For food businesses as well as restaurants or Ecommerce business offering a home delivery service can be a real advantage over other merchants. This type of service makes it possible to reach a wider customers. But setting up a delivery service cannot be improvised and must be properly prepared. Here are 6 tips to help you in this new organization. These can also be transposed to other goods businesses that want to diversify by offering a home delivery service.
Optimize order taking
The moment the order is taken is essential for the entire home delivery service to take place in the best possible conditions. The lack of organization can quickly become catastrophic. In order not to be overwhelmed, it is imperative to centralize the orders and designate the means of communication assigned to taking the order. This can be by phone, by message (E-mail, social networks, website). This is the only way to ensure that you can fulfill all orders.
Define the delivery terms
Home delivery is made to bring you new customers. But it should not be a source of constraints that are too difficult to manage. It is therefore necessary to fix certain elements and clearly indicate them to customers as follow :
- Delivery times : they must be compatible with the planning of your employees ;
- Delivery area : there is no point in delivering 30 km from your business, especially if you or your staff deliver the delivery ;
- Price of delivery : you can offer it free of charge or set an additional price.
It is also necessary to choose who will make the delivery. Is it more profitable for you to use external service providers, hire staff, or assign this assignment to one or more employees already in place ? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. It is up to you to estimate the workload that home delivery will entail.
Set the terms of payment
Payment is usually made on delivery, unless online payment is possible at the time of ordering. It may be interesting to equip delivery people with a Terminal Payment to offer payment by bank card, which is widely preferred by customers. There should also be a cash on delivery. It is best to agree on the method of payment when ordering.
Anticipate any returns or complaints
A merchant is never immune from an order error, late delivery or an unhappy customer. It is important to anticipate these eventualities so as not to improvise when any of these situations happen. It also allows teams to know what behavior to adopt and what solutions to propose.
Promote this service
As with any new service, it is essential to advertise it in order to make it known to already loyal customers but also to expand your customer base. For this, it is possible to use social networks, advertising in local newspapers and magazines, etc.
Set up a delivery system
It is the most important solution, a system which manages your deliveries, will save you time and margin, as it will reduce your costs and your errors. The software will also allow you to have a global overview of your drivers, and your customers, and the progress of your deliveries. A delivery system organizes your entire delivery business, so be sure to consider this solution.