“Russia is the largest country in the world with the most undeveloped delivery structure,” complains Oskar Hartmann, co-owner of the KupiVip store. Large online stores - Holodilnik.ru, Ozon.ru - in addition to their own couriers and warehouses, have distribution centers in major cities. Ozon.ru clients, for example, receive books, phones and laptops at 12 delivery points in Samara, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Rostov, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok. Holodilnik.ru currently has distribution centers only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. As with payments, delivery should be as convenient, accessible and fast as possible.
Own delivery service
Natalya Kulakova, who recently opened an online store www.onovamnadom.ru, when choosing methods of delivering her goods, decided to acquire her own couriers. “Delivery of products is a very delicate thing. Only your own couriers can be forced, for example, not to place bags on the ground, to ensure that household chemicals and products are kept separately in the bag. It is impossible to guarantee this in an outsourced courier service,” she explains her choice.
Pros: Monitoring and constant improvement of service quality. The operator from the delivery service in Kulakova’s store, after completing the order, always calls the client back with clarification: whether the order was delivered on time, whether the courier returned the full change, and what was not liked about his service.
Cons: High staff turnover. “It is very difficult to find sane people, not thieves, for the position of courier. Eight hours of wandering around the city, sometimes in a crowded public transport, in the cold it’s scary normal people“says Alena Salber, author of the book “How to Open an Online Store.”
Outsourced couriers
The delivery of goods can be entrusted to a company specializing in express delivery. The couriers themselves punch the receipt from the buyer, after which the money goes to the accounts of the logistics company, and from there to online stores. The commission is 1.5–3% of the cost of the delivery, Ivan Matveev, CEO of IM Logistics, a company specializing in this kind of services for online sellers, told Forbes.
Pros: No need to bother with accounting and staffing. “In theory, it is believed that outsourcing removes all problems from you and you can do business directly,” says the owner of the online children’s goods store www.101slon.ru Lyubov Kozyreva.
Cons: At times of peak load, the outsourcing company cannot always fulfill its obligations. “We had a case where couriers fooled a client for a whole week, constantly delaying delivery. But we didn’t know about it. As a result, the person naturally refused the order,” recalls Kozyreva.
The logistics service with the most developed network of branches in the country remains Russian Post. With its help, you can send goods to any point in Russia and the world by cash on delivery. Terms and costs can be quickly calculated on the website. Russian Post has its own analogue of DHL - the service " EMS Post Russia", a courier company that, using the branch network of the parent company, delivers goods "from hand to hand". “EMS Russian Post” works faster than “Russian Post”, but its services are much more expensive.
Pros: Russian Post has 86 branches, about 42,000 postal facilities providing postal services throughout the territory Russian Federation, including all cities and rural settlements.
Cons: Despite years of reform, queues at post offices are still common. In addition, the post office has a list of goods prohibited for shipment. These include, for example, “items that, by their nature or packaging, may pose a danger to postal workers, stain or damage other postal items and postal equipment." In addition, when using cash on delivery, the customer may simply not pick up the goods from the post office. Then the sender bears the costs not only for sending the goods to the client (with the scheme working, they are added to the cost of the order), but also for its return delivery. “We decided to send goods by cash on delivery only to verified customers,” says Lyubov Kozyreva, owner of www.101slon.ru.
Why limit yourself to one city when you can sell and deliver goods to customers all over the country? I don’t know, but for some reason many entrepreneurs deliberately choose to work only in their city. Or they reason like this: I’ll first start developing business in my region, and then I’ll expand to Russia. Why not do it right away? After all, your target audience will increase tens, hundreds, and possibly thousands of times.
If you decide to enter the national market, then, first of all, you will need to answer two questions:
- How to reach your target audience in other cities?
- How cheap deliver the goods to the buyer?
Let's assume you know how to answer the first question, so in this article we'll take a closer look at the second.
When does delivering goods across Russia make no sense?
Now logistics in our country is developing very actively. But you need to understand that Russia is a large country, and delivery may cost more than the product itself.
Therefore, unfortunately, it is not advisable to work in every niche for the whole country. Let's see when the game is not worth the candle:
1. Small average check
If the purchase amount is usually up to several thousand rubles, then delivering the goods will be unprofitable: either to you or to the client. Here's the advice: increase the minimum order value for other regions. It's better than nothing.
2. After-sales service required
This is when, after the sale, installation or assembly of the product at the customer’s location is required. For example, you sell children's outdoor complexes that require on-site assembly. You won’t take your team of installers, say, to Sakhalin? And hiring someone on the spot is not that easy.
Conclusion
If you sell at least 5,000 rubles at a time, and your products do not have a regional link, then you should try. To do this, start by counting transport costs.
