The Covid-19 pandemic shifted the way we did life in significant ways that can’t be understated nor ignored, particularly for business owners. Delivery, courier and curbside pick-up services became almost a staple for many Jamaican homes as lockdowns became normal for us. The option for delivery of goods to customers is in no way a new concept. These services have been around for a while but during the heights of the pandemic, many businesses turned to this option to keep them afloat.
This convenience has become quite normal now and customers almost automatically expect that there are delivery arrangements that your business will have. The Entrepreneur Weekly will explore how businesses can prudently choose their third-party delivery services and how delivery businesses can improve their offerings especially during this peak season as requests increase.
Do Your Research
Your delivery option has to now become a consideration when thinking of improving the quality of your business to your customers. For companies using a third-party delivery service versus having your own delivery business, there are a few things to consider when selecting the best delivery service for your brand, especially with the sea of options now available. The type of product you are delivering is a key thing to consider when selecting your delivery partner. What track record do they have in your particular industry and what are the reviews of their services, these questions must get answered in your consideration phase?
What Customers Want
Additionally, your customers are looking for a few primary things when engaging with the delivery part of transacting with your business. According to a Circuit Route survey, “We surveyed 275 people who regularly receive packages, to find out which aspects of the delivery process they think is the most important. Our findings showed that, in order of importance, customer satisfaction improves when: Packages get delivered on time, Packages get delivered to the right address and undamaged, Communication from the delivery service and Delivery drivers are friendly.” As the entrepreneurs using the delivery service these are some questions and thoughts to work through before engaging with a delivery service because this extends also to how your business is seen.
Delivery Experience
As a delivery company, you may fall into one of two categories. This can look like Business-to-Consumer Delivery and or Platform-to-Consumer Delivery. Business-to-Consumer would include products being directly delivered to the customer from the business using a platform. Many businesses within the food industry use this method. Platform-to-Consumer delivery market segment focuses on online delivery services that provide customers with products from partner businesses that do not necessarily have to offer the products themselves. Customers would use various platforms (e.g. Deliveroo) to handle the delivery process.
As delivery and courier services are on the rise, entrepreneurs within this industry can bolster their efforts within this time to improve efficiency by ensuring their offerings represent quality. As a third party in the transaction, the quality of your business is also being assessed both from the business that has contracted you and the customer receiving the product. There are important decisions to make on both these fronts.
Communication and Defining Everything
As a service-based business providing a job for another business, it is important that within that interaction communication is foundational. Another small business is expecting you to deliver on their promise to a customer and therefore the liaising with this business must have communication at the helm. Over-communication is never really an issue and so make your clients feel more comfortable by letting them know what’s going on.
Along with communication, Replicon underscores the importance of defining everything within your service offerings. “This includes what your services do and don’t encompass, eligibility, potential limitations, costs, how to get assistance when needed, and more.”
Things to Consider
During this time, wherever on the delivery spectrum you find yourself, as the business contracting or the delivery service itself make delivery memorable and efficient. According to Circuit Route Planner, “This can be done by making it easy for customers to order, using data to adjust your schedule and delivery radius. As well as introduce various payment and fulfillment options and streamline the order acceptance process.”
Delivery can be considered the home run for your business. There are many variables that impact how this home run stretch is done but business owners contracting delivery service and delivery service providers themselves, have to ensure that quality is at the forefront of their minds.
JBDC and The Entrepreneur
Through the Marketing Services Unit, the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) provides customer insight to help you deliver the best products to your clients. Using information gained from market research, they will guide you on how to make the necessary adjustments to your product/service to fulfill market relevance. Some of these adjustments may be related to the packaging trends, customer preferences, depending on the nature of the product. Give us a call today at 876-928-5161-5 or visit our website at www.jbdc.net for details on how we can help you.
Sources
https://getcircuit.com/teams/blog/how-to-improve-delivery-service
https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/eservices/online-food-delivery/worldwide
https://www.replicon.com/blog/5-ways-improve-service-delivery-organization/
