* Calculations use average data for Russia

Starting investments:

Revenue:

Net profit:

Payback period:

Courier service is a business without serious investments and requirements, so anyone can start it. The advantages of this area: high demand for services, a wide range of customers and profitability up to 90%.

Delivery service is a business that will suit both an experienced and aspiring entrepreneur. In Russia, the industry began to develop actively since the 90s and today is one of the promising areas in the service sector. The idea is attractive because it does not require large investments and at the same time guarantees a fairly high profit. You can start with a minimum set of resources and gradually develop your business. Moreover, with the growth of online commerce, delivery services are more relevant than ever. That is why starting a courier service is a great solution for an entrepreneur.

But this business, like any other, has its own nuances and pitfalls. Before throwing all your energy and money into opening a business, you need to study the main aspects of this type of activity.

Analysis of the field of activity

Relevance. According to the research agency Data Insight, online commerce is growing at least 25% annually, even despite the crisis. At the same time, most online stores attract delivery services from outside in order to save money. Result: the number of orders is increasing, and with them the demand for courier services. So now the business is relevant and will feel good as long as online commerce develops, because more than 90% of all orders for delivery services are delivered by online stores.

Advantages and disadvantages. An assessment of the pros and cons of a business allows you to make a decision about starting your own business and foresee what difficulties you need to be prepared for.

Advantages and disadvantages of courier service

Competition. The attractiveness of the business naturally led to the fact that many people came to the courier services market. Today, a wide range of courier services is presented on the Russian market. The share of international leading companies is about 30%. New businesses cannot compete with them. Therefore, firms operating within the same city or region will represent real competition for you. The conditions for doing business are not easy: price dumping, market glut and the struggle for customers, especially for large orders.

To stay afloat, courier services are pursuing an active business development strategy, offering customers more opportunities and services. Therefore, even at the start, you need to decide on the strategy of your delivery service and pay attention to the following parameters:

Business area.

cargo specifics.

Delivery method.

This is the initial data with which you will start working. They characterize your organization and determine its place in the market.

Delivery service

Types of services. The courier service provides the population with prompt delivery of letters, documents, small and bulky cargo for a fee. Depending on the scale of activity, the courier service can deliver between countries, between cities and regions, within the same city. Another important criterion is the specifics of the cargo. Conventionally, the work of courier services is divided into the delivery of correspondence and cargo. In practice, most players specialize in both directions.

The types of services provided by the courier service may be different. The most demanded delivery of goods from online stores. Most often this is a small-sized cargo.

What options do courier services offer their customers:

pre order;

urgent order (within a day);

courier rental;

shipment insurance;

order at night - delivery of goods from 22:00 to 7:00;

lifting cargo to the floor.

Business area. At the initial stage of work, it is better to focus on work within the same city. Get a good reputation, gain experience - and then gradually develop. For a good start, you will need to find 2-3 large clients with whom you will cooperate on an ongoing basis. Qualitatively fulfilling these orders, you can count on a stable profit and invest it in further development.

Cargo specifics. Immediately decide what kind of cargo you will work with. Because the organization of all activities depends on it. A comparison table will help you make a decision, which shows the characteristics of different types of cargo.

Comparison of areas of work of the courier service

An ideal option for a beginner in this business: delivery of correspondence and small cargo around the city. It will be much cheaper and easier. The specifics of the delivery of oversized cargo has its own difficulties, which will not only “eat up” part of your budget, but also require certain experience, skills and responsibility. In the future, of course, it makes sense to add cargo delivery to the services and expand the geography of activities.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Method and type of delivery. Also, choose in advance what type of delivery you want to deal with. Limit the scope of the target audience and develop a profitable offer for your potential customers.

The cargo service industry offers many options: online shopping products, delivery of flowers, gifts or food, important documents, etc. You can combine several directions.

To decide, study the demand in your city. What is missing in the courier services market? What niche is free? What can be improved in this area? What problems do your future clients face? When you answer all these questions, you can choose a promising direction.

Every day, many companies and people use the services of courier services. Your potential clients are:

online stores;

cafes and restaurants;

flower shops.

Today, almost all online stores cooperate with courier services and use their outsourcing services. Moreover, many prefer to conclude contracts with local small firms.

Another large segment is cafes and restaurants. Almost all catering establishments provide a delivery service to their customers. And this is also done by a third-party courier service.

Separately, it is worth mentioning about flower shops. Many of them trade through social networks and offer delivery services. But it is not profitable for them to keep their courier on staff, so they resort to outsourcing.

Almost all large companies need couriers to deliver various documents. In addition, there is such a service as "courier rental" - i.e. an employee can not only deliver documents, but also perform additional assignments. For example, stand in line at the tax office and hand over / pick up documents. Thanks to this service, the client saves time, and you get additional profit.