What determines the transportation costs for delivering goods to the buyer?
The main parameters that affect the cost of delivery are the volume, weight of the goods and the distance of the client. Transportation companies have delivery rates based on the parameters of the cargo and destination. As for the weight and volume of cargo, it is always taken according to the maximum indicator. Typically this is volume unless the item is too heavy.
It is advisable that the value capacity of your product should be as high as possible. Those. the more expensive, smaller and lighter the product, the better. An example of a product with a high value capacity: smartphones (expensive and small), and with a low value – insulation materials (cheap and bulky).
Which delivery companies are right for you?
Courier companies will most likely not be suitable for you because they mainly focus only on large cities and door delivery. Their branch network is small, and transporting bulk cargo over long distances is very expensive.
Small cargo volume
If your goods are small in weight and volume, you can use EMS express delivery. This is the same Russian post, only fast (well, and more expensive, of course). The main advantage is the most extensive network of branches in the country. Available in every locality.
The site has an online calculator to calculate the approximate cost of delivery.
Medium and large cargo volume
In this case, the best option for delivery of goods throughout Russia cheap- These are federal transport companies. I will give examples of companies with which I have worked over the past six years: Business Lines, PEK, RATEK, etc.
The main principle of their work is the transportation of groupage cargo. Those. They collect a lot of cargo in one place (branch), load it into a truck and transport it to another place (branch). The cost of transportation is reduced due to the fact that cargo is transported from many companies at once, “in bulk.”
If you have chosen a transport company, then use its tariffs or an online calculator to calculate approximate costs for delivery to various cities. Advice: take the cities farthest from you, because... you don’t know in advance where the order will come from. This way you will ensure maximum transportation costs and avoid the risk of being left at a loss.
What if the order comes from a locality where there is no branch of the transport company?
I advised you to work with federal transport companies because they have a fairly developed branch network. As a rule, there is a terminal in every major city.
If there is a branch in the client’s city, then everything is fine - delivery will not be expensive. But it happens that orders come from small towns or villages where there are no transport companies. How to avoid losing a client?
In this case, the following scheme applies:
- The cargo arrives in the nearest city where there is a branch;
- The transport company hires a vehicle specifically for your cargo and takes it to the client’s address in the appropriate locality.
The cost of delivery directly depends on the distance between the branch of the transport company and the destination. Often, this is much more expensive than inter-terminal transportation, because The machine is specially tailored to your order.
- Deliver the order to the city closest to the buyer, in which there is a branch of the transport company, from where he will pick up the order himself;
- Increase the cost of the order by a certain percentage in order to deliver to the address.
Clients perceive this as normal.
How to deliver goods to buyers in very remote regions?
In force climatic conditions, Russian cities are located closer to the southern border. If we talk about the eastern part of the country, the network of branches of transport companies ends in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. But what if you have to deliver cargo to Magadan, Kamchatka or Sakhalin? After all, you can get a very large order from there.
Read about this in a separate article.
Is shipping included in the price of the product?
My opinion is yes, include it. Having tested this model in practice, I was convinced that it was very convenient for the client. Of course, you and I understand that “free” delivery for the client is included in the price of the goods, but, judging by the experience of delivery to 50 cities in Russia, the buyer does not like to delve into the intricacies of transportation costs. Somewhere in the back of his mind there is always a fear that shipping might be very expensive.
If your clients are companies that are well versed in logistics, then you can offer them two options: the price including delivery and without.
Conclusion
If your city is small, like mine is, then running a business there can be a rather unpromising endeavor. Especially if the region has a constant budget deficit and low purchasing power.
Don't limit your business to where you live. The main thing here is to start. When you work via the Internet, then, by and large, it makes no difference to you whether the client is calling you from Moscow or Birobidzhan. The only real inconvenience is the time difference. It needs to be taken into account.
After some time, you will perceive different regions of the country the same way you once perceived the areas of your city. And you will rejoice: how good it is that we live in a country with such a large market!
Some 5-7 years ago this issue did not cause so many difficulties - there were few ways to deliver goods from online stores - the constant Russian Post, a couple of transport companies and courier services. Now there are more than a hundred companies on the Russian market that carry everything from postcards to cars. They promise to deliver the goods to the client even on December 31st in the evening. It can be difficult to figure out which of them delivers goods and which causes trouble for business. This article will help you.
There are only four main types for organizing delivery in an online store in Russia. This:
Delivery by Russian Post
Due to the speed of delivery, Russian Post is called the “turtle”, but its logo is still present in many online stores. Because she has low prices and it delivers parcels even to villages with a population of 200 people, which means it remains the most popular method of delivering goods across Russia.
The disadvantage of this method is speed, but even here technology does not stand still - postal employees do a lot of things to automate processes and serve customers faster.
