Organizations daily need to send correspondence, goods and cargo using couriers. Therefore, debutant entrepreneurs are thinking about how to open a courier delivery service, bypassing the existing "pitfalls". In addition, to open and develop such a company does not need huge financial investments.
Existing services do not fully satisfy the demand for goods delivery services, therefore, such a business is a sought-after direction for novice merchants.
Often the delivery of goods by mail occurs with long delays. Good money is charged for urgency. Many begin to look for such a service, and some are thinking about how to open such a business.
Creating a company for the delivery of goods: the first steps
If you are a law-abiding entrepreneur, then you must follow the order in starting a business:
- initially it is necessary to open and visit the tax authority for the official registration of the delivery company;
- then - a bank in order to open a current account of its own service.
This concludes the basic legal formalities for business. The next stage is the solution of material issues, without which it is impossible to open a delivery company:
- office;
- equipment: computer, telephone, car;
- advertising.
The ideal office is its own space. If you do not have enough money to buy, then use the lease. To open a delivery establishment, it is not necessary to look for an office in the city center.
Without technical support, a courier company will not be able to work. Computers, telephone and Internet connections, vehicles are needed. You can use your own car or rent.
But it is impossible to open or organize a profitable delivery business with one car. Several cars, mopeds, scooters or bicycles are needed. The latter will be useful during daytime traffic jams. An excellent solution is to hire couriers who have their own vehicles.
The territory served by couriers at first will be small. But if the delivery of orders takes place without the slightest delay, they will quickly find out about the open courier organization. Carefully fulfilling the requirements of the first customers will turn them into permanent ones for your business. This will help generate profits and serve as good publicity for the delivery agency.
If you want to open an international express delivery service, then it is better to buy a franchise. They will help you write a plan for the development of your business, formalize the business and make it profitable.
Advertising
Any new firm that you decide to open needs advertising. To do this, create a step-by-step advertising campaign plan for your business. Do not skimp on a colorfully designed website with detailed information about the activities of the delivery institution. Contact professionals who will create a page on the Internet that represents the company you have opened in a favorable light.
Customers can be attracted by a business card if it is made of high-quality paper, is pleasing to the eye, and contains comprehensive information about the activities of this service. Seeing the scrupulousness with which business cards are made, a person will become confident that increased attention is guaranteed to his order. This will push customers to apply for the services of such a service.
It is necessary to organize the dissemination of information about the courier company in the available media. Discuss your business or the fact that you are thinking of opening it with relatives, friends, classmates. Often such conversations bring more popularity to the company than expensive advertising.
Personnel of the courier service
When thinking about designing a courier service, be sure to consider the topic of hiring employees. To open and properly organize a successful business for the delivery of bottled drinking water, sushi, alcohol, barbecue, set meals and other food products, you should hire a director, couriers, a dispatcher, an accountant, and technical staff.
Be especially careful when hiring employees. It is on their interaction with customers that the reputation and income of the company depends. You need to develop instructions for customers and create a complaint book on your website.
Couriers must possess such qualities as punctuality, sociability, tact, diligence. Their duty is to deliver the goods safely and within the time specified by the customer.
Many people think that being a courier is not prestigious - and this is a big disadvantage for your business. Therefore, the company needs to make employees understand the value of their work. To prevent cases of missing money, it is best to conclude official employment contracts with the courier.
It is necessary to establish a clear interaction between the employees of the organization, especially between the dispatcher and the courier. The dispatcher receives and registers orders, informs the peddlers about them, and is in touch with both parties simultaneously.
There will always be a need for a messenger
Despite the ubiquity of electronic document management, no organization will be able to do without paper copies at all. Financial, legal and other firms need to constantly send correspondence to their partners. Industrial enterprises may also need urgent delivery of some goods. This is a huge plus for your courier delivery business from scratch.
You can be contacted if you have a well-organized delivery service.
There are delivery companies that only serve online stores. If you open a delivery business, then it can bring good profits. In any city there are companies involved in trading through online stores. Small firms do not have the ability to independently deliver their goods to customers. It is more profitable for them to contact the courier organization.