Ready-made ideas for your business

So the range of potential customers of the delivery service includes an unlimited number of individuals and legal entities. Courier services are in demand in all areas of activity.

After you decide what we will deliver and who will be our client. Now we need to figure out how to deliver it. The method of delivery depends on the specifics of the order, and on the territory, and on your strategy. Let's consider in more detail.

Possible delivery methods

Pedestrian courier. If you work within a small town, you can get by with a pedestrian courier. The method is reminiscent of the classic image of the postman. You can also use bicycles, mopeds, scooters. It is clear that only correspondence and small parcels will be delivered in this way. This may not be a very profitable solution.

Courier with a car. First, the volume of initial investments will increase. You will need to purchase a car or hire a courier with a personal vehicle (and this is paid extra). Secondly, fuel costs will increase. But on the other hand, you will get a faster delivery method, more orders and the ability to deliver large and heavy packages. In addition, you can use unusual delivery formats. This will allow you to stand out and form a competitive advantage.

Bicycle mail. Fast delivery of documents on small vehicles (bicycles, scooters, mopeds). It is cheap, environmentally friendly, and in the case of traffic jams, even faster. Also, for example, argues the American express mail UPS, which delivers parcels on bicycles with a trailer. Students can be hired. One downside is seasonality. It is not very comfortable to ride a bike in rain or snow. But this method of delivery can be made an additional service in the warm season.

Congratulatory courier service delivers flowers, balloons, gifts and other holiday paraphernalia. The services of such an organization are used by people who cannot personally congratulate their loved ones. The courier service does it for them. With proper advertising, the service will be in demand. In this case, the bright design of the courier car will be an excellent marketing ploy, so that it is immediately clear: “this car is carrying a holiday.”

Round the clock delivery. Not every courier service provides such a service. Therefore, you can occupy a free niche and start with less competition. Delivery at night has many advantages: the tariff for such orders is higher, and they are delivered faster (because there is less traffic and traffic jams). The downside is that you will have to hire additional employees for shift work.

Delivery of auto parts, building materials, assistance with moving. There are very few companies that would provide such services, but there is demand. The car broke down on the road, it is necessary to transport things or building materials for construction or repair. In all these cases, you will need the service of your courier service. But then you have to buy trucks and hire movers.

As you can see, the delivery service is a very variable business. You can combine characteristics in different ways: type of cargo, target audience, delivery method - and look for the “formula” that will be successful for you.

Business registration

From theory we pass to practical actions. The first serious step to start is the registration of a business.

The courier service can work both in the status of an individual entrepreneur and an LLC. Most often, small firms prefer to work as an individual entrepreneur - there is less paperwork with him. To register, you must write an application in the prescribed form and attach to it a receipt for payment of the state duty, which is 800 rubles. The following should be indicated as types of activities according to OKVED: 64.12 - Courier activities. You can immediately enable additional codes:

52.61.2 - Retail sales through teleshops and computer networks (electronic commerce, including the Internet)

63.40 - Organization of cargo transportation

64.11.11 - Activities for the reception, processing, transportation and delivery (delivery) of postal items

74.82 - Packaging

74.84 - Provision of other services

So, you submit the documents necessary for registering an individual entrepreneur, and after the period specified in the notification, you collect an extract from the USRIP from the tax. On the same day, it is recommended to write an application for the transition to the selected tax regime. You can choose STS 6% of income or STS 15% income minus expenses.

Premises and office

The courier service belongs to the category of business where the location and office do not play an important role. In this case, you will need a mini-office to receive corporate clients and conclude contracts with them. A small warehouse can also be placed there.

An office for a courier service does not have to be located in the city center. For the client, it is more important how quickly you can deliver the package and how much it will cost. Therefore, the ideal space for an office is 20 sq.m. with internet and telephone, away from the city center. In the office, it is enough to equip one workplace for a manager who will look for clients, communicate with us, distribute tasks between couriers, control the timing and payment of orders. The set of equipment in the office is minimal: a computer, an MFP, a telephone, a document rack.

When looking for a suitable office, pay attention to various business centers where you can find a premise already furnished and equipped with all communications. The cost of renting such an office will cost you about 10-15 thousand rubles per month. It all depends on the city and the territorial location of the building itself. Also, do not forget to buy stationery for your office: paper, pens, paper clips, tape, etc.

Equipment

The main production equipment in this case is a car. Well, of course, if you have not decided to open a bike mail. The choice of transport on which orders will be delivered should be approached with special attention.

How to choose a car for a courier

Characteristics. To begin with, let's define the main characteristics that an ideal car for a courier service should have:

low fuel consumption;

low cost of maintenance and repair;

small dimensions of the car: compactness and mobility makes it easy to park and move around the city faster.