In June 2016, Russian Post developed a special service for delivery from online stores - https://otpravka.pochta.ru. For now, the service only works in Moscow. It allows:
Automate the preparation of documents for parcels.
Using your API (program code), integrate services into your website.
On the website, show the buyer the current cost of postal delivery from the online store.
To start using the service, you need to register on the website and submit an application. After verification, the service will be connected to your store. You won't need to fill out stacks of shipping documents at the post office. All that is necessary is to print out the completed form, stick it on the parcel and take it to the department. In addition, the site has a function to call a courier online, so you don’t have to leave the office at all and stay on task.
Pickup delivery
The good thing about the self-pickup delivery method is that the buyer does not have to wait for couriers, who often arrive at a different time than agreed upon.
There are two ways to arrange pick-up delivery:
Issue goods at your warehouse or office;
Use the pick-up point of one of the delivery services or TC (transport company). The cost of one parcel in such companies varies from 50 to 100 rubles.
How to organize pickup for an online store on your own:step-by-step algorithm
Pickup from your office is suitable if you are selling a product that needs to be tested before purchasing - clothing, shoes, household appliances.
Step 1 - choose a room. Choose a warehouse or office in the central part of the city, in a passable place, for example, shopping center to make it convenient for customers to pick up goods. To begin with, you will need a room with an area of 20-30 square meters.
Step 2 - set up a pick-up point. For this, 30 thousand rubles is enough. You will spend them on a computer with the Internet, cash register, shelves for storing goods, furniture for employees, a sign at the entrance.
Step 3 - make a display case with goods. If you have organized delivery from an online store through your pick-up point, offer accessories for the goods and thereby increase the average check.
According to statistics, self-pickup delivery is chosen when purchasing inexpensive goods when paying for courier delivery is pointless. To prevent your profits from falling, offer something else in addition to your main product. To do this, install a display case with accessories in your office.
Step 4 - Hire an honest employee. To issue goods, hire a person with good characteristics. The fact is that the salary of an operator for issuing orders usually does not exceed 30 thousand rubles, even for major cities. Therefore, if an employee turns out to be dishonest, he will be tempted to steal goods that are worth more than his salary.
Step 5 - declare your own pickup point. Write about it on the website, on advertising brochures, on business cards. On the website, explain to customers what it means to pick up goods in an online store and what its advantages are. Take photographs of the sign and display of goods that can be purchased on site. This will increase customer trust and set you apart from your competitors.
Understanding what self-pickup in an online store is and what its pitfalls are comes with experience. Thus, store owners note that when choosing this type of delivery, many customers do not pick up the goods.
If you have your own pick-up point, organize a system for calling customers or sending SMS reminders to pick up the order. If you use a third-party delivery service for pickup, make sure they notify the customer themselves.
Delivery by courier
How it is done courier delivery in online stores, today almost all residents of large cities who have at least once bought something via the Internet know. By choosing this method, you save the buyer’s time, because the courier comes to the client’s home or work, having previously agreed on the time of the visit.
In addition, almost all types of courier delivery involve testing the goods before payment - trying on clothes, checking the operation of equipment, etc.
An online store can carry out courier delivery in two ways: hire your own courier or use the services of a courier service.
Advantages of your own courier delivery
1. The method of delivering goods from an online store by your own courier is more flexible compared to the services of third-party courier services. The courier adapts to your customer, and not to the schedule of the company where he works. If necessary, he will deliver the goods to working hours or change the route to pick up an order that you received at 19.00, but want to deliver to the client on the same day.
2. If the client transfers payment for the order through a courier, then you receive the money immediately, rather than waiting several days for the courier company to transfer it to you.
3. By hiring your own courier, you work with one trusted person. If you find “your” employee and work together, you don’t have to worry about the safety of your parcels and delivery times. When contacting a courier service, couriers may change, and along with them, the attitude to work will change, which depends on the individual.
4. Your courier knows your product well, unlike the courier service employee. At least you can train him so he can answer simple questions buyer and help him understand the product. He is the face of your store, your advertising and your additional tool sales
It’s worth thinking about how to organize your delivery service when you are able to maintain it and when you have a flow of orders from 5-10 per day. Beginning entrepreneurs are better off outsourcing this process.
An online store for those who have no time to understand development. Ready in 5 working days, over 100 sales tools! Just upload your products and start selling! Shopconstructor will do the rest.
Advantages of a courier company for an online store
1. You pay for courier services only when you need him, and do not have a person on staff who goes out to deliver orders from time to time.
2. Arranging delivery from the online store to other cities is possible only with the help of courier services. They have enough resources to quickly and inexpensively transport your goods to another region.