An interesting direction is serving restaurants, pizzerias, shops that do not have the conditions for organizing their own network for delivering goods to customers at home. Such a business is very profitable, as the demand for these services does not weaken. If the business is related to the transportation of products, it is necessary for couriers to obtain health books.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the delivery of flowers and gifts. The development of the courier business is up to you.
Use your imagination!
If you decide to open a business, then you should remember that nice bonuses and discounts play a big role. Your company must be different from those of competitors. It is necessary to come up with a “zest” for the service that will attract customers. Today, the business of delivering food and other goods has a large number of different companies that advertise the speed of cargo transportation, low prices, and quality service. But that's long overdue. Customers want novelty.
"Chip" can be absolutely anything. Business can be affected by couriers-girls with a model appearance. With such a “twist”, the number of male clients will greatly increase. If athletic, attractive young men appear among the messengers, it will become clear why the female contingent will opt for your business.
The business idea for the delivery of small and large goods in a box is a great idea to attract customers.
Make a catalog on the website of the service, where photos of your charming employees and lovely employees will be presented. In this case, when applying, the client can indicate a specific courier who will fulfill his order.
A non-standard offer of your business will be the ability to use a courier for a set period of time. Such a "rent" is beneficial for large customers who need a constant delivery of various goods. In this case, only the amount of time required to transport orders is paid, and the courier is always nearby.
The introduction of the night shift is a great idea. Such services, working around the clock, are rare. Therefore, the possibility of delivery at night will attract more customers.
Try to open a delivery service with a variety of "features", thanks to which any customer will always want to contact you.
If you do not have any special knowledge in a particular area of entrepreneurship, this does not mean that you do not have a chance to open your own business. If you have some (not necessarily impressive) amount of money that you are ready to give in favor of developing your business, and an obsessive desire to work, as they say, for yourself, then you should think about how to create a courier delivery service.
This kind of activity does not require special skills or knowledge, the purchase of expensive equipment or the investment of sky-high funds, so this business idea is a great solution for a novice entrepreneur with a limited budget.
Of course, it is better to open such a business in a large settlement, where home delivery services are more in demand, but with perseverance and desire, you can achieve success in any city. Where to start? Of course, the first step is to draw up a business plan to take into account all costs and calculate the possibility of making a profit.
Organization of a courier service: where to start?
So, if the desire to earn income from your personal business is tenaciously stuck in your head, and you don’t know what to do, then this article is just for you.
Legal business requires state registration, so the first step is to go to the tax office and register your type of activity. Then you need to open a current account in the name of the organization in any bank that is beneficial for you (here you will be required to provide documents from the tax service on the registration of your enterprise and a certificate from the State Statistics Committee). In principle, from the formal side of the issue, that's all.
In parallel with the execution of all documents, proceed to the search for an office space. If your budget is very tight, then rent it. In case of success and prosperity in this matter, in the future it will be possible to purchase your own corner.
Then, when writing a business plan for a courier service, take care of the technical side of the issue. Today you can't get anywhere without modern equipment. We need telephone and computer networks, as well as transport. It is desirable that it be your own, although at first you can rent it. If the budget allows, you can create a whole fleet of several cars, as well as get bicycles to deliver mail. And it is even better to hire couriers with personal cars.
The scope of your activity at first, most likely, will be limited to one city. Indeed, at this stage of development, it is important to get a good reputation, and if you deliver orders late, then no one will want to work with you. In order for the business to have a good start, it is recommended to find a couple of large customers who would carry out regular orders. By qualitatively fulfilling the instructions of such customers, you can count on receiving a stable profit, which can immediately be used for advertising.
How to promote your business?
The courier service, like any other business, requires an investment in advertising. Start by creating a website. This marketing tool is considered the most effective today. Do not save on creating your site on the Internet, because in the future it will become the face of your organization. Order a website promotion service for a web company. Its specialists will analyze the market in which you operate and will be able to create a truly competitive resource.
Don't forget to include business card costs in your courier business plan. They should also characterize you from the best side.
A high-quality tactile and eye-catching business card with full information (clearly visible name of your company, all necessary contacts, hours of operation, any special conditions or discounts, etc.) will encourage its owner to contact your courier service again.
