The rising popularity of eCommerce is mainly due to the availability of different items at a single location, convenience of payment, and quick delivery timelines. The growth of the eCommerce industry can be attributed to the efficiency of professional courier services as well. For many small and medium businesses, eCommerce has facilitated access to global markets and a wider customer base. For these businesses, maintaining customer satisfaction is crucial, accomplished by providing fast and effective delivery of products to the customer. With the first overseas courier service established in Tokyo, Japan, as a global overnight delivery system for time-sensitive business – newspaper publications, courier services have evolved to a great extent today.
Courier companies are used for delivering eCommerce orders, and the process involves picking up products from the retailer, manufacturing unit, or warehouse. Shipping services focus on fast and door-to-door deliveries and may use their own transportation fleet or tie up with other vendors to provide end-to-end eCommerce order delivery services.
What are Online Courier Services?
The past few years saw an increase in the online shopping trend, which encouraged many courier companies to offer different eCommerce services for users in different parts of the world. Thus, online shipping services commenced catering to the needs of users locally as well at the international level. Businesses partner with various courier companies to implement a safe, quick, and reliable transport method, especially those who sell online.
Courier vs Postal Services
During the postal service days, there were fewer options for delivering parcels and letters. The waiting time was also long. At any given time, it was impossible to know where the shipment or document had reached. However, with the advent of technology, the tracking and tracing of consignments are easier. Real-time data is available to find out the status of a particular consignment.
Postal services have also updated their services by opting for online tracking methods. However, the efficiency of courier services is much ahead of that of postal services. Postal services may be cheaper, but the time involved in delivery is also longer. With courier companies, the shipping charges may be higher comparatively, but their delivery time is very short. With them, you can even deliver your orders the same or the next day.
Top 10 Online Professional Courier Services in India
Courier companies are operated by private parties who have more accountability and responsibility, coupled with competition from other companies, to stand out as the best option in the market. This competitiveness gives an advantage to the end-user to choose between multiple courier companies.
The top 10 online professional courier services in India are listed below.
Blue Dart Express
It is one of the largest and most well-established courier companies in India. They serve more than 21,890 pin codes. Pricing is based on the weight of the consignment, and Blue Dart offers a price finder tool to help users calculate the logistics costs before shipping. Blue Dart’s services are reliable and time-bound.
DHL
DHL is an international leader with operations in almost 220 countries and territories. They are characterised by extraordinary speed, global expertise, and trusted advice from experienced personnel. DHL has comprehensive shipping solutions that help import, export, schedule pickups, track couriers, and pay bills.
Delhivery
Delhivery has become one of India’s most reliable courier companies, offering domestic and international courier services. Delhivery is efficient in reverse logistics, an increasingly important domain in online shipping services. They also offer heavy goods shipping and express parcel delivery for domestic shipping.
DTDC
With an experience of more than three decades, DTDC is a renowned name in the field of courier services. They are characterised by timely delivery and cost-effective solutions. DTDC provides service to over 14,000 pin codes in India. They have efficient technology which provides end-to-end tracking of parcels and documents.
GATI
GATI is a logistics company based in India and offers a variety of logistics options. They provide services to more than 19,800 pin codes in India. GATI offers quick delivery, transportation solutions, warehousing, and customised pickup from factories and warehouses. They are equipped to provide end-to-end integrated logistics across various verticals.
XpressBees
They offer parcel delivery services throughout India. Many eCommerce companies ship their products to end customers through XpressBees. They provide reliable last-mile services at economical rates.
FedEx
FedEx has a reputation for shipping products at competitive prices and is regarded as one of the best courier service providers in India for eCommerce. It has the expertise to ship heavy goods, fragile items, and hazardous materials.
Safexpress
Safexpress has more than two decades of experience in the logistics industry and is known for courier and shipping services in India. The trucks they use are fitted with smart electronic devices, which help track the consignment and provide real-time data.
The Professional Couriers
They have over a decade of experience in couriers and logistics and are well-established in India with a good network. They are known for reliability and cost-effectiveness. They have a vast network of over 1,000 establishments all over the nation. They are known for delivering time-sensitive parcels on a priority basis.
Agility
A global logistics company, Agility specializes in offering solutions to complex and challenging supply chain solutions. The company offers air and sea freight and warehousing services, customs clearance, and distribution solutions.
Types of Online Professional Courier Services
The professional courier service industry offers different services that have evolved based on customers’ requirements. Some of these are as follows:
International Courier Services
This service enables the delivery of parcels worldwide with features like security, speed, tracking facility, etc. Couriers providing these services would have their fleet of transport or have tie-ups with other companies to facilitate faster and quicker services.
Overnight Courier Services
Overnight services operate overnight to ensure delivery of parcels the next day. It is an essential service for businesses that wish to send packages quickly.
Express Courier Services
Express delivery involves collecting and delivering parcels to destinations within a stipulated area on the same day. These services are ideal for businesses that need time-sensitive services. These services are also known as hyperlocal courier services.
Standard Courier Services
The most common and cost-effective service, it is mostly used to send non-urgent parcels. In standard services, one can select a specific pickup day and a narrow time frame instead of a particular time. This is because the services are running on a predetermined route, and requesting a particular time with this service is not an option.
Benefits Of Courier Services
Speed
Courier services ensure parcels are delivered to customers in good condition and on time. With the help of their experienced staff, fleet management, and route planning, courier services provide speedy services to meet the required deliverables.
Reliability
With courier companies providing services enabling customers to keep track of their packages in real-time, door-to-door pickup/drop, and confidentiality, more and more customers rely on professional courier services for parcel deliveries.
Affordable
Most professional courier companies provide their services at reasonable rates, thus making it one of the cost-effective choices to get parcels moving across domestic or international locations.
Here’s How Shiprocket Helps Simplify Your Shipping Processes
Shiprocket is one of India’s top courier aggregators, providing efficient courier and logistics solutions to the eCommerce industry. With Shiprocket, you can deliver parcels from any part of the country to 24,000+ domestic pin codes and 220+ countries and territories internationally, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and UAE. Their website provides various options like a shipping rate calculator, order management, shipment security coverage, and many more. A mobile application is available to process shipments on the go and make the courier experience effective.
Conclusion
Professional courier services have opened a way to efficiently ship commodities and parcels from one location to another. It has made the movement of consignments so efficient that, in today’s world, courier services have become an integral part of eCommerce.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
While professional online courier services deliver most items, some prohibited items include alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling devices, lottery tickets, arms and ammunition, activated SIM cards, and corrosive items.
A standard local or national delivery of packages takes between 48 to 72 hours by online professional courier services. However, international shipments can take up to 6 to 7 days, depending on the country.
The shipment or consignment number is a permanent reference number of a package. Customers can use this number to track their shipment at any point. It also contains all the relevant details of the package from the start to delivery to the end customer.