3. It’s easier to cope with peak loads, for example, before the New Year. Courier companies usually have a large staff and you can use these additional resources if necessary.
4. If the package is lost or damaged due to the fault of the courier, the courier service is responsible for this. If the goods are damaged due to the fault of your courier, you will most likely bear the losses.
5. B courier company You can order urgent delivery if the client, for example, needs to receive the goods in two hours. If there is one full-time courier who at the moment busy with other orders, you will not be able to provide such a service.
6. You can read about how outsourced courier delivery works in reviews, there are many of them on the Internet. Based on reviews, it is easy to determine the strengths and weaknesses companies, and then choose the one that suits you. When organizing your delivery service, you don’t know what kind of difficulties you will encounter.
The cost of a courier delivery service within the city is 200-250 rubles per parcel. Speed – from several hours to several days. As a rule, courier services have different tariffs - the more deliveries you arrange, the cheaper each of them costs.
Organizing a delivery service for an online store necessarily involves delivery by courier, regardless of what region you are in and what you sell.
Delivery by transport companies
The services of transport companies for online stores are relevant when you need to send goods to another city. This is convenient for large and expensive cargo if you do not trust Russian Post to transport them. The essence of this method is as follows:
The buyer makes an advance payment for the goods.
You send the cargo to the warehouse of the transport company or order courier delivery to your door (this depends on the wishes of the client).
The recipient picks up the goods and, if necessary, makes the remaining payment.
If you choose which is better, the post office or the transport company, then the second option has more advantages: the speed is higher, the attitude towards parcels is more careful, and there are more conveniences for the recipient and the sender. However, transport companies have higher prices and branches of the transport company you have chosen will not be in all cities.
So, how to organize delivery and how to send goods from an online store? Self-respecting stores offer several methods of delivering goods:
By courier - for those who need it faster and who are nearby.
Pickup - for those who do not want to overpay and buy goods for a small amount.
Russian Post – to places where couriers do not work.
By a transport company - for those who are not satisfied with the mail deadlines.
To make it easier for you to choose the best delivery methods in Russia and the CIS, we have prepared a selection of 15 delivery services with reviews and descriptions.
Options for delivery of goods and delivery services in Russia and CIS
http://boxberry.ru is a market leader with branches in 333 cities of Russia. More than one and a half thousand online stores use the services of the Boxberry delivery company.
The store owner needs to register on the website and send delivery requests through his Personal Account. Each client is provided with a personal manager. You can bring your orders to the Boxberry warehouse or call a courier who will pick up the goods. The advantage of this method of delivering goods is the ability to track the location of the parcel on the website and an online calculator to calculate the cost.
Review of Boxberry on the Internet
http://www.edostavka.ru is one of the best delivery services for goods from online stores, known as SDEK, on the market since 2000. There are 450 delivery points in 90 cities of Russia. SDEK transports goods from abroad, including from China, and offers an urgent delivery service on the same day.
For owners of online stores who have entered into an agreement, SDEK gives discounts from 3 to 10%, prints invoices, calls recipients to clarify delivery time, works on weekends and after 18.00 and provides many other additional services.
Review of SDEK on the Internet
http://www.shop-logistics.ru - the delivery service "Shop-Logistics" organizes delivery for online stores in 5,000 cities in Russia. According to the administration, 95% of parcels are delivered without problems. Cash on delivery payments from buyers are transferred within 1-3 days.
You can install an online calculator from Shop Logistics on your website. With its help, users will calculate the exact price themselves. Delivery cost - from 50 rubles per parcel. Most pick-up points are equipped with fitting rooms for those purchasing clothes.
Review of Shop-logistics on the Internet
http://www.topdelivery.ru is a Russian network for delivering letters and parcels. Delivery is carried out by courier or to a pick-up point. Deadlines for Moscow and St. Petersburg – 1 day. Top Delivery operates in 1,800 localities in Russia and has more than 200 pick-up points.
According to employees, the Topdelivery company copes even with the New Year’s peak of work. Calls recipients and sends them messages, gives them the opportunity to make a partial return, and allows them to test the product for 15 minutes before paying.
Review of Topdelivery on the Internet
http://post.reworker.ru – the Reworker company deals not only with the delivery of goods for online stores. It also provides services for order processing, storage, and parcel labeling. Works with Russian Post and the most common courier services - Boxberry, CDEK, DPD and others. All you need is to conclude an agreement, connect the system to your store and leave requests. Couriers will pick up the goods from you and send them through the desired delivery service on the same day.
The cost of delivery from online stores to Reworker is from 24 rubles. Sends goods from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Simplifies difficult work with Russian Post - deals with the preparation and packaging of parcels, takes care of paperwork, provides a minimum commission when sending cash on delivery from the client.
