Entrepreneurship is about marketing strategy, so it’s easy to get carried away thinking your business idea’s awesome and forget the drawbacks. It’s worth reviewing some questions and analyzing whether you have a big or small business. If you’re thinking of offering delivery, there are a few things to consider before getting started.
1. Know your costs
The first thing involved in entrepreneurship is to understand your costs. Are you doing it yourself? If so, what’s the cost of labour? What about equipment? Do you need to invest in any new tools or technologies?
2. Determine your driver’s skills
Your drivers can make or break your business, so hiring people who know their way around a vehicle and have experience delivering products or packages is essential. You also want drivers who are comfortable interacting with customers at their homes or businesses — especially if they’re not used to interacting with people regularly (like having to deal with customers daily).
3. Keep track of customer feedback
Once you’ve hired your new employees, keep track of how they perform during the first few weeks of operation to adjust accordingly, especially if they don’t seem as efficient as expected.
4. Minimum delivery charge.
What’s the minimum amount I need to charge each customer to make money? It’s not uncommon for a small business to offer free shipping to entice customers into ordering more than they originally planned on buying. But if they don’t want free shipping offers, then there’s no point in offering for free unless it’s happening automatically as part of an “ordering process.”
5. Time it takes to deliver.
Times to deliver vary depending on the size and location of your store and its proximity to customers’ homes or offices. If you offer sandwiches, how quickly can they be made? Are they ready in 10 minutes or 30? You need to factor in the time involved in getting food from the store to the customer and back again. Make sure you have enough time between ordering an item and when it is delivered so there are no last-minute snags with orders.
While these services can be cost-effective and convenient for the customer, they can be tough on your bottom line as a business. Before you sign up for a service, make sure you understand how it works, how much it will cost, and how you will benefit from offering delivery. Then you can decide if it’s worth it for your business.