When you open an online store, launching a website just isn’t enough. You might feel elated as someone places their first order, but that’s not what keeps the business going. It only gives rise to the next crucial phase of your customer experience – efficient & reliable delivery. As the competition in ecommerce businesses continues to rise everyday in India, it has necessitated the need for courier services that act as the backbone of your online delivery service.
According to Retail Asia, the ecommerce industry in India was valued at USD 147.3 billion in 2024. It is expected to reach USD 200 billion by the end of year 2025.
We need to have a very detailed understanding of how courier services operate and what other outputs can they influence. They play a vital role in customer satisfaction, business scalability and even cost control. Let us understand these concepts in detail below:
Your Brand Impression is Dependant On Your Courier Partner
The delivery of your product becomes your brand’s impression to your customer. This is largely because online services have led to the doing away of face-to-face interaction. No matter how organised your website is or how world-class your product is, it can be of no use if your delivery is not as per the expectations of your customer.
Your customer does not have access to your warehouses or your backend system. Their impression and future orders are only influenced by the delivery executive. If their order is handled in a professional manner, it will build their trust with your brand and also lead them to place more orders in the future.
Therefore, always choose a reliable courier service. You should always opt for services that offer real-time tracking and professional handling of your product, especially when it comes to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Why Should You Carefully Choose Your Courier Service?
There are plenty of courier services available in the market. You should opt for one that goes with your coverage, service quality and pricing requirements. This decision can significantly impact your scalability and efficiency. You can choose between courier aggregators or direct courier partnerships.
Courier aggregators can act as the bridge between different courier providers and give you a complete price comparison. With the advent of technology, they are able to provide a unified platform for dispute resolution and real-time tracking.
On the other hand, direct courier partnerships come with limited flexibility, rigid terms and volume-based contracts. The only advantage that they offer is their strong infrastructure.
While choosing either of the two, you should take into account the following factors- delivery performance, pincode serviceability and reverse logistics. They should all align with your target market.
What Do You Need To Know About Delivery Speed & Cost?
Every new business in the market tries to strike a balance between the delivery and cost. Nowadays, customers have started expecting same-day deliveries which can have an impact on your profit margins if the AOV (Average Order Value) is low. You can solve this problem if you offer:
- A standard delivery (3-7 days) as a free option.
- An express delivery (1-2 days) as a premium option.
- Same-day delivery which will only be valid for high-intensity zones.
You should always educate your customers about your delivery timelines. If you overpromise and under-deliver, it would tarnish the image of your brand.
Always opt for courier partners that offer automated packaging solutions and also accurate weight reconciliations. This would significantly help you in avoiding disputes and cost overruns.
What is RTO Management & Reverse Logistics?
As we all know that returns are a fairly common practice in the ecommerce business and they can also affect your costs in the long run. When your product is refused or undelivered and it gets returned to the source, it is not just a loss of your revenue but you also end up paying a double shipping charge.
The return rates can be as high as 25-30% in India. As a business owner, your aim should be to minimize these returns and also be proactive while managing them. Here are some strategies to manage your returns:
- Connect with courier services that are able to provide you with a RTO risk analysis.
- Invest in an address verification software,through which you can get real-time order tracking.
- Offer partial returns to the customer.
- Make good use of COD verification tools. They can help you gauge the intent of the customers.
As per Eshopbox, the RTO of COD orders might reach up to 60% in India. This will significantly increase the cashflow and logistics cost.
You should also make sure that your courier partners are offering you trackable and transparent work logistics. It will help you in getting status updates, resul;tions in case of damaged goods and also a timely return of pickups.
How Can You Improve Your User Experience?
You should not only be concerned about how quickly your parcel is delivered, but also about how efficient your entire workflow is. With the right courier services, you will be able to:
- Give your customers white-labeled tracking packages that are suited to your brand.
- Automate your pickup scheduling, status updates and also AWB generation.
- Get access to efficient analytic dashboards to monitor returns, delivery timelines and order successes.
- Offer your customers API integration for a seamless syncing of orders.
Therefore, we can observe that customer experience is tied to the transparency of the logistics service provider. Currently, all customers expect a timely order tracking and alerts via SMS, WhatsApp, etc. If you are unable to provide them these services, they might turn to your competitors.
Final Thought
You should not view courier services as merely cost managers, but as growth drivers for your business. The logistics partner that you choose for your business should be tech-integrated, secure and also customer-centric. This will help you in reducing operational hassles, enhance the credibility of your brand and also increase the number of future orders from your customers.
Always select the courier partner based on your target audience and your current business model. By making the right choice, you will be able to build your customer’s trust and scale your business forward. You should make sure that you are putting as much thought in your delivery process as you have placed in the building of your brand.