So the main requirement for a courier car is efficiency and mobility. This way you save money and time.

Models. Based on these characteristics, we will give examples of popular cars that are most often used for delivery services.

If you give preference to the domestic auto industry, then the suitable options are:

• OKA (VAZ 1111).

If you choose among foreign cars, then this:

German cars (Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Golf, Opel Corsa,);

Korean (Kia Picanto, Hyundai i20, Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Getz).

French (Citroen C1, Peugeot 107);

Japanese (Toyota Yaris, Toyota Vitz, Nissan Cube, Nissan March, Honda Fit);

Italian (Fiat Panda).

All of these cars have a small engine capacity - this allows you to save on fuel consumption. The average cost of a car for a courier is 400 thousand rubles. You can save money by renting a used car. But keep in mind that in this case you risk buying a car that will often break down. And delays in the work of the courier service can lead to serious consequences.

Scheme of the courier service

Before proceeding to the selection of personnel, you need to draw up a detailed scheme of the courier service and prescribe the functions of each employee. The general scheme of work looks like this:

An order is received from a customer.

The manager accepts the order, negotiates the amount of payment with the client, records all the necessary data (name, contact phone number, order parameters). Next, the manager passes the task to the courier.

The courier, according to the received task, goes to point A to pick up the correspondence/parcel and payment. Then he takes him to point B, where the receiving party signs the acceptance certificate, thereby confirming the fact of receipt.

The courier calls the manager, and he, in turn, notifies the customer about the receipt of the parcel or envelope by the addressee.

At the end of the working day, the courier delivers the signed documents and proceeds to the manager.

This scheme is not generally accepted and the only correct one. You can customize it to suit your business concept.

Courier service staff

An entrepreneur can open a courier business on his own. It is quite possible to combine the functions of a dispatcher, courier and director. At the initial stage, when there will be few orders, you can handle it alone. This will help save on salaries for employees. But then you still need help. By the way, replacing the entire staff of the courier service is a very useful experience. You will feel the business “from the inside”, understand the process of work, learn the nuances and then be able to better navigate the business.

The staff of the courier service usually includes a dispatcher (manager), courier drivers, foot couriers and an accountant. If you plan to deliver bulky goods, you will have to hire movers. Students can be hired as walking couriers: they are usually paid from 300 rubles a day - the costs are small, but their work relieves the volume of orders well.

Ready-made ideas for your business

The main requirement for courier drivers is that they must be able to navigate freely in the city. But you can not rely only on the ability of drivers. Be sure to equip courier vehicles with navigators. For a small company, two couriers will be enough. Their salary usually consists of a fixed salary and a percentage of the amount of completed orders. If you want to save money, you can find employees with a private car. But then you have to pay them more.

Try to find employees with similar experience. In the early stages, their experience will help you, especially if you are new to this business.

You can assign the functions of an accountant to yourself. There is nothing difficult in the IP documentation to understand and maintain accounting on your own. There would be a desire and time. Because your main function in this business is management. You must monitor the work of all staff, coordinate their actions, solve problems that arise, look for new customers and promote your business.

Advertising courier service

It's time to ask the question "where to look for customers"? Let's try to figure out where you can meet your potential customers and how to attract their attention.

Participation in tenders. On the Rostender website you will find many offers to conclude a contract for the provision of courier services. Contract amounts range from a few thousand to millions of rubles. It all depends on the capabilities of your courier service. To see the right options, please select the region you plan to work in, check the terms of current offers, make sure you meet the stated requirements and apply. At the end of the tender, the results will be posted on the site and, perhaps, you will receive this order.

Electronic reference books. If your activity is limited to the territory of one region or city, then you can use electronic directories. Find the phone numbers and e-mail of those companies that are your target audience. Call or send an electronic proposal for cooperation. Try to come up with a commercial proposal that reflects the individual needs of a particular business.

Announcement Sites. Place ads about your services on various resources such as Avito. There you can also study the demand for courier services and respond to the application.

Intermediary sites. You can use third-party portals - for example, You Do. This platform is an intermediary between those who are looking for certain services (including courier services) and those who provide them. Register on the portal as an executor-courier.

Printable advertisement. Use brochures, business cards, flyers. Make flyers describing your services and a great offer. Arrange to place them on stands near cash desks in stores, in organizations, on bulletin boards.

As you can see, there are many channels for promoting courier services. At first, use all available advertising methods. Plan marketing expenses right away to get orders from the first month of work.

financial question

When an aspiring entrepreneur seriously thinks about starting a business, he is interested in two main questions: how much should he spend and how much can he earn? Let's figure it out. The table shows the main items of initial expenses. Based on this, in order to open a courier service from scratch, you will need at least 260 thousand rubles.

