In an online article published by Sarah Stowe for Franchise Business, the rise of ecommerce has led to some amazing opportunities for the courier industry. Soon, gone will be the days of one or two couriers to choose from (if having any choice at all) and having to play and pay by their rules.
“Australian online spending increased at a compound annual rate of 26 percent in the five years to 2013 and online is predicted to support the sector’s expansion through to 2018-19.”
With increased online purchases comes a growing need to deliver those products directly to consumers’ doors. With new business ventures comes disruptive innovations and Sydney is no stranger to change. Consumers and businesses alike can benefit from the changes to the courier industry with the rise of peer-to-peer courier services such as Go People. Stowe goes on to explain this by clarifying that there are many opportunities that face the courier industry and a failure for big businesses to evolve may be at their peril.
“External influences on [the courier] sector include B2B services dependent on communication and information, demand from general warehousing and cold storage, the motor vehicle price index, household consumption expenditure and demand from online shopping.”
These four pillars have a direct impact on the growing demand for quick and easy delivery systems and may even require their services outside of standard business hours. Fortunately, the nature of the peer-to-peer courier industry means that packages and products ordered online can be delivered to their intended destination at any hour of the night or day.
Go People offers its users the choice to use its application for either senders or couriers. Called Runners, Go People allows any person with a bicycle, car, motorbike, van, or even an Opal card to deliver its users parcels. Low-barriers to entry help more and more people find work in an uncertain economic climate, so the Courier Pick-Up and Delivery Services Market Research Report’s findings were spot on.
Larger, established courier services would have to invest in newer technologies to provide their users with updated information about their parcels, whereas peer-to-peer courier services like Go People provide that competitive edge. Through cutting-edge GPS technology, Go People Senders can monitor the progress of their parcels in real time and reach out to their Runner at any stage in their parcel’s delivery.
Two-way communication such as this is unprecedented in the current courier industry and is one of the reasons why more and more users are switching on their smartphones to take control of their deliveries.
How might peer to peer courier services benefit your business?
Article Link: http://www.franchisebusiness.com.au/case-study/how-couriers-are-delivering-digital-age