Review of Reworker on the Internet
http://getparcel.ru is a reactive delivery service to online stores (as they call themselves), which delivers goods within the Moscow Ring Road in three hours. Unfortunately, for now they don’t travel further than the Moscow Ring Road. The GetParcel delivery service cooperates with forty partners or 1,600 couriers in Moscow. Couriers undergo special training, each has a cash register and a terminal for card payments.
The Getparcel service has its own API for installing a widget on the site if you have a large online store, and a Personal Account for sending orders if sales volumes are still small.
http://allegro-plus.rf is a courier service that specializes in the delivery of correspondence and parcels throughout Moscow. It also works with online stores and offers discounts to regular customers. Allegro-Plus picks up shipments from your warehouse free of charge, packs the parcels and calls recipients to coordinate delivery time with them.
The courier service “Allegro-plus.rf” enters into an agreement with online stores. Each client is assigned a manager who will tell you how to organize delivery to the buyer through your Personal Account, how to print accompanying documents and maintain your address book.
Review of Allegro-plus on the Internet
http://www.latella-post.ru - a courier service founded in 2007, delivering goods from online stores in Moscow, Russia and abroad. The Latella delivery service has 90 branches throughout Russia, as well as representative offices in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The service has a fleet of 50 vehicles at its disposal; it books about 3,000 flights per month for the delivery of goods. One of the disadvantages of the “Latella” delivery service is that couriers work only on weekdays and during business hours from 9 to 18.
http://www.doklienta.ru is a transport company that works with cash on delivery. TC "Doklienta" delivers cargo weighing up to 10 tons, picks up goods from the supplier, transfers cash on delivery, allows you to try on clothes, assemble furniture and check household appliances before paying.
The delivery times for goods from the online store are clearly shown, there is an online calculator for calculating the cost of delivery in Moscow, to any city in Russia or the CIS. Doklienta.ru's prices depend on the number of deliveries per month and the weight of the parcel. On average, delivery of one parcel up to a kilogram costs 25 rubles/
Review of Doklienta on the Internet
http://courier-fakel.ru – the Fakel courier service has been operating since 2011, delivering goods throughout Moscow and Russia. Delivery by courier to your home or to a pick-up service in Moscow is possible. Works without delay - undertakes to return the delivery cost if the courier is late by more than an hour.
“Fakel” assigns a personal manager to each online store, returns money from cash on delivery within three days, can store your goods in its warehouse, and allows you to monitor the status of your order online.
https://www.hermesrussia.ru is a company delivering goods from the Hermes online store on the market for more than forty years. Offers delivery throughout Russia with German precision. The company's head office is located in Hamburg. In Russia there are about 600 distribution points in 155 cities.
The Hermes delivery service notifies recipients of the arrival of the cargo by phone or SMS, arranges insurance for all cargo, and coordinates the express return of goods back to the online store. Estimated delivery time in Moscow and the region is 1-2 days.
Review of Hermesrussia on the Internet
http://www.dimex.ws - delivery service for online stores, operating since 1998. Delivers cargo to more than 9,000 cities in Russia and the CIS. There is an option for delivery of goods the next morning (express) and delivery of groupage cargo, as well as packaging of goods with several degrees of protection.
The Dimex courier service provides additional services: delivery outside business hours, change of recipient's address, delivery with an inventory of the contents, declared value, delivery by a certain time.
http://www.ecp-logistic.ru is a courier delivery method through Russian Post or our own pick-up points. “ECP-Logistic” operates in Moscow and the regions. They pick up shipments from your warehouse for free, change the address or full name of the recipient for free, help you install your API in the online store, and provide you with a Personal Account with everything you need.
The ESP-Logistic delivery service gives a 10% discount on delivery from online stores in the first month of service, and does not increase prices for services if you need to deliver goods on weekends. The maximum weight of a shipment is 15 kg.
Review of Ecp-logistic on the Internet
http://index-express.ru - professional delivery of goods and correspondence. IndexExpress offers online stores the organization of delivery of goods to pickup points in Moscow (9 pickup points) and St. Petersburg (24 pickup points). Upon request, it can pick up cargo from your supplier and store it in its warehouse.
The Index-express courier service sends messages to recipients at all stages of delivery. Offers a convenient tariff with a fixed cost of 250 rubles, regardless of the number of deliveries.
http://cse.ru - the transport company “CourierServiceExpress” began operating in 1997. Today, there are more than 150 branches of the courier service throughout Russia. There are more than 170 people on staff.
KSE offers online stores convenient delivery options throughout Russia, storage and packaging of goods, well-established customer service and 10,000 square meters of warehouse space.