Initial investment to open a courier service

In addition to the initial investment, plan monthly expenses. The table shows an approximate calculation of fixed costs. In the first months when you are self-employed, there will be no such payroll costs. However, when drawing up a business plan for a courier service, be sure to include this article.

Fixed costs of courier service

Now that you've got your costs figured out, let's move on to the fun part of planning: calculating your expected profit. To do this, you need to know how much courier services will cost and the number of orders. The cost of delivery depends on many factors (city, cargo specifics, route complexity, additional options, delivery time, etc.). Therefore, it is difficult to give any exact figures. On average, one order for the delivery of correspondence will cost 80-100 rubles in the city; delivery of small cargoes is approximately 250 rubles, and a contract concluded with one legal entity. face will bring already 20-30 thousand rubles.

Having a stable flow of orders, a courier service can earn 100-250 thousand rubles a month. Of this amount, you will be left with 50-150 thousand rubles of net profit. The profitability of the business reaches 90%.

Thus, the approximate indicators of business profitability will be as follows:

Revenue - 250 thousand rubles per month

Net profit - 150 thousand rubles per month

Profitability - up to 90%

Payback period - 4-5 months.

Risk factors

When compiling your business plan, be sure to pay attention to the risk component. Think about the risks you may face when providing courier services and how you can avoid losses. Any risk is a loss of profit. Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken to avoid problems.

What you need to pay attention to the owner of the courier service:

High competition. Earlier, we talked about the fact that there are many participants in the courier services market that a novice entrepreneur may encounter. You can solve the problem of competition even at the level of choosing a strategy, if you correctly identify your target audience, form an interesting and profitable offer for it. When you become a full-fledged participant in the market, you can attract customers by providing additional services at competitive prices, by competently advertising your services.

Dependence on weather and transport conditions. The quality of the courier service does not always depend on internal factors. Bad weather or traffic jams in the city can prevent the courier from delivering the order on time. It is almost impossible to solve this problem, as well as to insure against it. In addition, in such conditions, there is a possibility of damage to the vehicle. For example, sudden ice can lead to an accident. All this will bring you unforeseen expenses. The use of various programs to identify traffic jams and competent logistics solutions will help reduce the risk.

Personnel problem. The courier delivery business is characterized by high turnover. The salary is small, there is often no career growth, the work, albeit simple, but dreary. It is not uncommon to accept students who consider the work of a courier as temporary. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you will often have to look for employees, and these are also certain costs. If you are interested in your company's employees working for a long time and with dedication, set a decent salary, provide good working conditions, use various methods of motivation. Or be prepared to be constantly on the lookout.

Technological risk. The main element of your earnings is the car on which the delivery is carried out. A sudden breakdown can stop all work, which will significantly “hit your pocket”. To prevent a car breakdown from coming as a surprise to you, constantly monitor its condition - and if problems are found, immediately fix them. When choosing a car, give preference to models that are economical to maintain and repair.

Get up-to-date calculations for a business plan

Collecting information on this topic, I realized that not the purchase (production) - the sale of goods and the organization of the call center are the most difficult stages. Delivery of goods to the buyer - this is what novice sellers of online stores most often “stuff their bumps” on.

After all, not everyone immediately goes to the level of such “monsters” of online commerce, such as, for example, Ozon.ru, Holodilnik.ru. These companies, in addition to their own courier service, have a very developed network of distribution centers. Ozon has covered literally all the largest cities in the country, while Holodilnik can boast of such achievements only in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

As for the bulk of representatives of trade via the Internet, Oskar Hartmann, co-owner of KupiVip, spoke very accurately about their work. “Russia is the largest country in which the delivery structure is so poorly developed” ... Not exactly flattering, but quite fair remark, isn't it?

On the Internet, I found several stories, or rather, advice "from life." Natalya Kulakova, the owner of the onovamnadom.ru store, which deals mainly in food and household goods, is sure that you need to organize your own delivery service, and resort to outsourcing services as little as possible.

For those who are not familiar with this issue, I will clarify that the word "outsourcing" means a company specializing in the provision of courier delivery services.

So, Kulakova believes that the hired couriers do not treat the work with the proper level of responsibility. Given the specifics of the goods in her store, this position becomes quite understandable. It is not uncommon for products to end up in the same bag with household chemicals or placed on the ground.

It is clear that in the first place, it is not the courier who suffers from this, but the image of the store. Therefore, all employees of the onovamnadom.ru delivery service are full-time employees who are interested in working in good faith, because. their work is closely monitored.

Of course, from a cost standpoint, having your own couriers is not a particularly profitable undertaking, because no matter how well things are going, people have to pay salaries from month to month. It is this fact that makes the owners of online stores (especially beginners) turn to the services of outsourcing companies.

