Remember the time we used to go and shop for things now available online? It is true to say that the e-commerce industry has a major influence on everything, including the purchasing of goods, parcel delivery operations, and more. At the same time, the courier industry is evolving fast with technology-driven methods in a bid to provide a seamless delivery experience within the affordable price range and smooth cash on delivery services.
Here, we will discuss some of the factors that explain the profound effects of e-commerce on the courier service industry.
1. Increasing Order Size
The parcel delivery industry has flourished with the help of e-commerce websites. How? As online shopping began to get more common, the order size for courier services also increased. This enabled courier service providers to manage a large number of orders in record time. A slew of orders implies that the business is running well, which results in greater business value and revenue generation.
Before the advent of e-commerce businesses, the courier industry was focused on simple delivery tasks — business to customers only. However, e-commerce has changed the game altogether and made it more challenging with the lucrative business-to-business method.
2. Diversification
Prior to e-commerce, logistics companies were limited to intercity deliveries or international shipments as a common B2C practice. With e-commerce businesses and online shopping trends, people are now comfortable purchasing goods from the comfort of their home, resulting in rapid growth of B2B business services.
The courier services have diversified with the boom of e-commerce businesses, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of parcels and the locations they are supposed to be delivered. It represents the growing share of the courier industry in the retail market and, if dealt with professionally, this diversification can do wonders for any logistics company.
3. Business Evolution
With e-commerce businesses, the courier industry has exponentially grown. How? They overcame the challenges that came their way and went the extra mile to excel at them. As the courier services got introduced to the B2B approach, they experienced situations of timely delivery, security of clients’ information, meeting clients’ expectations, storage and distribution, and many unforeseen circumstances.
These factors may have been challenging for the courier services, but they have helped them develop and grow out of their comfort zone. As a result, the courier companies evolved and are ready to face any complication that comes their way, allowing them to expand.
4. Strengthening Customer-Courier Ties
With the changing trends of e-commerce, the expectations of customers and clients have changed. Nothing makes them happier than receiving their parcels at the speed of light. And if a logistics company manages to execute timely and secure deliveries, the relationship between the courier and the customer automatically strengthens.
Therefore, courier companies now try to improve this relationship with customers by reducing the delivery time and providing them with other facilities such as online tracking. The courier services have also introduced express delivery, i.e., same-day delivery and more options that can help them gain the trust of their customers.
The Bottom Line
To exceed customers’ expectations, any business must make efforts to push the boundaries. A courier company can do this by facilitating the back-end supply chain with modern technology to provide a seamless experience to the front-end customers. Logistics services can be a complex task and, therefore, it is important to match the market’s pace and keep up with the latest developments in the ever-growing e-commerce industry.