How to organize delivery in an online store - tips
1. If the average check amount in your store is 1000 rubles, be sure to make delivery by pickup. The client is unlikely to want to pay another 250-300 for delivery by courier when the price of the goods is 1000 rubles.
2. By concluding a contract for courier or transport services for an online store, read it carefully. What happens if the courier loses the package or doesn’t meet the deadline, does the manager call the recipients or send them an SMS, how long does it take to transfer money for the goods to you, what if the buyer does not pick up the order - these and other conditions must be clearly stated.
3. Make your store available for express same-day or within-hour delivery. According to a survey, 36% of potential buyers do not place an order due to long delivery times. Don't lose these clients.
4. Mostly customers are ready to pick up orders in the evening, after work. Peak time - 19.00-22.00. Keep this in mind when planning your courier or pickup schedule.
Choosing the best goods delivery companies: checklist
Experienced online store owners advise choosing a courier service that:
Has many branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to statistics, 70-90% of online store buyers are Muscovites and residents of the northern capital.
Withstands peak New Year's load. Many companies miss delivery deadlines for goods from an online store during the holidays and damage the profits and reputation of the owners.
Can pick up packages after 19.00, and not in the middle of the working day. This is convenient for you and is necessary so that you can give the courier all the orders that have accumulated during the day.
It has its own API (code for posting on the site) so that you can manage the delivery of your online store from the admin panel. This is especially true for large trading platforms.
Returns packages that the buyer did not pick up free of charge. No later than a week later and indicating the reason for the return.
When choosing a courier service, of course, you need to rely on reviews. But don’t be surprised if you see a lot of negative reviews of the best delivery services for online stores in Russia. Remember that good things are rarely written about because they go without saying. But people willingly talk about unsuccessful collaboration experiences through all channels.
Fast delivery and happy customers!
Hi all! I hope this article will help resolve the issue related to the delivery of goods in your online store to the buyer.
I will only talk about those methods that I use myself and the work of which I know from the inside. Who doesn't know, I'm studying 😉
Delivery by courier in your city
This method is great for beginning entrepreneurs. If you have a client from your city, you can deliver the order to him yourself. The advantages of this method are obvious:
- Fast refund;
- Additional earnings on paid delivery.
Main disadvantage this method, this is a time investment.
I'm spending course on selling products from one-page websites with minimal investment and one of the students, Vardan, solved this problem simply by hiring his own courier. But here it is important to take into account that the courier is an adequate person and does not disappear with your money.
Delivery by Russian Post
All online stores use this method, since Russian Post has a vast geography, and you can deliver goods for little money to any corner of Russia. And this is its main advantage.
Russian Post is perfect for those who are just starting their first steps in online sales. You don’t need an individual entrepreneur or LLC to work with it; you can work as an individual and receive money for goods at the post office.
In addition, Russian Post has integration with various CRM systems and other services that save time and money. For example, I use RetailCRM, which has integration with Russian Post configured. Thanks to this, I print all the necessary forms for sending a parcel immediately from the CRM, in addition, the order statuses automatically change, thanks to this there is no need to waste time on manually checking orders.
Also a huge plus is the ability to set up SMS alerts and automatic calls that will remind the buyer about his order, which contributes to a good purchase of parcels.
Fig 1 - printing postal forms from CRM:
Fig 2 - Automatic change of statuses in CRM, in accordance with the status of the track in the mail:
Fig 3 - Automatically updating track status in CRM:
But Russian Post also has its disadvantages:
- Long delivery.
- Buyers from large cities do not like to order by mail, but prefer courier delivery or delivery to a pickup point.
- There is a possibility that either the order or money from the buyer may be lost along the way. You can write a search request and the amount of declared value will be returned to you after 60 days if they do not find where your order or postal order is.
- And most importantly, there are long queues. It takes a lot of time to send an order, and for the buyer to receive it. I advise that before you start sending orders on a regular basis, ask the postal operators at what hours they have the least number of visitors. At my post office this time is from 15 to 17 hours.
Courier service SDEK
I have been working with this courier service for about 1.5 years and have already formed my opinion about their work. This company has an extensive network of pick-up points and courier delivery in almost all major cities of the Russian Federation.
The cost of delivery is low; in the European part of the Russian Federation, the cost of courier delivery is on average 350 rubles, pick-up points are around 250 rubles. SDEK also has integration with various services, which allows you to create invoices for sending in a matter of seconds directly from the CRM system. To work with SDEK you must have an individual entrepreneur (with current account) or LLC.
What I managed to note for myself while working with them.
- They have disgusting courier delivery in Moscow. They miss deadlines after agreeing on the delivery time with the buyer and do not warn him about this, and the couriers can even be rude. For this reason, I no longer send orders to Moscow using this courier service.