For the work of their couriers, they charge, as a rule, 2-3% of the cost of the delivered goods. Moreover, the money received from the buyer does not immediately go to the account of the online store, but is first transferred to the logistics company, which "takes" the percentage due.

Ivan Matveev, director of one of these companies - IM Logistics encourages sellers to actively use his services, because. theoretically, they are a great support to the seller, who can deal not with unnecessary accounting, but directly with the development of his business.

But not everything is so simple. Lyubov Kozyreva, the owner of the children's store 101slon.ru, also names some disadvantages of cooperation with outsourcing companies. I have already spoken about the unscrupulous approach (although, probably, this mostly depends on the company's policy), but it primarily comes from the human qualities of the courier. And how many intelligent and decent people are there who are ready to run all over the city in any weather?

In addition, with a large volume of orders, workers in such firms are often not enough. 101slon.ru has repeatedly encountered situations when, after a weekly delay with delivery, the buyer simply refused his order.

Courier delivery, of course, makes sense only within the locality in which the store is located. There are quite a few logistics services for delivery to other cities, but Russian Post remains the most developed. In addition, she has an official analogue - "EMS Russian Post", which deals directly with courier delivery. You can easily calculate the cost of Russian Post services on the company's website. But even here sellers have their own risks.

The fact is that "Post ..." works exclusively with the help of cash on delivery, and this is fraught with the fact that the buyer may simply not pick up the order, and then all the services for forwarding "back and forth" fall on the shoulders of the seller.

Therefore, the aforementioned Lyubov Kozyreva, taught by a certain bitter experience, tries to send goods by mail only to verified customers.

Friends, welcome. Wildly I apologize for the fact that in the past two months I have only two articles. It's just that at the end of September my son was born and I'm only now slowly getting used to the new rhythm of life.

Today's article on Take it and implement quickly!”. And, it would seem, what does the sheet in the picture on the left have to do with it? You will find out soon

And today I want to touch on a topic related to the text and graphic design of pages with information about delivery. After all, this is one of the few pages that forms the final decision of the visitor to purchase in your online store, and many simply underestimate its importance.

How many options for presenting this information I have seen, I am becoming more and more convinced that fantasy is not limited by anything.

What will we talk about:

1. Formulation of the problem;
2. How NOT to do it
3. Simple submission of information (choose your implementation option);
4. Good role models;
5. Conclusion.

And why is it so important anyway?

I focus your attention on the “Delivery” page for a reason, because by reading these pages, the visitor often makes the final decision to buy from your online store or not. And our task is to make this reading easy for him and not cause difficulties. Don't underestimate content marketing (which is a big deal in mine) even on the shipping page.

When the question arises of submitting this or that information, we immediately begin to think about how best to do it.

For example, on this blog, in every article, I can hardly restrain myself from oversaturating my readers with information. After writing, I edit almost any article several times and reduce the amount of information given out for better assimilation and minimization of “porridge”. Yes, it takes about 10 hours to write each article in total, but I'm sure it's better than giving out a semi-finished article every day.

Therefore, every time you are going to post some information page on the site (speech does not go about articles on the blog of the online store), then try to put maximum information in a minimum of words or even better graphics.

And today we will try to put this information in such a way that only at one glance the visitor will understand that you are successfully delivering goods to his city or village.

Bad example

Not the best role model.

To the left of this text, you see a screenshot of the “Shipping and payment” page from the ProSkater.ru website, reduced several times.

Most likely, this page was updated as information became available and new delivery directions were discovered, but when the page is more than 13,000 pixels high (more than 10 screens long!), it no longer seems funny.

In this case, this online store can afford this, as it already has a huge army of customers and followers who already remember by heart all the conditions and rules for delivery with payment.

The first example clearly shows the most common mistake when compiling this type of page: to fit as much information as possible and end up with unreadable sheet of text.

Summary: do not lump everything together, structure the information!

But these are all general tips that mean nothing until we get down to business. In the next chapter, we will start building the backbone of this page and find some really worthwhile solutions.

Simple submission of information

Each online store has its own types of delivery and there is simply no single solution that will cover all options.

Consider the most common options:

Uniform rules for all

First impression.
At the first glance at the “Delivery” page, the visitor should immediately understand whether you are in his city or not.

If you have a fixed or completely free delivery throughout Russia, then a similar elegant solution will suit you (live example at the end of the article):

It is easy to guess that just one glance at this page will make it clear that the online store provides delivery throughout the country and absolutely free. Yes, you can write about it in text, but an image is much more effective, and visual users will also appreciate you.

Call to action!
At the end of the page, be sure to place a link or button calling for further action. This is usually a simple link with the text “Go to shopping” that leads to the main page.

Option number 1. Only courier.

If you only have courier delivery to your own and additional cities, then it is often enough to simply list these cities in the description text.

