Have you heard of parcel shipping?
What is parcel shipping? Parcel shipping or parcel delivery is the delivery of
shipping containers, parcels or high-value mail as single shipments. These
services are offered by most postal systems, private courier companies or
express mail. These are too heavy compared to a normal letter post. While
you’re going to avail the service of parcel shipping, you need to consider the
following points:
Safety
of your parcel is most vital.
Choose
which documents and items need to be sent through parcel shipping because the
damage or loss of documents can be paramount and in some cases, the loss is
unrecoverable.
Be
clear about the motive of your availing parcel shipping service
Check
out for the insurance cover
Check
out for the online tracking of your shipment
Analyze
the urgency of your sending the items and documents through parcel shipping
Never
get tapped by cheap rates. Give importance to the standard of service and
security of your belongings.
With the digitization of the parcel
system and the rise of e-commerce, the demand for parcel service has been
raised manifold and the shippers are struggling to secure available capacity
and affordable rates. The shippers need to know the top trends for parcel
shipping in 2019 so that they can develop their logistics strategies and
control the logistics spend. Read the following few trends:
1.
Faster and Easier Pickup: Faster
and easier pick up, on time or next day delivery will continue to be vital in
2019. The idea is to bring packages closer to consumers and the ultimate
delivery destination. Pop-up distribution centers, self-service kiosks, buying
online and pick up in-store (BOPIS) delivery options are becoming very
important for parcel management.
2.
Parcel-the Most-Valuable Part of
E-Commerce Shipping: With the rise
of the value of parcel logistics, it is getting essential for successful
e-commerce practices. As the market is increasingly competitive and the rates
are soaring high, the shipper will begin to cut down their price even at the
cost of their profitability. That means there will be a trend in 2019 which
would revolve around the use of predictive analytics to proactively manage
parcel operations throughout the warehouse and the logistics network. The
process can be applied to carriers to meet their standards and delivery
expectations.
3.
More demand for faster delivery: There will be rising demand for faster
delivery and consumers will increasingly go for paying a premium for faster
delivery. This could one of the significant change in how the carriers and
shippers will approach parcel shipping.
4. Use of Big Data Analytics for Customer Awareness: There is a steady increase in logistics costs across the spectrum. This is due to diminished capacity and tightening driver availability. So, the companies are trying to reduce the costs and want to meet the consumer demands by all means. The companies are using big data analytics to understand consumer awareness.
5. Use Self-Service Kiosks by Carriers to Reach More Shippers: Self-service kiosks are used to access parcels. They’re commonly associated with the pickup leg of logistic. The carriers will implement more and more self-service kiosks so that shippers will have the freedom to send packages last-minute and without the delays of manual paperwork.
In today’s globally competitive business world, high-quality production, large client-base, and efficient employees are not enough to survive in the hard-hitting business atmosphere. Safe, reliable and on-time delivery of the goods is one of the important aspects of the business. It won’t be possible for any business to depend solely on its labor resources for either transporting the raw materials or distributing the final products.
They tend to rely on third-party professional delivery services for sipping letters, business documents, parcels, and most importantly their produced goods to different parts of the world.
Significance of parcel services for global business
The global business world tends to be fast and competitive. For faster growth and prosperity, it is imperative for the businesses to deliver their products and packages more quickly and safely to their desired destination. Gone are the days when the consumers had to wait for days to receive their products and packages. Nowadays, the companies are relying on the professional and well-equipped courier and parcel services in order to outsource their consignment delivery as soon as possible.
The role of parcel services is becoming increasingly important because the customers demand their products and packages to be delivered within one or two days of booking of the consignment. If you’re manufacturing a high-quality product and you won’t able to deliver on-time, rest of the efforts would amount to be wasted. Parcel delivery is the easiest and the most convenient way of transferring your important documents, files, Gifts, and other items.
Advantages of Professional parcel services
The feature that makes the parcel service most desirable is the tracking code or the customer ID, which the customer gets after submitting the parcel to the delivery company. The customer can easily check the status and location of its parcel from anywhere by logging onto the delivery company website and putting the customer ID in the required field.
