Home Locks How to open a delivery service. How to open a courier service? We are building a delivery business. Recruitment is important

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How to open a delivery service. How to open a courier service? We are building a delivery business. Recruitment is important

* Calculations use average data for Russia

Starting investments:

Revenue:

Net profit:

Payback period:

Courier service is a business without serious investments and requirements, so anyone can start it. The advantages of this area: high demand for services, a wide range of customers and profitability up to 90%.

Delivery service is a business that will suit both an experienced and aspiring entrepreneur. In Russia, the industry began to develop actively since the 90s and today is one of the promising areas in the service sector. The idea is attractive because it does not require large investments and at the same time guarantees a fairly high profit. You can start with a minimum set of resources and gradually develop your business. Moreover, with the growth of online commerce, delivery services are more relevant than ever. That is why starting a courier service is a great solution for an entrepreneur.

Delivery service

Types of services. The courier service provides the population with prompt delivery of letters, documents, small and bulky cargo for a fee. Depending on the scale of activity, the courier service can deliver between countries, between cities and regions, within the same city. Another important criterion is the specifics of the cargo. Conventionally, the work of courier services is divided into the delivery of correspondence and cargo. In practice, most players specialize in both directions.

The types of services provided by the courier service may be different. The most demanded delivery of goods from online stores. Most often this is a small-sized cargo.

What options do courier services offer their customers:

pre order;

urgent order (within a day);

courier rental;

shipment insurance;

order at night - delivery of goods from 22:00 to 7:00;

lifting cargo to the floor.

Business area. At the initial stage of work, it is better to focus on work within the same city. Get a good reputation, gain experience - and then gradually develop. For a good start, you will need to find 2-3 large clients with whom you will cooperate on an ongoing basis. Qualitatively fulfilling these orders, you can count on a stable profit and invest it in further development.

Cargo specifics. Immediately decide what kind of cargo you will work with. Because the organization of all activities depends on it. A comparison table will help you make a decision, which shows the characteristics of different types of cargo.

Comparison of areas of work of the courier service

	Correspondence	Small cargoes	Small cargoes
	Not required	Required	Required
Car park	Not required	Required	Required
Loading and unloading equipment	Not required	Not required	Required
Material liability		Low/high
Security and alarm costs	Minimum	Minimum	Depends on the size and workload of the warehouse

An ideal option for a beginner in this business: delivery of correspondence and small cargo around the city. It will be much cheaper and easier. The specifics of the delivery of oversized cargo has its own difficulties, which will not only “eat up” part of your budget, but also require certain experience, skills and responsibility. In the future, of course, it makes sense to add cargo delivery to the services and expand the geography of activities.

Method and type of delivery. Also, choose in advance what type of delivery you want to deal with. Limit the scope of the target audience and develop a profitable offer for your potential customers.

The cargo service industry offers many options: online shopping products, delivery of flowers, gifts or food, important documents, etc. You can combine several directions.

To decide, study the demand in your city. What is missing in the courier services market? What niche is free? What can be improved in this area? What problems do your future clients face? When you answer all these questions, you can choose a promising direction.

Every day, many companies and people use the services of courier services. Your potential clients are:

online stores;

cafes and restaurants;

flower shops.

Today, almost all online stores cooperate with courier services and use their outsourcing services. Moreover, many prefer to conclude contracts with local small firms.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Another large segment is cafes and restaurants. Almost all catering establishments provide a delivery service to their customers. And this is also done by a third-party courier service.

Separately, it is worth mentioning about flower shops. Many of them trade through social networks and offer delivery services. But it is not profitable for them to keep their courier on staff, so they resort to outsourcing.

Almost all large companies need couriers to deliver various documents. In addition, there is such a service as "courier rental" - i.e. an employee can not only deliver documents, but also perform additional assignments. For example, stand in line at the tax office and hand over / pick up documents. Thanks to this service, the client saves time, and you get additional profit.

Ready-made ideas for your business

So the range of potential customers of the delivery service includes an unlimited number of individuals and legal entities. Courier services are in demand in all areas of activity.

After you decide what we will deliver and who will be our client. Now we need to figure out how to deliver it. The method of delivery depends on the specifics of the order, and on the territory, and on your strategy. Let's consider in more detail.

Possible delivery methods

Pedestrian courier. If you work within a small town, you can get by with a pedestrian courier. The method is reminiscent of the classic image of the postman. You can also use bicycles, mopeds, scooters. It is clear that only correspondence and small parcels will be delivered in this way. This may not be a very profitable solution.

Courier with car. First, the volume of initial investments will increase. You will need to purchase a car or hire a courier with a personal vehicle (and this is paid extra). Secondly, fuel costs will increase. But on the other hand, you will get a faster delivery method, more orders and the ability to deliver large and heavy packages. In addition, you can use unusual delivery formats. This will allow you to stand out and form a competitive advantage.

bike mail. Fast delivery of documents on small vehicles (bicycles, scooters, mopeds). It is cheap, environmentally friendly, and in the case of traffic jams, even faster. Also, for example, argues the American express mail UPS, which delivers parcels on bicycles with a trailer. Students can be hired. One downside is seasonality. It is not very comfortable to ride a bike in rain or snow. But this method of delivery can be made an additional service in the warm season.