Place ads in the most popular newspapers in your city, do not forget about radio and television. And just share information with your friends and acquaintances. This simple form of advertising is often the most effective.
You can also distribute flyers, the presentation of which guarantees the client a discount. It may be quite small, but the opportunity to save at least a little always encourages customers to further cooperation.
Connect fantasy!
Promotions and discounts are, of course, good, but it’s even better to come up with your own “chip”, which can be a decisive factor in choosing a courier organization by a customer. After all, there are many such services today, they compete with each other in the quality and speed of delivery, the cost of their services, etc. But modern people want diversity, and this can play into the hands of a newly minted courier company.
Anything can be your "chip". For example, let female models deal with the delivery of goods, then the circle of your customers (especially males) will definitely increase.
You can hire a few guys of model appearance. Then women will turn to you for services much more often.
To make the ordering process more interesting, create an online catalog on your organization's website in which you place photos of your charming employees and employees.
Thus, leaving a request, the client gets the opportunity to choose the desired couriers provided to him. In general, connect your imagination, creativity is always welcome!
Such a "highlight" of your business will allow you to slightly inflate the cost of your services, but in most cases this will not affect the choice of the client.
Recruitment is important
It is impossible not to include labor costs in your business plan for a courier service. The issue of recruitment must be approached with all responsibility, because only serious and diligent employees will help to get good reviews about the company as a whole. If you do not have experience in the provision of courier services, then it is all the more desirable to hire professionals in this field who will help you establish the whole process and organize the correct work with clients.
Do not hire people who want to make good money and still work from 9 to 6. Such employees usually do not give their best to help grow the business. Before official employment, arrange a trial period of at least a week. This will help to understand how the future employee treats the client, whether he is able to provide the level of service you set.
Price policy
In the matter of setting prices for delivery, you cannot act “at random”, it is important to analyze the cost of such services in your city. You can qualitatively "monitor" information using the Internet, because today every serious company has its own website. But don't just rely on the information you get online. It is better to call the courier service you are interested in.
Usually telephone consultants are very talkative and will tell you about some conditions, promotions or other points that you can use in your activities. And in general, such calls are the best way to find out how the courier service works.
The provision of services for the delivery of documents and goods within the same city usually requires insignificant expenses, therefore, the cost of such delivery should also be small. But do not underestimate your prices too much in order to fully recoup your expenses. To do this, carefully consider all possible exit options and the distances that will need to be overcome. A well-designed pricing policy can recoup all costs in almost three to four months.
Your business abroad?
The homeland of the business we are considering is France, so let's use its example to see how to open a courier delivery service and make good money abroad while in Russia.
If you follow French laws, then the delivery service staff must consist exclusively of French citizens. Therefore, to begin with, find a native Frenchman for the position of director, preferably a friend. You, respectively, as the founder of this organization will need to obtain a visa.
The so-called "merchant card" is long-term and is issued to the founders of legal entities with French registration for a period of 1 to 5 years. Obtaining such a visa entitles its holder to many rights, which will be more than enough to bring your business idea to life. The courier service can now be led by you personally.
What other formalities must be observed in France?
French legislators have clearly determined the entire procedure for the establishment and operation of enterprises with foreign capital.
Therefore, in order to find out how to open a courier delivery service for a citizen of the Russian Federation in this country, you need to carefully familiarize yourself with the norms of local legislation. In general, it all comes down to a few basic questions:
- to begin with, it is necessary to submit all the registration documents of the founder to the commercial court of the city you have chosen for carrying out activities;
- after considering the above papers, the commercial court decides on the registration of the enterprise in the unified commercial register;
- after that, you can apply for a “merchant card”;
- obtaining a residence permit for a period of 1 year; if you become the head of your courier service, then it is automatically extended for the duration of your leadership.
Summing up
After reading this article, you have a general knowledge of how to open a courier delivery service and how to start working in the domestic or foreign market for these services. In general, the most painstaking activities require the recruitment, organization of work processes and their improvement, as well as the policy to attract customers.
Your individuality and creative approach to work is also important - only interesting and exclusive projects reach the desired heights.
Remember to take all these points into account when you write your courier service business plan.