The parcel services are regarded as the most simplified and the latest innovations of the global logistics world. It’s cost-effective and makes the lesser use of manpower. When it comes to delivering the products and goods to their target destination, the parcel services are considered as the backbone of businesses. Their same or next day delivery, express, and safe delivery services are trademark services which are playing a vital role in day to day functioning of businesses all across the globe.
The professional courier services give values to their customers and take the full safety of the customer consignments and fast delivery. Businesses across the globe are benefited from the discount offered by the international courier companies that bring cost-effectiveness to the overall cost of the product. Most of the courier companies would insure damages that may occur during transport or shipment, along with the record of all information about the package that is to be delivered to the customer.
Tips for choosing high-quality parcel service
Availability of 24*7 customer help service
Check the weight limitation of the package before booking the consignment
Online shopping mode or e-commerce websites are becoming increasing popular and have done remarkably well in recent times among buyers. Thanks to their unique styles of the product display, methods to improve the headcount and flexible payment options have contributed a lot to the growing popularity of online shopping. As the competition is increasing, these online shopping companies keep on adding new features to their sites according to changing requirements and demands of the customers.
Buying products or availing services online is very exciting these days, making markets and shopping malls quieter and online stores are jam-packed with full-of digital shoppers as the new innovations are popping up every day. There are many factors which are pointing 2019 to be the year of change for UK retail sector. E-commerce industry will realize the importance of customer-centric approach and end-to-end delivery. There are other things such as ‘fast and free’ delivery, delivery options that are customizable and transparent and prioritizing customer convenience.
Some of the hottest trends that can rule 2019 include:
Personalization
E-commerce is always personalized. It seems to get more personalized in 2019. How can it be more personalized? Brands have to provide exact delivery information, which fits to a particular location and customers. Amazon is the biggest example of the personalized e-commerce delivery. If you want to buy a new brand of wedding costume, once we made the selection, Amazon will calculate the exact delivery time based w.r.t our IP address. Then he will mention the cut-off time for our location with a countdown timer within which you have to order.
Amazon also makes the delivery user-friendly by making the delivery dates clear-cut by stating the calendar date rather than the shipping speed. For example they mention Wednesday 5th March- Thursday 6th March. Personalizing delivery means making the customers know exactly when their items will arrive, eliminating the uncertainty.
Guided by Automation to remove delivery complexities
Retailers or online sellers have to know what to automate during the delivery and logistics process. For example, if you have broad portfolio of products, it can create complexity. First, real challenge comes how you can match up to the right delivery type and carrier to individual items. Next, how you can automate that process during checkout?
You have to depend upon plugging in an automation tool- that is a powerful rule-based engine in order to consider a number of things instantaneously. For example, the product types, the basket mix, order of destination etc. Therefore, the rule-based system would automatically show the appropriate delivery options.
Convenient Pickup Points
Every customer wants cheap and fast delivery. But there’s a limit to the cheap and fast delivery. An efficient, cost-effective and err-free delivery can be obtained through find a pickup point or location that is convenient for customers, mentioned by customers themselves. E-commerce giant Amazon has acquired supermarket chain Wholefoods and places their Amazon pick-up lockers in their stores.
Impact of Brexit
There’s great deal uncertainty related to Brexit in UK and its possible impact and outcome. For that, many industries have been remained standstill. But research from various freight solutions indicate that online retailers are exploring growth opportunities outside of Europe, in view of uncertainty and complex trade regulations that may arise. But there’s considerable indication that UK retailers are expected to increase international revenue in 2019.
Accurate Delivery
Customers always want more accurate delivery from online retailers. Most of the brands are now going by the nominated-day of deliver, which is very exciting and helpful. This year,, you expect to see more priority from brands as far as customer convenience is concerned by offering nominated time slots.
Future Delivery Trends
In spite of so much buzz around the matchless delivery system, health and safety, robustness of the delivery solution would decide the future of possible delivery trends. It’s about how online retailers stay pragmatic and having the flexibility to change with the market demands, offering customers relevant series of options which they find easy-to-use and simple to purchase However, where delivery is concerned, retailers have to find right partners, in terms of cargo and courier services.