Congratulatory courier service delivers flowers, balloons, gifts and other holiday paraphernalia. The services of such an organization are used by people who cannot personally congratulate their loved ones. The courier service does it for them. With proper advertising, the service will be in demand. In this case, the bright design of the courier car will be an excellent marketing ploy, so that it is immediately clear: “this car is carrying a holiday.”

Round the clock delivery. Not every courier service provides such a service. Therefore, you can occupy a free niche and start with less competition. Delivery at night has many advantages: the tariff for such orders is higher, and they are delivered faster (because there is less traffic and traffic jams). The downside is that you will have to hire additional employees for shift work.

Delivery of auto parts, building materials, assistance with moving. There are very few companies that would provide such services, but there is demand. The car broke down on the road, it is necessary to transport things or building materials for construction or repair. In all these cases, you will need the service of your courier service. But then you have to buy trucks and hire movers.

As you can see, the delivery service is a very variable business. You can combine characteristics in different ways: type of cargo, target audience, delivery method - and look for the “formula” that will be successful for you.

Business registration

From theory we pass to practical actions. The first serious step to start is the registration of a business.

The courier service can work both in the status of an individual entrepreneur and an LLC. Most often, small firms prefer to work as an individual entrepreneur - there is less paperwork with him. To register, you must write an application in the prescribed form and attach to it a receipt for payment of the state duty, which is 800 rubles. The following should be indicated as types of activities according to OKVED: 64.12 - Courier activities. You can immediately enable additional codes:

52.61.2 - Retail sales through teleshops and computer networks (electronic commerce, including the Internet)

63.40 - Organization of cargo transportation

64.11.11 - Activities for the reception, processing, transportation and delivery (delivery) of postal items

74.82 - Packaging

74.84 - Provision of other services

So, you submit the documents necessary for registering an individual entrepreneur, and after the period specified in the notification, you collect an extract from the USRIP from the tax. On the same day, it is recommended to write an application for the transition to the selected tax regime. You can choose STS 6% of income or STS 15% income minus expenses.

Premises and office

The courier service belongs to the category of business where the location and office do not play an important role. In this case, you will need a mini-office to receive corporate clients and conclude contracts with them. You can also place a small warehouse there.

An office for a courier service does not have to be located in the city center. For the client, it is more important how quickly you can deliver the package and how much it will cost. Therefore, the ideal space for an office is 20 sq.m. with internet and telephone, away from the city center. In the office, it is enough to equip one workplace for a manager who will look for clients, communicate with us, distribute tasks between couriers, control the timing and payment of orders. The set of equipment in the office is minimal: a computer, an MFP, a telephone, a document rack.

When looking for a suitable office, pay attention to various business centers where you can find a premise already furnished and equipped with all communications. The cost of renting such an office will cost you about 10-15 thousand rubles per month. It all depends on the city and the territorial location of the building itself. Also, do not forget to buy stationery for your office: paper, pens, paper clips, tape, etc.

Equipment

The main production equipment in this case is a car. Well, of course, if you have not decided to open a bike mail. The choice of transport on which orders will be delivered should be approached with special attention.

How to choose a car for a courier

Characteristics. To begin with, let's define the main characteristics that an ideal car for a courier service should have:

low fuel consumption;

low cost of maintenance and repair;

small dimensions of the car: compactness and mobility makes it easy to park and move around the city faster.

So the main requirement for a courier car is efficiency and mobility. This way you save money and time.

Models. Based on these characteristics, we will give examples of popular cars that are most often used for delivery services.

If you give preference to the domestic auto industry, then the suitable options are:

OKA (VAZ 1111).

If you choose among foreign cars, then this:

German cars (Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Golf, Opel Corsa,);

Korean (Kia Picanto, Hyundai i20, Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Getz).

French (Citroen C1, Peugeot 107);

Japanese (Toyota Yaris, Toyota Vitz, Nissan Cube, Nissan March, Honda Fit);

Italian (Fiat Panda).

All of these cars have a small engine capacity - this allows you to save on fuel consumption. The average cost of a car for a courier is 400 thousand rubles. You can save money by renting a used car. But keep in mind that in this case you risk buying a car that will often break down. And delays in the work of the courier service can lead to serious consequences.

Scheme of the courier service

Before proceeding to the selection of personnel, you need to draw up a detailed scheme of the courier service and prescribe the functions of each employee. The general scheme of work looks like this:

An order is received from a customer.

The manager accepts the order, negotiates the amount of payment with the client, records all the necessary data (name, contact phone number, order parameters). Next, the manager passes the task to the courier.

The courier, according to the received task, goes to point A to pick up the correspondence/parcel and payment. Then he takes him to point B, where the receiving party signs the acceptance certificate, thereby confirming the fact of receipt.

The courier calls the manager, and he, in turn, notifies the customer about the receipt of the parcel or envelope by the addressee.

At the end of the working day, the courier delivers the signed documents and proceeds to the manager.

This scheme is not generally accepted and the only correct one. You can customize it to suit your business concept.