Organizations daily need to send correspondence, goods and cargo using couriers. Therefore, debutant entrepreneurs are thinking about how to open a courier delivery service, bypassing the existing "pitfalls". In addition, to open and develop such a company does not need huge financial investments.
Existing services do not fully satisfy the demand for goods delivery services, therefore, such a business is a sought-after direction for novice merchants.
Often the delivery of goods by mail occurs with long delays. Good money is charged for urgency. Many begin to look for such a service, and some are thinking about how to open such a business.
Creating a company for the delivery of goods: the first steps
If you are a law-abiding entrepreneur, then you must follow the order in starting a business:
- initially it is necessary to open and visit the tax authority for the official registration of the delivery company;
- then - a bank in order to open a current account of its own service.
This concludes the basic legal formalities for business. The next stage is the solution of material issues, without which it is impossible to open a delivery company:
- office;
- equipment: computer, telephone, car;
- advertising.
The ideal office is its own space. If you do not have enough money to buy, then use the lease.
How to start your own courier service from scratch
To open a delivery establishment, it is not necessary to look for an office in the city center.
Without technical support, a courier company will not be able to work. Computers, telephone and Internet connections, vehicles are needed. You can use your own car or rent.
But it is impossible to open or organize a profitable delivery business with one car. Several cars, mopeds, scooters or bicycles are needed. The latter will be useful during daytime traffic jams. An excellent solution is to hire couriers who have their own vehicles.
The territory served by couriers at first will be small. But if the delivery of orders takes place without the slightest delay, they will quickly find out about the open courier organization. Carefully fulfilling the requirements of the first customers will turn them into permanent ones for your business. This will help generate profits and serve as good publicity for the delivery agency.
If you want to open an international express delivery service, then it is better to buy a franchise. They will help you write a plan for the development of your business, formalize the business and make it profitable.
Advertising
Any new firm that you decide to open needs advertising. To do this, create a step-by-step advertising campaign plan for your business. Do not skimp on a colorfully designed website with detailed information about the activities of the delivery institution. Contact professionals who will create a page on the Internet that represents the company you have opened in a favorable light.
Customers can be attracted by a business card if it is made of high-quality paper, is pleasing to the eye, and contains comprehensive information about the activities of this service. Seeing the scrupulousness with which business cards are made, a person will become confident that increased attention is guaranteed to his order. This will push customers to apply for the services of such a service.
It is necessary to organize the dissemination of information about the courier company in the available media. Discuss your business or the fact that you are thinking of opening it with relatives, friends, classmates. Often such conversations bring more popularity to the company than expensive advertising.
Personnel of the courier service
When thinking about designing a courier service, be sure to consider the topic of hiring employees. To open and properly organize a successful business for the delivery of bottled drinking water, sushi, alcohol, barbecue, set meals and other food products, you should hire a director, couriers, a dispatcher, an accountant, and technical staff.
Be especially careful when hiring employees. It is on their interaction with customers that the reputation and income of the company depends. You need to develop instructions for customers and create a complaint book on your website.
Couriers must possess such qualities as punctuality, sociability, tact, diligence. Their duty is to deliver the goods safely and within the time specified by the customer.
Many people think that being a courier is not prestigious and this is a big disadvantage for your business. Therefore, the company needs to make employees understand the value of their work. To prevent cases of missing money, it is best to conclude official employment contracts with the courier.
It is necessary to establish a clear interaction between the employees of the organization, especially between the dispatcher and the courier. The dispatcher receives and registers orders, informs the peddlers about them, and is in touch with both parties simultaneously.
There will always be a need for a messenger
Despite the ubiquity of electronic document management, no organization will be able to do without paper copies at all. Financial, legal and other firms need to constantly send correspondence to their partners. Industrial enterprises may also need urgent delivery of some goods. This is a huge plus for your courier delivery business from scratch.
You can be contacted if you have a well-organized delivery service.
There are delivery companies that only serve online stores. If you open a delivery business, then it can bring good profits. In any city there are companies involved in trading through online stores. Small firms do not have the ability to independently deliver their goods to customers. It is more profitable for them to contact the courier organization.
