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Customers have very high expectations when it comes to shipping. Big companies like Amazon can get products out to people the following day or even the same day in some places. You’re not going to be able to compete with that, and that’s ok, but it does mean that your customers are still going to expect quick and efficient shipping. If your products don’t arrive when you said they would, it’s likely that you’re going to lose that customer for good. Problems arise from time to time and products will arrive late for reasons that are outside of your control, but if it’s happening a lot, you’ve got a big problem on your hands. If you’re struggling to get your products out on time, here are some of the best ways to improve your shipping service.

Choose A Better Courier

A lot of smaller businesses will outsource their shipping to a third party. When you’re choosing a courier to handle your shipping, it’s important that you choose wisely. If you find that you’re getting a lot of complaints from customers about late shipping but you’re sure that you’re processing orders quickly on your end, it’s probably an issue with your courier. Often, new businesses try to cut costs by going with the cheapest company, but they’re cheap for a reason. You should ask your courier to explain why your products are arriving late and what they’re going to do about it. If you find that you’re still having problems after that, it’s time to find a new courier service, even if it costs you a bit more.

Evaluate Delivery Routes

If you aren’t outsourcing shipping and you’re handling it yourself, you’ve got nobody else to blame. There must be a reason why your products aren’t getting to customers on time and more often than not, it has to do with your delivery routes. If you don’t plan your routes effectively, your drivers are covering more distance than they need to and that leads to lateness. You can easily get around that by using telematics software to evaluate your delivery routes. It will help you to identify the most efficient route possible. That means your deliveries will get out on time and you’ll be spending less money on fuel costs as well.

Manage Expansion

So many businesses run into trouble with their deliveries because they don’t manage expansion properly. They get products out on time just fine when they’re first starting out, but as the business starts to expand, they can’t handle the increase in orders properly and that’s when they fall behind. It’s important that you manage expansion properly by creating sales projections and working out what your demand is likely to be. Then you need to increase staff levels and add more delivery routes as sales increase, so you can maintain the same level of service that you were offering before.

It only takes one late delivery to lose a customer for good, and they’re likely to tell their friends about it as well. That’s why it’s so important that you deal with delivery issues straight away before they kill your business entirely.