Courier service staff

An entrepreneur can open a courier business on his own. It is quite possible to combine the functions of a dispatcher, courier and director. At the initial stage, when there will be few orders, you can handle it alone. This will help save on salaries for employees. But then you still need help. By the way, replacing the entire staff of the courier service is a very useful experience. You will feel the business “from the inside”, understand the process of work, learn the nuances and then be able to better navigate the business.

The staff of the courier service usually includes a dispatcher (manager), courier drivers, foot couriers and an accountant. If you plan to deliver bulky goods, you will have to hire movers. Students can be hired as walking couriers: they are usually paid from 300 rubles a day - the costs are small, but their work relieves the volume of orders well.

Ready-made ideas for your business

The main requirement for courier drivers is that they must be able to navigate freely in the city. But you can not rely only on the ability of drivers. Be sure to equip courier vehicles with navigators. For a small company, two couriers will be enough. Their salary usually consists of a fixed salary and a percentage of the amount of completed orders. If you want to save money, you can find employees with a private car. But then you have to pay them more.

Try to find employees with similar experience. In the early stages, their experience will help you, especially if you are new to this business.

You can assign the functions of an accountant to yourself. There is nothing difficult in the IP documentation to understand and maintain accounting on your own. There would be a desire and time. Because your main function in this business is management. You must monitor the work of all staff, coordinate their actions, solve problems that arise, look for new customers and promote your business.

Advertising courier service

It's time to ask the question "where to look for customers"? Let's try to figure out where you can meet your potential customers and how to attract their attention.

Participation in tenders. On the Rostender website you will find many offers to conclude a contract for the provision of courier services. Contract amounts vary from a few thousand to millions of rubles. It all depends on the capabilities of your courier service. To see the right options, please select the region you plan to work in, check the terms of current offers, make sure you meet the stated requirements and apply. At the end of the tender, the results will be posted on the site and you may receive this order.

Electronic reference books. If your activity is limited to the territory of one region or city, then you can use electronic directories. Find the phone numbers and e-mail of those companies that are your target audience. Call or send an electronic proposal for cooperation. Try to come up with a commercial proposal that reflects the individual needs of a particular business.

Announcement Sites. Place ads about your services on various resources such as Avito. There you can also study the demand for courier services and respond to the application.

Intermediary sites. You can use third-party portals - for example, You Do. This platform is an intermediary between those who are looking for certain services (including courier services) and those who provide them. Register on the portal as an executor-courier.

Printable advertisement. Use brochures, business cards, flyers. Make flyers describing your services and a great offer. Arrange to place them on stands near cash desks in stores, in organizations, on bulletin boards.

As you can see, there are many channels for promoting courier services. At first, use all available advertising methods. Plan marketing expenses right away to get orders from the first month of work.

financial question

When an aspiring entrepreneur seriously thinks about starting a business, he is interested in two main questions: how much should he spend and how much can he earn? Let's figure it out. The table shows the main items of initial expenses. Based on this, in order to open a courier service from scratch, you will need at least 260 thousand rubles.

Initial investment to open a courier service

In addition to the initial investment, plan monthly expenses. The table shows an approximate calculation of fixed costs. In the first months when you will be self-employed, there will be no such payroll costs. However, when drawing up a business plan for a courier service, be sure to include this article.

Fixed costs of courier service

Now that you've got your costs figured out, let's move on to the fun part of planning: calculating your expected profit. To do this, you need to know how much courier services will cost and the number of orders. The cost of delivery depends on many factors (city, cargo specifics, route complexity, additional options, delivery time, etc.). Therefore, it is difficult to give any exact figures. On average, one order for the delivery of correspondence will cost 80-100 rubles in the city; delivery of small cargoes is approximately 250 rubles, and a contract concluded with one legal entity. face will bring already 20-30 thousand rubles.

Having a stable flow of orders, a courier service can earn 100-250 thousand rubles a month. Of this amount, you will be left with 50-150 thousand rubles of net profit. The profitability of the business reaches 90%.

Thus, the approximate indicators of business profitability will be as follows:

Revenue - 250 thousand rubles per month

Net profit - 150 thousand rubles per month

Profitability - up to 90%

Payback period - 4-5 months.

Risk factors

When compiling your business plan, be sure to pay attention to the risk component. Think about the risks you may face when providing courier services and how you can avoid losses. Any risk is a loss of profit. Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken to avoid problems.

What you need to pay attention to the owner of the courier service:

High competition. Earlier, we talked about the fact that there are many participants in the courier services market that a novice entrepreneur may encounter. You can solve the problem of competition even at the level of choosing a strategy, if you correctly identify your target audience, form an interesting and profitable offer for it. When you become a full-fledged participant in the market, you can attract customers by providing additional services at competitive prices, by competently advertising your services.

Dependence on weather and transport conditions. The quality of the courier service does not always depend on internal factors. Bad weather or traffic jams in the city can prevent the courier from delivering the order on time. It is almost impossible to solve this problem, as well as to insure against it. In addition, in such conditions, there is a possibility of damage to the vehicle. For example, sudden ice can lead to an accident. All this will bring you unforeseen expenses. The use of various programs to identify traffic jams and competent logistics solutions will help reduce the risk.