- Delivery to the regions is good, almost always on time. The redeemability of parcels is at an acceptable level.
- It is possible to send several products to choose from. A very cool thing when trading goods with sizes.
- The werewolf is frozen. You will receive your money only after 10-15 days from the moment the buyer pays for the order. Therefore, you need to have a reserve of funds, especially at the very beginning. Then it will go into the flow, and it won’t feel that way anymore.
- Sometimes their telephony is slow, and as a result they don’t get through to the client. You need to call yourself and schedule delivery.
- Very long technical support. The phone is constantly busy, and online chat on the site can be silent for an hour or more.
Examples of order costs and terms from Yekaterinburg to Moscow, weighing 0.5 kg, were given on the screen:
Example of integration with RetailCRM:
By the way, at the end of 2016, TC SDEK awarded me a silver partner diploma:
Courier service AXIOMUS
What can I say, a very cool company. During my work, I do not have a single complaint about them. This is undoubtedly the leader on this list. Delivery by courier in Moscow and Moscow Region on the next working day, in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region after 1 working day. Axiomus has many pick-up points, which allows you to deliver your order very cheaply. Many customers want to pick up their order this way. I have been working with them since December 2016, I have sent more than two hundred parcels across Moscow and St. Petersburg, and I have not found a single disadvantage, so I will list the advantages:
- Integration with RetailCRM and 1C, which makes it easier for managers when placing an order.
- Excellent support, you get an answer to your question within 10-15 minutes.
- Cooperates with other delivery services, such as TopDelevery, BoxBerry, DPD, STRIZH, Russian Post. This allows you to send goods throughout Russia, and not have to go to the post office yourself.
- Couriers can accept payments by card, which undoubtedly increases the prestige of the store in the eyes of the buyer.
- There is courier delivery to Moscow Region and Leningrad Region.
- Polite couriers who always call the client before leaving.
- They do not miss deadlines, all orders were delivered exactly at the agreed time.
- Convenient personal account.
- Fast refund of cash on delivery payments. They transfer money once a week. Let's say orders were delivered from Wednesday to Monday, you will receive money for these orders on Wednesday. This is very cool, it allows you to significantly increase the turnover of funds, and as a result, profit.
- Only individual entrepreneurs or LLCs can work with Axiomus.
- You can collect cash on delivery payments in cash.
Example personal account Axiomus:
That's it. I told you about what delivery methods I use.
IN your course I talk in detail about working with delivery and service integration.
I hope the information was useful to you. Ask your questions in the comments, I will definitely answer them.
How to open a delivery service: 5 popular delivery options, tips for attracting investment, cost and profitability of this type of business.
Costs for organizing a business: from 400,000 rubles.
Delivery service payback period: 10-12 months.
Delivery business is gaining momentum every day, as it does not require such large investments as the production of goods or the opening of a catering establishment.
One of the advantages is the fact that it is not so complicated in organization and design.
A delivery company can provide transportation services, such as oversized cargo, parcels, letters, or enter into an agreement with a company (more than one) and deliver goods produced by it.
In addition to the advantages, there are a number of nuances that you need to understand before thinking about how to open a delivery service.
First, you need to decide which goods will be supplied and to whom.
For example, you can initially deliver orders to your home in one locality.
This good option for a beginner to start, because it doesn't need large number vehicles.
And if the business prospers, it will be possible to expand the scope of activity to the desired scale.
How to open a delivery service and what are the requirements?
As already stated, this branch of business is not as difficult to organize as most others.
There are minimum requirements, once you understand them, you can open a business delivering flowers, parcels, valuable cargo and other items.
Choosing premises for a delivery service office
Interesting fact:
The story has survived to this day about the most iconic envoy of early antiquity - Phillipides, who brought a message about the Battle of Marathon to Athens. He ran a distance of almost 40 km and died of exhaustion after fulfilling his duty. His feat became a prerequisite for the founding of marathon racing.
As with any full-fledged enterprise, the first step is to rent office space.
Where will it be located? big building in the city center or in a residential area, it doesn't really matter.
There are courier services without an office.
But, as practice shows, this is only at the “embryo” stage.
After all, when expanding such a business, there will be a need to enter into contracts with reputable companies.
The absence of an office can negatively affect this partnership, and in general cause a lot of inconvenience.
Selecting transport for delivery service
The next, but no less important point, will be transport.
There is nothing to do in the courier business without transport - this is a fact.
But the availability vehicle with considerable dimensions will increase the number of delivered parcels.
When choosing, you should take into account the expected volume of orders and the available budget.
Personnel and customer interaction
An important part of organizing the idea of opening a delivery service is finding suitable personnel.
It is necessary to hire couriers who will deliver parcels and staff to work in the office.