The user, getting to this page, immediately sees a map with cities plotted on it. And if he sees his city, then his gaze falls below, where there are already links to detailed conditions for each city, which are located on the same page a little lower.

If you decide to use interactive Google Maps, then it makes sense to use Info Windows for Google Maps. Example:

In each city where courier delivery is available, place a similar marker and you can place any information in the pop-up window: delivery speed, delivery time and other conditions. You can read more about the Google Maps API.

Fortunately, few online stores work only with courier delivery, and usually there are much more types of delivery. In the following example, we will add .

Option number 2. Courier and pickup.

If you work with both courier delivery and self-delivery throughout the country, then I suggest slightly modifying the first option.

In this case, you can, most likely, also get by with a text page with an interactive map at the very beginning.

Again, after landing on the page, visitors will see an interactive map on which cities are marked. By clicking on your city, the visitor can immediately see what options are available for him: courier, pickup, or both.

Option number 3. Courier, pickup and mail.

You yourself understand that there is no point in placing all post offices on the map, and some other solution is already needed here.

Changes:

1. When getting to the delivery page, the user should immediately understand that delivery is carried out throughout Russia;
2. Let's immediately separate Postal delivery from other methods. And for this we will divide the information into tabs.

The first tab “Courier delivery and pickup” is completely taken from option No. 2. But the second tab is fully prepared for the Russian Post:

Those who live in remote regions know that only the Russian Post delivers to them. And that is why we immediately offer to see:

1. Cost of delivery;
2. delivery terms;
3. As well as control delivery times on the diagram.

That is, when you get to this page, we will answer the user's questions on the first screen of the monitor. It's wonderful!

Other delivery schemes.

This article covers the general case, but anyway, each online store has its own delivery methods to the buyer and you can’t stock up on everyone at once

Therefore, here are some tips to help optimize the flow of information:

1. Top recommendation: Use tabs to separate information. If you want to add a description of delivery by transport companies, then it is better to place this information on a separate tab;
2. From experience, the simpler the overall delivery scheme, the easier it is to work. Some are implementing delivery calculators by the Russian Post and stubbornly hammering in the weight of goods in order to do this, and some simply set a fixed cost for delivery by the Russian Post. The average cost of delivery for both is approximately the same;
3. Try to make it so that at the first glance at the delivery page, the user immediately has an answer to his question: “Will you deliver to my city?”;
4. At the end of the page, place the link “Go to shopping”.

A few good examples

I think it would be nice to put some great examples of the implementation of the “About delivery” pages at the end:

Eco

The tab system in action. Link .

Here is a slightly different approach. It is enough to enter your postcode or city and the online store will display all possible delivery methods. Link .

Exclusivedog

See how elegantly the delivery is described. At one glance at the banner, other questions simply do not arise. Link .

Another confirmation of this will be the scroll map of this page:

As you can see, for most users, a graphical display of delivery conditions is enough, and not everyone reaches detailed delivery conditions. Moreover, in this online store they are very simple.

Conclusion

I strongly advise you not to neglect the “Delivery” page and complete it fully. This page is studied by almost everyone who wants to place an order in your online store.

Therefore, audit it and immediately use the recommendations from the article you just read. Do a good deed for your visitors

Why limit yourself to one city when you can sell and deliver goods to customers countrywide? I don’t know, but for some reason many entrepreneurs consciously choose to work only in their city. Or they argue like this: I will first start developing business in my region, and then I will go to Russia. Why not do it right away? After all, your target audience will increase by tens, hundreds, and possibly thousands of times.

If you decide to enter the all-Russian market, then you, first of all, will need to answer two questions:

1. How to reach the target audience in other cities?
2. How cheap deliver the goods to the buyer?

Let's assume that you know how to answer the first question, so in this article we'll take a closer look at the second.

When does the delivery of goods in 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 can cost more than the product itself.

Therefore, it is not advisable to work for the whole country in every niche, unfortunately. Let's see when the game is not worth the candle:

1. Small average bill

If the purchase amount is usually up to several thousand rubles, then it will be unprofitable to deliver the goods: 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. Post-sales service required

This is when, after the sale, the installation or installation of goods at the location of the client is required. For example, you sell children's outdoor complexes that require assembly on site. You won't take your team of installers, say, to Sakhalin, will you? And hiring someone locally is not easy.

Conclusion

If you sell at least 5,000 rubles at a time, and your products do not have a regional link, then you need to try. To do this, start by calculating the transportation costs.

What determines the transport costs for the delivery of 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. Shipping companies have shipping rates based on the parameters of the cargo and destination. As for the weight and volume of the cargo, it is always taken according to the maximum indicator. As a rule, this is the volume, if the goods are not too heavy.