Personnel problem. The courier delivery business is characterized by high turnover. The salary is small, there is often no career growth, the work, albeit simple, but dreary. It is not uncommon to accept students who consider the work of a courier as temporary. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you will often have to look for employees, and these are also certain costs. If you are interested in your company's employees working for a long time and with dedication, set a decent salary, provide good working conditions, use various methods of motivation. Or be prepared to be constantly on the lookout.

Starting a business from scratch is never easy. It is necessary to carefully consider every nuance in relation to the planned business. It takes a lot of effort, but the result will certainly please you. In this topic, we will describe a productive business idea.

The courier service is undoubtedly popular among the population. Delivery of goods is necessary for many firms, enterprises, institutions. Such a business is one of the inexpensive ones for a starting career and would be quite suitable for a novice entrepreneur. If you are interested in how to open a courier delivery service, our topic is for you.

It is known that today the choice of courier services is limited, so this type of service can be safely called in demand, relevant. Many post offices deliver the goods, however, many customers are not satisfied with the delivery time, which can be 3 days or more. Along with this, urgent applications issued by mail are very expensive.

If you are seriously thinking about how to open a delivery service, it's time to start a business! It is no secret that there is competition among many companies, including courier companies. The success of the delivery service depends on the quality of the services provided and the acceptability of prices.

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Identification of competition

Some delivery companies have a wide field of activity. Their branches can be located throughout the country in cities and towns. These companies deliver products in a matter of hours, since they have a large number of employees and cars in their arsenal. Such services are popular, they have established themselves in the market for goods and services, and have a good reputation among partners and the general population.

One of the main business strategies is to identify such a competitor in your region. What is the need? The success of your future company directly depends on this. If a large reliable courier service is already open in your city, has a good reputation and a good name, people will continue to use its services. In the case when you are determined to compete with a similar company, you need to come up with some feature for your courier service that will serve as an advantage over a competing company. It can be around the clock work or affordability. It could be both. Find a good idea how to distinguish your company from the rest, how to interest a potential client.

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First of all, you should decide on the place where the company will be located. Ideally, it should be a regional center, a large city with a large number of people. In rural districts, such a business may not work. The reasons are obvious: a small number of companies, organizations, or even the absence of them. If anyone will use your services, it is extremely rare, ordering will be small. Accordingly, the business will not be profitable. Possible option. In a small town there are entertainment centers, cafes, restaurants. In this case, you can’t do without the help of a courier; people often order restaurant food at home. But still better in a big city.

The next thing to do when planning is to decide what types of cargo you intend to work with. Some companies are engaged in the delivery of paper documents, others deliver bulky goods not only within the city, but throughout the country. Some courier services are engaged in international transportation. Some companies deliver precious items. Decide on the areas where you will transport the goods - either within the city, or the region, or across the country. It directly depends on what kind of car a company should have, a car or a truck; one, two or three cars. To deliver documents around the city, the courier can also use public transport. You can also walk if the distance is short.

If you have already purchased a car, you should consider hiring a driver. And not only the driver. In general, you need to decide on the size and scale of your company, the number of staff, their workload, and the salaries of employees. Don't think that one courier will be enough. There must be at least 2 people, since one worker will not be able to cope with orders. You can hire a taxi driver with a personal car and one employee without a car. Thus, the company will have 2 couriers and 1 car, which is very convenient.

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The role of personnel in the work of the company

So, let's take a closer look at the work of personnel in the company. For a successful business organization, the company must have a director, an accountant, a secretary-dispatcher, couriers, technical staff. employees if you rented a room. The director's responsibility is to supervise all the affairs of the company. The secretary-dispatcher accepts applications, registers them, transfers them to couriers, informs the client about the location of the cargo and the time of delivery. Couriers carry out the instructions of the secretary, they must deliver the goods to their destination on time, safe and sound. The accountant is responsible for the work of employees, if necessary, makes comments to them, is responsible for the profits of the company. When an entrepreneur does not have the opportunity to organize such a staff, you can get by with a director, a dispatcher and couriers.

The working hours of the company are set at your discretion. The optimal time for delivery of goods is from 8 am to 5 pm. At the moment there are few services where couriers work at night. Working around the clock is a good business idea. Employees can work the night shift, which can start from 00:00 until 07:00. Depending on the ideas, you can implement the option of urgent delivery, which can be useful in emergency cases. Carefully consider whether you can hire employees who will work at night.

An important role in the reputation of a courier company is played by the quality of service and timely delivery of goods. What does quality of service mean? This is the ability of employees to communicate with customers in a friendly manner, to conduct a conversation competently, to be attentive when filling out an application, to take into account the wishes and needs of customers in the delivery process. The ability of the courier to deliver the parcel quickly and on time, without damaging it, is the most important thing in the job. Try to hire decent, neat, polite, executive people. The dispatcher must be a person with good communication skills and correct diction. Encourage employees to understand each other and get along well with each other.

Have you heard of FedEx, DHL, UPS? If so, then, for sure, you or your friends used their services. Would you like to open your own courier service?

If yes, then this article will be useful for you and tell you how to do it.