To improve communication, you can open a hotline or a website where you can always track what stage your order (package) is at.
It is equally important to set up communication between the office and the couriers, since customers who are expecting a parcel will first call the office and ask what the condition of the order is and how long to wait for it.
How to register a delivery service?
You can register an enterprise as a private enterprise (PE) or with limited liability(), but with design in tax office it will get a little more complicated.
Recently, courier activities cannot be taxed single tax For imputed income, taxation of delivery business occurs on a general basis.
But this should not affect net income, provided that the business is successful.
Registration in local authorities authorities, and obtaining all the necessary approvals will cost approximately 15,000 rubles.
To open a courier service you do not need many documents, only information about the founders, the physical address of the company and its property (enterprise fund).
How does a delivery business depend on the city in which it is located?
When organizing a courier service in big city, there is no need to provide diverse services, you can simply choose a certain area and deliver only a certain type of goods.
You can implement the following delivery service options:
- cooperation with online stores;
- cooperation with restaurants or (most often, such establishments have their own couriers);
- delivery of correspondence;
- water delivery business, flowers;
If the location is sparsely populated, the intra-city delivery business will not bring as much profit as we would like.
Therefore, it makes sense to engage in transportation between cities, as this will greatly expand the range of activities.
It is most profitable to cooperate with furniture manufacturing factories, transport it to the place of sale, and possibly to the buyer’s home.
You can also deliver things while moving.
For such large-scale cargo transportation, you need appropriate transport, and more than one.
But first, you can try smaller deliveries.
How to choose transport for a courier service?
Any vehicle for starting a delivery business is suitable, from a scooter to a truck, it all depends on the type of transportation.
You don’t often see a driver with his own truck, so for large-scale deliveries between populated areas, you will have to buy a car.
The financial calculations section includes not only the cost of purchasing the vehicle, but also the cost of its maintenance, as well as gasoline consumption.
Gasoline consumption depends on the following factors:
- vehicle condition (serviceability, mileage);
- type of vehicle (truck, passenger car);
- driver's driving style (fast, slow);
- weather conditions;
- road condition.
Approximate calculation of gasoline consumption for trucks and cars
Obviously, gasoline consumption depends on the car model and its engine.
But, based on the table, you can roughly calculate the difference in gasoline payments for cars and.
Required personnel for delivery service
It is most profitable to hire employees (couriers) who have their own transport.
As mentioned above, it can be either a car or truck, or a scooter or motorcycle, since small orders do not require a large interior.
For example, deliveries such as flowers, or sports nutrition, can generally be carried out using public transport.
For this kind of assignment, it is best to hire students, as they will cope well with the task and can be hired part-time or have a flexible schedule.
If we are talking about large-sized orders, ranging from bottles of drinking water to refrigerators, you will need at least a minibus.
Since it will be necessary to deliver water to several recipients at once, and it is more profitable to deliver equipment to at least several clients in one trip.
In addition to couriers, you will need an accountant, a call center operator who will answer incoming calls and provide the necessary information (a secretary can handle this task).
How to attract investment to open a delivery service?
Nowadays, finding someone who will invest money in starting a business is not so difficult.
There are many sites (exchanges) for searching investors, which they themselves go to to find a promising project for their investments.
Naturally, no one wants to invest money in an unprofitable enterprise.
Therefore, you need to present your business plan as best as possible.
It is worth indicating all the nuances and aspects of the proposed project, identifying the benefits to the investor himself, calculating the approximate payback period and receiving the first income.
Describe in detail the services that the company will provide.
Also, the amount of investment must be clearly indicated, and a report must be provided on what and how much will be spent.
The knowledge and experience of the founder (founder) of the company in this area plays a significant role.
How much does it cost to open a delivery business?
Regardless of what kind of transportation you do (small or large), the costs for office and advertising will be almost the same in any case.
It is worth adding website creation to additional services; this will cost from 10,000 rubles.
Regular investments
The remaining expenses will go to the purchase of cars (if there is a need for freight transport), wages to employees, gasoline costs, etc.
In the video below, experienced entrepreneurs talk about the features of running a delivery business:
Profitability of starting a delivery business
Before you open a delivery business, you need to understand that competition in this area is very strong.
After all, in addition to delivery services, there are many private couriers.
However, despite the competition, the profitability of such an enterprise is about 25%, depending on the type of activity.
The company should generate income within three months.
If there is no profit during this period, this means that the company is operating at a loss.
The payback period will take about 10-12 months, subject to success.
As in any commercial activities, you shouldn’t start with something big, such enterprises often go bankrupt.
You can build a shipping empire starting with a small flower delivery business, and expand the scope of work every year.
This will speed up the payback period, reduce risks, and profits will begin to come as soon as possible.
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