An interesting direction is serving restaurants, pizzerias, shops that do not have the conditions for organizing their own network for delivering goods to customers at home. Such a business is very profitable, as the demand for these services does not weaken. If the business is related to the transportation of products, it is necessary for couriers to obtain health books.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the delivery of flowers and gifts. The development of the courier business is up to you.
Use your imagination!
If you decide to open a business, then you should remember that nice bonuses and discounts play a big role. Your company must be different from those of competitors. It is necessary to come up with a “zest” for the service that will attract customers. Today, the business of delivering food and other goods has a large number of different companies that advertise the speed of cargo transportation, low prices, and quality service. But that's long overdue. Customers want novelty.
"Chip" can be absolutely anything. Business can be affected by couriers-girls with a model appearance. With such a “twist”, the number of male clients will greatly increase. If athletic, attractive young men appear among the messengers, it will become clear why the female contingent will opt for your business.
The business idea for the delivery of small and large goods in a box is a great idea to attract customers.
Make a catalog on the website of the service, where photos of your charming employees and lovely employees will be presented. In this case, when applying, the client can indicate a specific courier who will fulfill his order.
A non-standard offer of your business will be the ability to use a courier for a set period of time. Such a "rent" is beneficial for large customers who need a constant delivery of various goods. In this case, only the amount of time required to transport orders is paid, and the courier is always nearby.
The introduction of the night shift is a great idea. Such services, working around the clock, are rare. Therefore, the possibility of delivery at night will attract more customers.
Try to open a delivery service with a variety of "features", thanks to which any customer will always want to contact you.
Ideas for business -> Finance, consulting services, education
Courier service - right to the customer!
The courier service is a rapidly growing business in recent years for the delivery of correspondence or goods in the shortest possible time - "door to door" or from the customer's door to the city of destination.
Two unconditional pluses of creating a courier service ( courier company), which are able to attract start-up entrepreneurs to this business, is a low level of initial start-up investments and a fairly wide field of activity. The choice of courier services is small, and the cost of delivery remains high. In addition, many commercial structures prefer not to use the services of the Russian postal service - the most powerful delivery player - because of the slowness and unreliability.
Even despite the fact that today large multinational companies are represented in this market, small courier companies, due to their mobility, low prices and more attentive attitude to each client and small orders, are able to compete with them adequately, providing even faster delivery of important documents, small parcels and even flowers. Large courier services, as a rule, guarantee next day delivery, small courier companies, due to their flexibility, usually work within one business day.
This means that all shipped shipments will be delivered on the day of dispatch. But it is precisely the timely delivery and careful processing of parcels that is the main key to success in the courier business.
How to start a courier business?
There are several key points that should be decided at the very beginning.
First, small towns and rural areas are not very suitable for this type of business.
Secondly, decide on the specifics of the cargo you are going to work with. It is clear that the delivery of documents and the transportation of, say, medicines are somewhat different topics.
Thirdly, decide whether you need a car for courier delivery, if so, which one. It is clear that for the delivery of documents within a small settlement, it is quite possible to get by with a pedestrian courier, but the delivery of large-sized heavy parcels clearly implies that your courier company has at least one car. In addition to the actual purchase of transport, you will have to resolve the issue with the driver and payment of operating costs and parking. Although such an option is also possible here, such as concluding a long-term contract with a taxi service or hiring a courier driver with a personal car.
An important point in organizing a courier service is the presence of a dispatcher who must be available to the client around the clock. Despite the fact that the bulk of courier deliveries are carried out during normal daytime hours (from 9 am to 6 pm), delivery, at the request of the customer, can be made at any time of the day. This can be the feature that will make your courier company stand out from the competition.
Basically, start a courier business you can have one. At first, you will be able to combine the functions of a dispatcher, a courier, and a business owner in one person. But once the business is up and running, you will need help. Usually the staff of a courier company consists of a dispatcher, couriers, drivers, a secretary and an accountant. If your courier company will have a fleet of several cars, you should also think about your own mechanic who can serve your fleet. And if your courier service delivers heavy bulky items, then you definitely cannot do without movers.