Especially for the preparation of the article, we interviewed three experts and found out as open courier delivery service. Meet our guests:

Alexey Prygin, Deputy General Director of MaxiPost. The company specializes in courier delivery of goods from online stores.
Sergey Nevzorov, founder of the service Department of Logistics.
Zhurabek Turdiev, director of the BTS Express courier service. The company specializes in express delivery of documents, correspondence, parcels up to 3 kg within Uzbekistan.

The article was written jointly with our experts and with their active participation. This made it possible to obtain detailed, more complete first-hand information about the opening of a courier service.

How to prepare for the opening?

As with opening any business, it is necessary to conduct a preliminary market analysis. The information received should include:

Target audience, demand from its side. Who is your potential client, what services does he need, what will he expect from you.
Information about competitors and their activities.
Current market conditions. What niches are still relatively free and other information.

This is the first. The second is the choice of niche and services. After studying the market, you may want to develop a courier service in a narrow specific niche. Or you prefer to specialize in the delivery of certain packages, for example, goods from online stores, food from restaurants.

Investment size

It all depends on the chosen niche and the services you are going to provide. Alexey Prygin, Deputy CEO of MaxiPost:

“Costs (start-up and monthly) are made up of the following costs:

staff recruiting;
purchase and branding of uniforms (if necessary);
process automation;
purchase of cash registers (and their further maintenance);
purchase or rental of vehicles (if necessary);
communication (mobile, city, Internet);
household and stationery goods;
banking expenses (mainly collection);
fuel (if necessary);
salaries and taxes.

The main expenditure part in the "courier" - These are wages and taxes.

The competitive struggle in the courier services market is going through the roof now and will only grow further, opening a new business in this area is worth it if you have good start-up investments, a “cushion” for the future and experience in this area.”

MaxiPost has the following format - delivery of goods from online stores. If you do not purchase vehicles, then investments will be required relatively small. But! You need to be ready for subsequent financial injections in order to stay in the market and continue to grow.

But BTS Express required significant investment to launch and grow their courier service.

Zhurabek Turdiev

Director of BTS Express

As can be seen from the two examples, the volume of investments can differ by several times. Much depends on the niche and the services provided. But both of our guests agree that the continued existence and growth of the company will require regular funding.

Step-by-step instruction

As mentioned above, the opening of a courier service begins with determining the portrait of the client, his needs, expectations. Based on this data, you need to decide on a niche and a specific list of services that your company will provide.

After finding out these key points, you can think about what the investments will go to, how to build the business further, what geography of service you will have.

Staff. Hiring, training, motivation, relationships

Our guest Aleksey Prygin, Deputy General Director of MaxiPost, talks about working with personnel:

The staff of couriers is one of the very first steps in organizing a courier service. To form it, you need:

Recruit couriers, having previously calculated their number and load based on the planned sales volume and sales schedule;

Train couriers by developing a training system in advance, including the ability to communicate, work with cash registers, follow the rules of cash discipline, etc.;

Develop a system of motivation and control of couriers: how will you pay them - fixed or piecework? How to calculate the premium part - based on the number of redeemed or delivered parcels? How will you control their work and nullify the risks of unscrupulous performers, which is especially important given that the courier is a financially responsible person?

The motivation system for couriers should be built based on the company's business goals. For example, in our company in the first place is not the quantity, but the quality of delivery, the percentage of redemption of delivered parcels. So everything is sharpened exclusively for this KP

Zhurabek Turdiev

Director of BTS Express:

When working with personnel, the main attention and efforts should be directed to couriers, because the courier:

The face of the company, and he mostly communicates with customers and package recipients.
It largely depends on him how and in what condition the parcel will be delivered.
The courier is a financially responsible person.

When selecting couriers, we look at the following points:

Filling out the questionnaire. Is it full to the end? If yes, then this indicates a serious attitude to the candidate's work and that he wants to work in our company.
Ability to communicate. Is the person easy to contact, not aggressive or rude.
Age and driver's license. Only young people work as couriers in our company.

We have a month of probation. During this period, we pay attention to other indicators of couriers:

How does the courier handle documents? Is everything filled out on time? Are reports submitted on time?
Compliance with set schedules.
Ability to communicate with customers and recipients of parcels.
Feedback from customers and employees. If the courier is rude, breaks the rules, customers and employees complain about him, then such a person does not stay with us.

We also have a system of training and adaptation. It allows the beginner to quickly join the business and successfully complete their tasks.

A separate conversation is motivation. We need purposeful people, and we promote them to higher positions, if, of course, the employee has a desire.

The basic principle of building relationships with couriers, and with all employees of the company, is to let them know that they are valuable and that their work is important not only for the company, but also for customers and society. And the most important thing is not just to make it clear, but to prove it in practice day after day.

At the initial stage, it is better to focus on attracting and high-quality service of the Nth number of first customers. I would recommend starting with 200 clients. This approach will allow:

identify weaknesses in your business and eliminate them,
understand the expectations and needs of your customers,
build your marketing strategy based on the feedback received.

Promotion channels may be different. You need to take into account the specifics of your niche and focus on customers.