It is desirable 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 (cheap and bulky).

Which shipping companies are right for you?

Courier companies are most likely not suitable for you, because they are mainly focused only on large cities and door-to-door delivery. They have a small branch network, and it is very expensive to transport bulky goods over long distances.

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, more expensive, of course). The main plus is the most extensive network of branches in the country. There are 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 in Russia cheap 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. collect a lot of cargo in one place (branch), load it into a truck and take it to another place (branch). The reduction in the cost of transportation is due to the fact that goods are transported immediately from many companies, "wholesale".

If you have chosen a transport company, then use its rates or an online calculator to calculate the approximate cost of delivery to various cities. Tip: take the cities farthest from you, because. you do not know in advance where the order will come from. In this way, you will lay down the maximum transport 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:

1. The cargo comes to the nearest city where there is a branch;
2. The transport company hires a car specifically for your cargo and takes it to the client's address in the corresponding 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 car is specially for your order.

1. Deliver the order to the nearest city to the buyer, in which there is a branch of the transport company, from where he will pick up the order himself;
2. Increase the cost of the order by a certain percentage in order to deliver to the address.

Clients take it for granted.

How to deliver the goods to the buyer in very remote regions?

Due to climatic conditions, the cities of Russia are located closer to the southern border. If we talk about the eastern part of the country, then the network of branches of transport companies ends with Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. But what if you need to deliver cargo to Magadan, Kamchatka or Sakhalin? After all, you can get a very large order from there.

Read about it in a separate article.

Is shipping included in the price of the item?

My opinion is yes, include. Having tested this model in practice, I was convinced that it is 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 depths of his soul, he always has a fear that delivery can be very expensive.

If your customers are companies that themselves 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, for example, then doing business in it can be a rather unpromising occupation. 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 where the client calls you from: from Moscow or Birobidzhan. The only real inconvenience is the time difference. It must be taken into account.

After some time, you will perceive different regions of the country the way you once perceived the districts of your city. And you will rejoice: how good it is that we live in a country with such a large market!

Before setting up delivery methods in the store, you need to decide on the sales region:

• if you work only in one region, then courier delivery of goods from the store and pickup will be enough for you.
• if you work in several regions, then you need to implement delivery using delivery services (for example, PickPoint, Boxberry, DPD) through certain delivery services.

For courier delivery and pickup:

• Delivery depending on the shipping cost of each item

To organize delivery using delivery services (PickPoint, Boxberry, DPD, EMS Russian Post, Russian Post).

Pickup

Pickup- this is a way to receive an order from an online store, in which the buyer picks up the goods directly at the office of the online store, in a warehouse or at a specific point of issue of orders.

Free shipping

Free shipping is now quite common as some kind of marketing ploy to increase sales.

For some sellers, free shipping is a necessity, a competitive advantage.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Fixed shipping cost

This shipping method provides almost the same benefits as free shipping.

The buyer knows exactly how much he will have to pay for delivery, he does not need to understand the terms of delivery.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Delivery according to weight

Often there is a need to add delivery cost criteria to the delivery of goods, depending on the weight of the goods.

To do this, you can add a new method in the administration panel.

In this case, the formation of shipping prices will be based on the total weight of the order. For example, you can define a shipping cost of 300 rubles. for any order weighing from 2 to 3 kg.

However, before you decide to use this particular strategy, you should make sure that the cost of shipping any commodity item depends on its weight.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Delivery depending on weight and distance

Often there is a need to introduce delivery cost criteria into the delivery of goods, depending on the weight of the goods and the distance to the place of delivery of the goods.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Delivery depending on the value of the order

This delivery method assumes that the delivery price will depend on which product the buyer purchased in your online store. This delivery method allows you to vary the cost of delivery depending on which order the buyer made.

In this case, the shipping cost in your online store will be different each time.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Delivery depending on the shipping cost of each item

This delivery method is convenient if there is a need to add a delivery cost criterion to the delivery of goods, depending on the delivery cost of each product. In such a case, you can add a method in the administration panel according to the instructions.

Delivery depending on the number of goods

This delivery method is also a kind of marketing step that encourages customers to purchase as many goods as possible, since the cost of delivery directly depends on the number of goods in the order.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Pickup points

This delivery method is no less popular with such an advantage that the client can choose the pickup point that is closest to him, rather than go to an existing one office, say, to the other end of the city.

Instructions for setting up this delivery method are available.

Comparison of pick-up points and post offices

Points of issue of orders of online stores - one of the most popular types of delivery of purchases.
Conventionally, the service that provides the issuance of goods resembles a network of ordinary post offices that work directly with the client, delivering parcels in the required direction.

Using the services of the service, you get the opportunity to send the order directly to the point of issue in any city. And your client will have a choice - to pick up the shipment himself or order delivery by courier.