As for the actual couriers, this work can be performed by people with relatively low qualifications or without it at all, the main thing is diligence and accuracy. So there is a clear savings in wages.
Naturally, all staff should be able to competently work with documentation, and drivers and couriers should be able to navigate freely in the city (a GPS navigator can be a great help in solving this problem).
Additional costs may arise when insuring the transported goods and obtaining a certificate for the transport of dangerous goods (in the event that you intend to do this).
Delivery service. And who are the clients?
In general, there are no special problems with clients. Even in the days of faxes and e-mails, no one canceled paper documents.
Where to begin
Banks, law firms, various organizations that send documents to clients and partners are all your clients. Manufacturing businesses that need express delivery, as well as other types of businesses that need fast courier delivery - and these are your customers. There are courier services that specialize only in the delivery of goods from domestic online stores or in the delivery of invoices of organizations. The main thing here is to convince them to use the services of your courier service.
Another idea that we have already talked about is the delivery of lunches to the office. You can offer your services for the delivery of meals to catering enterprises. True, according to the current legislation, in order to provide such a service, your couriers or drivers will need to have health books, transport - a health passport, and the dishes themselves - a safety certificate.
You can conclude agreements with ordinary stores that deliver goods to your home (this service, by the way, is gaining popularity in many cities today).
02/2012
Sergei Pankratov. How to start your own business.
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More ideas? See section
Before you start creating a delivery service, you have to seriously think about everything and decide what kind of delivery you are going to do. You can work with public catering, you can become an intermediary of online stores, you can serve legal entities, you can provide services to individuals. Or combine several directions. Each option has its own nuances that must be taken into account. Think about what territory you can work in, based on your budget. The more extensive the boundaries of delivery, the more expensive it is to create an enterprise.
The courier delivery service is a business that you can start alone and only spend money on travel and IP registration. Such an approach, however, will not promise great profits. Most likely, you will earn only a little more than a hired courier (the average salary is 25,000–35,000 rubles), while you will work many times more. We'll have to look for customers, take calls and orders, spin. In large cities, where the market is close to saturation in terms of the number of offers, it makes sense to make serious investments (from several million rubles to several tens of millions of rubles) and create a quality service. Customers most of all complain about the quality of services. The payback of a good service, provided that you correctly determine the needs of your target audience and accurately calculate everything at the start, can be about three years.
room
The delivery service needs an office space that will house dispatchers and management. Couriers will also arrive there to resolve pressing issues. In the office you have to receive clients, so take care of the presentable appearance of the building or at least the premises in which your company will be located. The legislation does not provide for special requirements for such offices.
Logistics companies that cooperate with online stores usually have their own warehouse. If you are going to create a large-scale service, it is better to rent a larger room. You do not need a class A warehouse - it is quite possible to meet $100-130 per sq. m. m per year. You can offer your customers paid use of your facilities. Storage of inventory during the day usually costs the store on average 50 rubles per cubic meter. You can also take care of packing - picking one order by courier service employees costs 10–50 rubles.
Problems with the service arise, among other things, due to the unwillingness of courier services to work around the clock and on holidays. A flexible schedule and a willingness to quickly provide services will help attract customers who find themselves in a difficult situation.
Documentation
After registering a legal entity, take care of the documents that will protect you and the client in case of a conflict. The courier must provide the client with an invoice in two copies, a cash receipt. If he uses a car, the usual consignment note must be replaced by a consignment note (TTN). It makes sense to accompany a valuable product with an act of no claims to appearance and quality.
Invoice forms can be downloaded on the Internet, in the 1C system, ordered at a printing house. Be careful not to lose them. You will have to report to the tax office, including with their help, so all TTN should be in order. Remember that the invoice must contain your data and customer data, contain information about the cargo (size, weight, etc.) and payment.
If couriers will accept payment, you can not do without a cash register. In case of his absence, the company faces a fine of 30,000–40,000 rubles.
Other expenses
Staff
Couriers are the most important employees of delivery services. They most of all communicate with customers, so you need to approach the selection process very carefully. First, you should choose people based on their preferences and expectations. The most nervous job for a courier is food delivery. The fulfillment of the order must be started immediately after receipt, there is little time for the road - an average of one and a half hours in Moscow. In this case, there is no way to plan a route. The most rewarding work is the delivery of documents. As a rule, all addresses are known the night before, the courier has the opportunity to build the most convenient route between points.