Zhurabek Turdiev, director of BTS Express says:

In our case, SEO works well, sending commercial offers to organizations, word of mouth. We mainly use social networks to collect feedback.

In choosing a promotion channel, you need to proceed from the characteristics of customers. Namely, to know:

Through what channels of communication can they be reached.
Through which channels potential customers are already looking for information about you.

The niche and services provided by your courier service play a major role in deciding where to place your office and warehouse.

For example, food delivery from restaurants does not require a warehouse, because the parcel is delivered straight from the kitchen to the recipient. A similar situation is with the delivery of parcels within the city, because. delivery is carried out within a few hours.

But in the case of long-distance delivery, the presence of a warehouse is mandatory.

Zhurabek Turdiev

Director of BTS Express

When choosing a place, we took into account the following criteria:

Convenient location for customers, because some of our clients come to the office to send a parcel. Also, some recipients pick up the parcel from the office. This is an economy rate with pickup from our offices. The main thing is that it is convenient for customers to drive up to us, it is easy to find us, and that there is parking.
The proximity of the airport, because To increase the speed of delivery, we send parcels to remote cities by air.

Sufficient space for the work of all departments (reception, warehouse, administration). This applies only to the central office in Tashkent. Offices in the regions are simpler

Documentation

The courier service can be registered as an LLC or an individual entrepreneur. LLC is convenient for the following:

Investors are more willing to invest in a business, because can act as co-founders. Banks are also more willing to lend.
More trust from organizations. It matters if organizations are your potential customers.

IP has the following advantages:

Easy to register.
You can pay taxes on the "simplified". Tax reporting is easier.

The choice of legal form is at the discretion of the business owner. Company registration is one of the easiest steps when opening a courier service.

Opening checklist

Is it profitable to open

To answer this question, consider the following:

Courier service as a business is a long-term business project. There is no quick way to "make money" here. Like factories, courier services do not give a return immediately, but after a while. Starting a courier business, you need to be ready for a marathon, not a sprint.
Much depends on the chosen niche and the services provided, the situation on the market.

Alexey Prygin, Deputy General Director of MaxiPost:

Services in general are rarely a high-margin business, and in an unfavorable scenario (and now this is exactly the case), the difference between the tariff and the cost tends to zero. It is very difficult to increase this gap: to raise the price means losing customers, and it is very difficult to reduce the cost.

Zhurabek Turdiev

Director of BTS Express

We were able to reach operating profit only in the fifth year of development. There is still time until full self-sufficiency. The proceeds are invested in development. Courier services are a long-term business. You need to have a fair amount of patience to raise such an enterprise.

seasonality

As in a number of industries, there is seasonality in the courier business. It is associated with the period of commercial activity of the population before significant holidays and other events:

New Year
February 23
March 8
Black Friday, etc.

Alexey Prygin

Deputy General Director MaxiPost

The courier business is subject to seasonality, which directly depends on the surge in sales in online stores. The hottest season for courier services is the New Year. Even if you live from order to order for a whole year, you won’t be bored from the end of November. Our people will never stop buying gifts for this holiday, so there is always a chance to make a good turnover in one month. December is guaranteed earnings. And then there are February 23, March 8, black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, preparation for school in August and a bunch of all sorts of more or less successful seasons and sales that provide couriers with a reliable income.

The start of any business is impossible without a detailed analysis, market research and preparation of an indicative development plan, the so-called business plan.

One of the most rapidly developing areas is the courier delivery service, whose services consist in the fast and high-quality movement of goods or documents of the customer from one point to another destination.

Main advantages and disadvantages of business

Of course, like any other type of entrepreneurial activity that is quite developed, popular and, accordingly, profitable, the organization of courier delivery has many more advantages than disadvantages.

The main beneficial and advantageous indicators in relation to the owner and organizer of this type of activity should include:

Sufficiently high level of profitability and profitability. In this case, it should be noted that the concentration and universalization in the face of one delivery operator can significantly save on costs that are aimed at moving cargo. It is much more profitable for both individuals and legal entities to contact a specialized company in order to receive cargo transportation services than to do it on their own, especially when it comes to small volumes. That is why various similar ones are so popular lately, which, in turn, caused a round of growth in the number of operators.
To organize a small-scale service provision relatively small capital investment required. At the first stages of its development, the enterprise can use both rented warehouse premises and cars or other vehicles necessary for business activities.
No special requirements for ordinary personnel(this thesis does not apply to the administrative group of employees and specialists). When recruiting, it is enough to conduct a small introductory briefing or internal training in the basics of logistics, internal procedures and methods. In this connection, a simple conclusion should be made that the cost part related to the wages of ordinary employees will be at an acceptable level for the business owner, if we talk about the average indicators of this cost item among similar enterprises and institutions.

The disadvantages include the following facts from the experience of developing and already on the “big rails” companies:

If you have your own fleet, there are high costs for its maintenance, such as current and major repairs, licensing, insurance, mandatory state payments and fees, etc.
A rather large number of small operations that require perseverance from the staff and a large share of responsibility, since we are talking about handling other people's property, often very expensive.

In order to determine all the advantages and disadvantages of this type of business, one should clearly understand the level of investment in its development, the territorial level of coverage of the serviced area and other important factors.