Due to the fact that the services of this service are becoming increasingly popular, the number of points of issue is constantly growing. In the largest cities of the country, networks of branches are being opened for a more comfortable receipt of goods, and the list of covered settlements is increasing daily.

One of the most popular pickup points is Boxberry, which provides a full cycle of order delivery services for online stores: from pickup from the store's warehouse to delivery to the final recipient at the Boxberry branch or by courier. You can get detailed information on the official website of Boxberry.
eDost , Yandex.Delivery .

Postamat ( from English. the words Post and "Automatic", which in the merger forms "Postamat") - an automated terminal for issuing shipments, where an order is delivered from an online store or from a catalog to the buyer. Then the recipient picks up the order on his own at a convenient time, following the instructions in the terminal menu.

The main service is the delivery of orders made in online stores and catalogs to automated terminals for issuing items - Postamats.
The buyer independently comes to the Postamat at a convenient time, enters an individual code for opening the cell, pays for the order in cash or by card and picks it up.

One of the most popular parcel terminals is PickPoint. You can get detailed information on the official website of PickPoint.
You can connect this delivery service through eDost, Yandex.Delivery services.

Description of delivery services

EMS Russian Post (Delivery Service) / Russian Post

Today, dozens of different companies offer delivery services.
It is possible to arrange delivery using Russian Post and EMS Russian Post.

The advantage is that parcels can be sent to any locality in Russia and abroad. Shipping costs are lower than other services.
The cons are known to everyone - this is a long delivery time and a heavy workload during the New Year holidays, which is why parcels sent in December-January can take several months to reach the addressee.

In any case, you can have such a delivery option in your store for those customers who do not care about delivery time, but the low price of the service matters. And, of course, if you plan to work with small and remote settlements, you cannot do without the Russian Post.

International delivery by Russian Post takes an average of 20 days to 1.5 months.

An additional service from the Russian Post is EMS delivery.
Advantages: parcels are delivered to any point of the country and the world, delivery times are much shorter.
Cons of EMS: the stated delivery times are not always kept, and on New Year's holidays they stretch up to 2-3 weeks. The maximum weight of parcels is 31.5 kg, this service is not suitable for bulky goods.

Instructions for connecting the delivery service are available.

It is most convenient to offer several delivery options at once so that the customer can compare the cost and conditions. To do this, you can connect the eDost service in AdVantShop stores, which calculates and compares offers from 15 major delivery services operating in Russia.

SDEK (Delivery Service)

The company "SDEK" offers a range of logistics services for the delivery of goods for online stores and other distance trading companies. CDEK has the resources for fast and high-quality delivery throughout Russia. The logistics center of SDEK takes care of all the work: it receives the goods, delivers them in the best way for the client, accepts cash on delivery and transfers the payment for the goods to your account.

The AdvantShop online store platform is already integrated with the SDEK delivery aggregator. You only need to connect it in the administrative part of your store. New Post (Ukraine)

The "Nova Poshta" network consists of more than 2,300 branches, more than 1,400 parcel terminals for issuing / receiving parcels and 37 sorting and reloading terminals. The geography of the "Nova Poshta" network in Ukraine covers almost 1000 cities and villages. In addition to delivery to branches, the company provides targeted delivery to more than 28,000 locations.

Detailed information is available at the link.

boxberry

Boxberry is a delivery service for online stores and individuals. More information about the method and its settings can be found on the site.

So, let's sum up. Basic rules for choosing a delivery service:

1. If you're selling expensive, fragile, or urgent items, offer your buyer multiple express shipping options. As a rule, shipping insurance is included in the cost of such a service. To deliver such goods around the city, you can also use courier services, they will ensure the delivery and safety of the goods ordered in the online store.

2. For inexpensive and non-perishable goods, the main delivery method will be Russian Post (as the cheapest option).

3. If you sell gifts, souvenirs, holiday accessories, offer express delivery services other than Russian Post and EMS. After all, in such cases it is important to be in time for the appointed time, and customers are ready to pay for expensive, but fast delivery.

4. If you plan to sell goods abroad (including to the CIS countries), offer delivery from several operators. International shipments by regular mail are delivered for about a month, and this will not suit every customer.

5. Oversized items will require freight forwarding services. The freight calculator is available on the website through the eDOST service.

Fast and high-quality delivery service is very important for the reputation of the store. If the buyer is dissatisfied with the service, he is unlikely to want to order again. Therefore, read about the options and methods for organizing fast and high-quality delivery of goods from an online store here. Your site should also have no problems choosing a delivery method, for this these services should already be integrated into the engine. In professional platforms, this module, as a rule, is already preinstalled. Alternatively, purchase a ready-made online store, it is already sharpened for a quick launch without additional settings and programming.