In Russia, the work of a courier is perceived as something second-rate, so the task of the creator of the project is to convey to the employees the idea that their work is important and useful. Often, logistics companies complain about the disappearance of couriers along with goods or money. It doesn’t hurt to insure yourself in such a case - the official registration of couriers in the state works well.
Equipment, transport and software
The simplest cash register equipment costs about 10,000 rubles. If you are going to become a major player, take care of the information infrastructure. Customers usually choose courier services that offer an API (Application Programming Interface). This is an external application embedded on the site that fully automates the process of ordering delivery.
You may need to invest in other infrastructure as well. Couriers can distribute smartphones or tablets with your company's application installed. A special program will also have to be written to monitor how orders are delivered, what reviews the client leaves.
Promotion
Illustrations: Natalia Osipova
Thank you for your help in preparing the material: Bringo, Smartomato, Homeassist
Before you start a courier service business, you first need to familiarize yourself with the key rules in this area. Such rules will help the entrepreneur in the future business. Actually, start a courier service not as difficult as it might seem. This area does not require special skills and higher education. And most importantly, to open a courier service, you do not need a large start-up capital.
Courier Service Business: What You Need
The best option for opening such a business is to open a courier service in big cities. This is obvious, since in small settlements there will simply be no demand for this business.
For complete courier service automation You will need, at a minimum, a dispatcher, a courier / driver, an accountant. In some cases, you may need a loader if your business will deliver large loads.
Before, how to start a courier delivery service, decide what kind of transportation your company will be engaged in. Delivering documents or medical equipment requires completely different transportation conditions. It should be noted that for the transportation of certain goods, special certificates and permits may be required.
Investing in a courier business
We have already said above that opening a courier service does not require a huge initial capital. However, you will still have to spend some certain amount. If you have opened a company in a big city, then in any case you will need a car. There is an optimal option: hire a person with a car to work as a courier. In this case, you will have to pay him gasoline.
Don't forget to invest in advertising. In this case, the price will depend directly on you. Advertising can be placed in city newspapers, on television. Also, it would be great to place an advertisement on the city portal. Use social media to promote.
Clientele
Who uses the courier service? We will try to consider this issue in detail from all sides.
- Every city has cafes, restaurants and other catering establishments. So, many catering establishments are starting to deliver their food to the house. You can become an intermediary in this case. In this case, all parties will benefit.
- Online shopping is the next option. There are a huge number of them now. Such shops are hesitant to open a courier service, because it is not profitable for them, because they sell their goods all over the country. You can offer online stores a low price and fast delivery around the city.
- A huge number of large companies are always in need of a courier service business. Large companies always need to send documentation to various points and government agencies.
Profitability
Initially, you need to determine how profitable this business is. According to statistics, many courier services pay off pretty quickly. Most often, the profit reaches 90 percent. In big cities, the price for the delivery of one unit of goods is 5-50 dollars. The price directly depends on the weight of the cargo and how important it is. You can develop a special system of discounts for regular customers.
Possible problems
In any business, sooner or later, problems can arise. Of course, it is best to prevent problems, but sometimes they are inevitable. Then you need to learn how to deal with them.
- Often problems arise with the human factor. There may be traffic jams or the driver will simply be late to the appointed place. Suppose the dispatcher of your courier service is rude to the client and it is you who will have to deal with all the conflict that has arisen. That is, you need to carefully select employees in your company. It would also not hurt to learn the basics of logistics in order to deliver the necessary parcels on time.
- Competition is unavoidable in this business. Each such company has its own unusual approach to each client. In this case, you do not need to take existing ideas. They will be useless. You must come up with something new that may be of interest to a potential client. In this business, it is very important to find the ideal approach to each client.
Opening a courier service is only half the battle. It is very important to reach the automation of the courier service. This will help you stay afloat for a long time. A lot of work needs to be done at the initial stage (when choosing staff, searching for regular customers). When all the work comes to automation, you can start coming up with new "chips" for all clients.