You can watch the conference on the opening of such an enterprise on the video:

Required permits

In accordance with the current legislation, business entities that want to provide services related to the delivery of goods, are required to obtain a license for forwarding and transportation activities. This permit is issued in case of mandatory compliance with technical and environmental standards and requirements.

The license, in accordance with the requirements put forward, is issued for a period of 5 years. Particular attention should be paid to the possible transport of dangerous goods, which is regulated on the basis of separate rules and regulations.

It is worth noting that activities related to the transportation of goods through the territory of one city or region are not subject to licensing, if third-party or even public transport is used.

If you have not yet registered an organization, then the easiest this can be done using online services that will help you generate all the necessary documents for free: If you already have an organization and you are thinking about how to facilitate and automate accounting and reporting, then the following online services come to the rescue, which will completely replace an accountant at your plant and save a lot of money and time. All reporting is generated automatically, signed with an electronic signature and sent automatically online. It is ideal for an individual entrepreneur or LLC on the simplified tax system, UTII, PSN, TS, OSNO.
Everything happens in a few clicks, without queues and stress. Try it and you will be surprised how easy it got!

First steps to get started

Any activity that is aimed at making a profit is recognized as entrepreneurial, respectively, it must go through all the stages and stages of state registration provided for by the norms of the current legislation:

After it was or, the main activity of which is the delivery of goods and other material assets, you should take care of branding your business, the so-called take-out to the masses. Even if at this stage the founder does not have the necessary assets (real estate, transport, personnel, automated accounting and control systems are not established), it is necessary to start with advertising, albeit with suspensive conditions, for example: “SOON! Opening of a new courier delivery service. It should be taken into account that a bright and sonorous name will instantly stick in the head of potential consumers of these services, and the time during which the owner will be engaged in processing transactions for the sale or lease of real estate and vehicles will only play into his hands.
At the next stage, of course, you should decide on the location of the warehouse where loading and unloading operations will be carried out. This room should have the most advantageous geographical location within the city, be close to the main transport interchanges and junctions, with public transport stops nearby. As such, there are no special requirements for the premises, however, it should be noted that it must be heated, dry, electrified. Deratization work must be carried out, since the presence of rodents in a warehouse is not the best bonus for a novice entrepreneur in disputes with affected customers. Office premises for administrative staff should preferably be located in close proximity to the place where the main activity is carried out.
Rent or purchase of vehicles. Particular attention should be paid to this stage, since the quality and timely provision of services to consumers depends on it. In many ways, the choice of transport depends on the owner's plans for the development of his business. If the delivery service provides only for movement within the city, then the presence of huge trucks in the fleet is not at all advisable, and the delivery of bulky goods to the cities of the neighboring region on scooters is unrealistic.

Required personnel

Recruitment is the most important stage in the development of a high-quality, reliable and popular delivery service. The composition of the administrative staff, which acts as an auxiliary or serving the main administrative processes, must necessarily include:

director or directorate.
Chief accountant or accounting department, cashier.
Responsible for the condition of the fleet (for example, chief mechanic).
Safety engineer, since the work is associated with equipment and fixed or working capital dangerous to the life and health of personnel (cars, racks and loads on them, etc.).
Head of warehouse.

The main working personnel must have knowledge in the field of logistics. To do this, either select employees with relevant work experience, which in itself is optimal, or organize small courses for them to obtain the appropriate qualifications.

Customer acquisition and marketing campaigns

None of the modern enterprises or organizations will develop fully and quickly without a proper advertising campaign and high-quality positioning in the market of services of a certain segment.

In addition to visual advertising of the opening of a new service, various marketing "traps" should be used. These include bonuses and privileges for the first certain number of customers and consumers, the introduction of a system of discount cards or the organization of a so-called customer club.

At the same time, it is important to remember that the majority of both potential and existing customers will be attracted by financial advantages - discounts or gifts.

A plastic discount card with the logo and slogan of the courier company will always be in front of consumers, and the system of discounts and accumulative terms of the affiliate program will be able to significantly increase the number of customers.

Business development options. Summary of costs and profitability

Of course, the development and direction of the functioning of the business, its volume and sphere of influence largely depend on the initial capital that the owner allocates at the stage of formation. In the case of a courier service, several types of organization of its activities are possible, depending on the territorial coverage, these are:

city service, which operates within the same city and is the most economical in terms of cost.
Service carrying out its activities throughout the state. In this case, the initial costs for its organization are many times different from the city counterpart.
International Format. Here, the company covers not only individual countries, but also continents. It is easy to conclude that the costs of organizing are incommensurable with previous analogues, and the development of any service to the level of an international one testifies to the colossal work of top management and financial injections.

Of course, in history there are many examples of the development of enterprises from small unitary to international and transcontinental concerns, all this depends on the approach to doing business, compliance with international development schemes and standards, and, importantly, the desire of the owner.

The issue of costs when establishing a delivery service is also very relative and largely depends on the capabilities of the owner, the level of expected compliance with world leaders and many other factors.

