One courier company or multiple agents - setting up an online store?

One courier company or multiple agents - which option to choose when setting up an online store?

When creating an online store, many of us wonder how to organize the shipment process. The costs and shipping methods are one of the most important elements influencing the decision-making process of a potential customer.

Your shipment process can be based on services offered by one courier company, however, you can also take into consideration brokers. Thanks to which it’s possible to benefit from the services of many couriers in one place.

Let’s juxtapose these two options of organizing shipments in your online store:

1. A wide offer

A wide offer means that you can ship orders to parcel machines, specific addresses, pick-up points and many more. You have the possibility to repack shipments, store them for a longer period of time if necessary, and re-address them at the request of the customer. This way, an online store owner can efficiently and effectively manage the shipment process, and adjust advocated solutions to the needs of customers.

Brokers, as opposed to individual courier companies, present a very wide and diverse offer on their websites, because they enable benefiting from services of multiple couriers in one place. This way, you can easily compare available offers and choose the one that suits you best.

2. The possibility to compare offers

Price and delivery time are the key aspects that affect the process of selecting courier services. As a store owner, you check these elements both when choosing one courier from many available on the market and when deciding on broker services.

There is one difference: choosing one of the couriers available on the market means that you have to browse courier websites and try to find the necessary information as quickly as possible. Broker websites usually include detailed information on available courier services. This way, you can easily compare them, also in terms of prices. Thanks to it, store owners can quickly make informed decisions, provided that courier offers on broker sites are presented in a consistent and logical way.

3. Shipment costs

Shipment costs are one of the crucial elements taken into account by online store owners.

In this case, it may be beneficial to choose different solutions. Sometimes services offered by a single courier company are more profitable. Usually, company owners can get special discounts, provided that they’ve been using services offered by a given courier company for a significant amount of time. These discounts can really make a difference.

When it comes to broker companies, the costs also don’t have to be high. Courier brokers usually deal with a large amount of orders and can negotiate prices with different courier companies they represent. This may translate into discounts for individual customers.

4. Complaints about courier shipment

If you use services of one courier company, complaints are made according to a specific procedure. If the request is resolved in favor of the store owner – the owner may, depending on the type of problem, receive a refund for the package and transportation if the package is lost.

When it comes to broker companies, they may have different policies/procedures when it comes to returns. It may happen that only a part of the complaint is submitted to the broker – e.g. the one related to the transportation refund. On the other hand, the return of the package value is often processed by the actual carrier. There are also brokers who handle the entire complaint and contact the specific carrier on behalf of the customer.

Before starting cooperation with a particular broker, you should thoroughly read the complaint regulations on the broker’s website.

5. Beginning of cooperation

If you cooperate with a broker, you don’t need to sign a contract. Yet, it’s necessary to set up an account on the broker’s website and fill out appropriate forms.

When it comes to courier companies, it’s often necessary to sign a contract. Usually, in this case it’s possible to negotiate the preferred conditions of cooperation, such as delivery time, number of orders, the amount over which you can expect a discount for the services and many, many more.