more specific services to assure smooth delivery. Express delivery is the most basic form of a specialized service. Other couriers may provide services like temperature-controlled transit, insurance and security for high value products, customized packaging, and storage options.
8. Delivery Process
How a carrier handles the end-to-end logistics of each shipment is very important. The modes of transportation they have available, the routes they follow, and the locations of their in-transit storage and fulfillment facilities can tell you how long deliveries will typically take and what is the likelihood of shipments being stuck or delayed.
9. Provision of Proof of Delivery
Proof of delivery is an important part of delivery services that not all carriers provide. Simple things like taking a photograph at the time of delivery or taking the recipient's signature can help you avoid fake deliveries or incorrect deliveries. So if fake deliveries are a frequent occurrence for you, this may be a priority.
10. Returns Management
Every carrier provides reverse logistics services but the mechanisms and methods they use may differ from carrier to carrier. These can determine the safety of the product in its return journey. Some carriers may also levy additional charges for certain parts of the return management process.
11.Insured or Secured Deliveries
In case your e-commerce company deals with high-value products, fragile products or extremely large, heavy or bulky items, you may want to have your orders insured for the journey or handled with added safety precautions. This can help you avoid unnecessary losses caused by in-transit damage.
12. Number of Stuck Shipments
Stuck shipments are a truly frustrating part of the delivery process, for both end-customers and e-commerce businesses. This is because the shipment is essentially in limbo and remains at risk. A carrier that has minimal stuck shipments or a clear mechanism for handling them can help keep cancellations at a minimum.
13. Value-Added Services
Value-added services can encompass a wide variety of services and initiatives that help push your sales numbers up, improve customer experience and promote your company. This can be through customized branded packaging, pushing offers via tracking updates. It can also include added security and safety options and quality checks prior to returns.
14. Tech Benefits
Different courier partners make use of different technological advancements to provide different services, such as automating certain parts of the return management or NDR management process. The more advanced the tech they use, the more benefits you can gain from it, provided they are applied smartly.
15. Previous Record
This is the essence of any shopping experience, whether you’re shopping for phones or for courier partners. You need to check reviews from previous customers, see available records of their performance and determine whether they fulfill your needs, whether those needs happen to be low costs, specialized services or active reduction of RTOs.
Top 5 Best Courier Companies for Online Businesses
1)Delhivery **
**2)Gati
3)Ecom Express
4)FedEx
5)Blue Dart
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