Based on the existing experience of registering and founding such startups, we can conclude that the minimum amount, which includes only the costs of acquiring the necessary fixed assets, office equipment, furniture, equipment, can start from 100,000-150,000 rubles. Payback on average can take up to several months, which depends on the right advertising campaign, geographic location, loyalty to the first customers and the quality of the services provided to them.

It is also necessary to take into account the fact that due to the expansion of the business and the increase in the total volume of services provided, the expenditure part also increases, and it is in this case that it is very important not to lose the balance and the ratio of expenditure and revenue, skillfully using the potential of professional administrative staff.

* Calculations use average data for Russia

Starting investments:

Revenue:

Net profit:

Payback period:

Professional kit for creating business ideas

Delivery service

The types of services provided by the courier service may be different. The most demanded delivery of goods from online stores. Most often this is a small-sized cargo.

What options do courier services offer their customers:

pre order;

urgent order (within a day);

courier rental;

shipment insurance;

order at night - delivery of goods from 22:00 to 7:00;

lifting cargo to the floor.

Comparison of areas of work of the courier service

	Correspondence	Small cargoes	Small cargoes
	Not required	Required	Required
Car park	Not required	Required	Required
Loading and unloading equipment	Not required	Not required	Required
Material liability		Low/high
Security and alarm costs	Minimum	Minimum	Depends on the size and workload of the warehouse

Method and type of delivery. Also, choose in advance what type of delivery you want to deal with. Limit the scope of the target audience and develop a profitable offer for your potential customers.

The cargo service industry offers many options: online shopping products, delivery of flowers, gifts or food, important documents, etc. You can combine several directions.

Every day, many companies and people use the services of courier services. Your potential clients are:

online stores;

cafes and restaurants;

flower shops.

Today, almost all online stores cooperate with courier services and use their outsourcing services. Moreover, many prefer to conclude contracts with local small firms.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Another large segment is cafes and restaurants. Almost all catering establishments provide a delivery service to their customers. And this is also done by a third-party courier service.

Ready-made ideas for your business

So the range of potential customers of the delivery service includes an unlimited number of individuals and legal entities. Courier services are in demand in all areas of activity.

Possible delivery methods

Business registration

From theory we pass to practical actions. The first serious step to start is the registration of a business.

52.61.2 - Retail sales through teleshops and computer networks (electronic commerce, including the Internet)

63.40 - Organization of cargo transportation

64.11.11 - Activities for the reception, processing, transportation and delivery (delivery) of postal items

74.82 - Packaging

74.84 - Provision of other services

Premises and office

Equipment

How to choose a car for a courier

Characteristics. To begin with, let's define the main characteristics that an ideal car for a courier service should have:

low fuel consumption;

low cost of maintenance and repair;

small dimensions of the car: compactness and mobility makes it easy to park and move around the city faster.

So the main requirement for a courier car is efficiency and mobility. This way you save money and time.

Models. Based on these characteristics, we will give examples of popular cars that are most often used for delivery services.

If you give preference to the domestic auto industry, then the suitable options are:

OKA (VAZ 1111).

If you choose among foreign cars, then this:

German cars (Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Golf, Opel Corsa,);

Korean (Kia Picanto, Hyundai i20, Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Getz).

French (Citroen C1, Peugeot 107);

Japanese (Toyota Yaris, Toyota Vitz, Nissan Cube, Nissan March, Honda Fit);

Italian (Fiat Panda).

Scheme of the courier service

Before proceeding to the selection of personnel, you need to draw up a detailed scheme of the courier service and prescribe the functions of each employee. The general scheme of work looks like this:

An order is received from a customer.

The courier calls the manager, and he, in turn, notifies the customer about the receipt of the parcel or envelope by the addressee.

At the end of the working day, the courier delivers the signed documents and proceeds to the manager.

This scheme is not generally accepted and the only correct one. You can customize it to suit your business concept.

Courier service staff

Ready-made ideas for your business

Try to find employees with similar experience. In the early stages, their experience will help you, especially if you are new to this business.

Advertising courier service

It's time to ask the question "where to look for customers"? Let's try to figure out where you can meet your potential customers and how to attract their attention.

Announcement Sites. Place ads about your services on various resources such as Avito. There you can also study the demand for courier services and respond to the application.

As you can see, there are many channels for promoting courier services. At first, use all available advertising methods. Plan marketing expenses right away to get orders from the first month of work.

financial question

Initial investment to open a courier service

Fixed costs of courier service

Thus, the approximate indicators of business profitability will be as follows:

Revenue - 250 thousand rubles per month

Net profit - 150 thousand rubles per month

Profitability - up to 90%

Payback period - 4-5 months.

Risk factors

What you need to pay attention to the owner of the courier service:

Delivery service

Possible delivery methods

Business registration

Premises and office

Equipment

Scheme of the courier service

Courier service staff

Advertising courier service

financial question

Risk factors

Identification of competition

The role of personnel in the work of the company

Main advantages and disadvantages of business

Required permits

First steps to get started

Required personnel

Customer acquisition and marketing campaigns

Business development options. Summary of costs and profitability

Delivery service

Possible delivery methods

Business registration

Premises and office

Equipment

Scheme of the courier service

Courier service staff

Advertising courier service

financial question

Risk factors

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