How To Expand Your Business With A Delivery Service
Adding a delivery service and/or new stock could expand your business once the pandemic is over
The coronavirus pandemic has unfortunately forced many businesses to close, but it has also provided an opportunity for other businesses who have been able to not only survive the pandemic but thrive in it and help people at the same time. Bars and restaurants have changed their model and started to offer alcohol-to-go where they might never have before, especially and retail stores have also not only had the opportunity to sell new stock such as face masks and hand sanitizer but they have also been able to profit from offering home delivery as a service.
If this is something you are not yet offering but thinking about it, then read on because while there is a light at the end of the tunnel regarding the pandemic, the way we live has changed for good, and the demand for delivery even from local stores is here to stay. Adding a delivery service will expand your business once the pandemic is over, so what do you need to do?
Take orders
If you haven’t started an online store already, then now is the time to do this. It’s really easy to do now as e-commerce has been growing for many years, which means that there are many software packages to choose from and plenty of information online to help guide you through it.
Take a look at other sites for inspiration and check out your competition too and then make sure you pick a simple template and have a beautiful looking website that makes people want to stay on it, buy from you and come back to it again and again.
Process Orders
This is pretty easy but if you want to stand out from the crowd, put some effort into what you’re sending people. Choose eco-friendly packaging, add a handwritten note in the package to say thank you or welcome and whatever you do, make sure that you put the right address on the right package and the correct order in the box.
Deliver
Finally, you need to deliver your goods and you can do this via a few options. You could either get a company van and deliver your goods yourself. While this might seem cheaper, do remember that it is a lot of work and responsibility. Alternatively, you could collaborate with an on-demand delivery service such as ParcelPal or Fetchit, a company that knows what they’re doing and are an expert at delivering goods for small businesses like yours. This will not only free up time for you so that you can focus on what you’re good at, but it will also mean that you’re giving your customers the best service which is another way to connect with them.
Finally, teaming up with a delivery company is a way of boosting the economy as most of them provide attractive, living-wage employment opportunities for everyone from students to older adults and they give people the flexibility to work when they want, how they want as they can make their deliveries on foot, by bike, using public transit or in their own vehicles.