On-demand delivery
Make sending and receiving parcels simple with on-demand delivery services.
What is on-demand delivery?
In simple terms, on-demand delivery is where parcels are shipped as quickly and efficiently as possible to make ordering your goods convenient for customers.
In other words, it lets them decide how they receive their parcel.
And it’s the convenience part here that is key. It’s there to ensure that, whether you’re sending or receiving parcels, they’ll arrive as and when expected by their recipient. This in turn makes this sort of service perfect for those customers who need an item delivered on short notice.
This can be done in a number of ways, most commonly via Next Day delivery or by ensuring a parcel arrives at its destination with a specific time- frame in mind. That way, the customer can be in to receive it.
Regardless, both methods enable you to meet customer delivery demands.
Why customers love on-demand delivery
As you may have guessed already, there are a number of benefits for your customers, both big and small, that come with using this sort of delivery service. We’ve outlined the core advantages of choosing such a delivery method below to provide a clearer idea of what on-demand delivery can provide to your business:
- Convenience – as we’ve already noted, this sort of shipping is highly adaptable, providing customers with multiple ways to fulfil their delivery needs so that it fits around their schedule.
- Flexibility – with on-demand shipping, customers have the option to alter their delivery specifics to suit their potentially changing schedules. This means that, if they run into an unexpected issue, they can divert their parcel to get around it. For example, with Evri, customers can divert their parcels to a safe space, ParcelShop, or Locker up to 15 minutes before it arrives.
- Accessibility – being so flexible, on-demand shipping also makes it far easier for customers to have parcels delivered as and when they need them, regardless of where they live or what their availability might be.
What services are included with on-demand delivery?
Typically, a standard parcel carrier will offer at least one of the following options below:
Standard delivery
A standard delivery service is as it sounds. It’s the normal type of service you offer your customer base when sending parcels. With Evri, for example, we’ll aim to deliver a customer’s parcel in 2-4 days.
Next Day delivery
The most common form of quick delivery, Next Day shipping lets customers get their parcels by the end of the following day if they order before a set time – such as before 12pm with Evri.
Weekend delivery
Often not provided by businesses, a weekend delivery option might be just what a customer is after to ensure they receive whatever item they’re ordering as soon as possible.
Arranged delivery
Similar to Next Day delivery, an arranged delivery allows your customers to decide whether they would like their parcel delivered on a specific day or at a certain time.
How does on-demand delivery benefit your business?
If you’re a business owner or run your own side hustle, you can probably already see how this sort of shipping option can make your products more accessible to customers. But there are a few other benefits that come with on-demand delivery.
Firstly, it builds a greater level of trust with your customer base. Transparency and accuracy are always appreciated by customers. So, by offering a shipping service with clear and distinct delivery options, they’ll be more inclined to use your services.
On top of this, on-demand shipping also lets you reach a wider audience base by providing more delivery options to potential customers. This is especially true if your competitors are not offering this service, allowing you to undercut them by covering this gap in customer demand.
How to implement an on-demand delivery service?
Despite how specific some of the shipping requirements of this sort of delivery service are, it’s actually quite simple to integrate such offerings into your business model – you just need to be sure you have the delivery infrastructure to meet customer demand. That’s why you might want to consider the following:
Start by identifying your customer’s need for delivery on-demand by conducting market research. You want to find out how often this sort of delivery is searched for by your customer base, so you know what sort of demand you’ll need to meet.
Next, you’ll want to consider the costs and timings around this sort of delivery type. There is no point in offering a Next Day delivery option if you can’t meet that requirement due to limited staffing or budget. However, you can get around this by teaming up with a dedicated Courier service – like Evri. We handle all the logistics around sending, leaving you to focus on the rest of your business.
Alongside this, you may want to research various shipping software that can help you track on-demand delivery usage, and train staff in this delivery type. This is especially true if you’re running a larger business and have a lot of deliveries to track in one go so you can streamline the process.
Alongside shipping software, research analytics tools can be very useful to have after you've implemented your on-demand service to track just how popular it is with your customers. This will let you roll back or increase such a service to help save costs or boost profit potential.
Lastly, crafting a unique marketing campaign around such a service can go a long way towards outshining your competitors, highlighting the reasons why customers should choose you instead.
What does the on-demand process look like for customers?
In most cases, offering your customers such a fast and reliable delivery service will typically match the following structure:
- When placing their order, a potential customer will be presented with a range of delivery options to choose from, some of which will fall under your on-demand delivery service.
- The customer will then select whatever service best matches their needs and proceed to checkout.
- After checkout, they can then be kept up to date on the progress of their parcel via email or SMS. With Evri, we’ll even be provided with a 1-hour eta on the day of their parcel’s delivery, helping them to be in for when their parcel arrives.
Make on-demand delivery easier with Evri
As you can see, providing such rapid delivery services can absolutely help to grow your business. And you can make it even more efficient by choosing Evri as your Courier service thanks to the following business benefits:
Access to our dedicated fulfilment sites and warehouses in the UK, EU, and US to ensure seamless delivery when required.
Implementation of delivery strategies aimed to help you to improve local and international reach.
Over 120,000+ pick-up locations available globally for use by your customers.
A centralised customer service and tracking system for both UK and cross-border shipping services.
Environmentally friendly packaging solutions to help your business stay sustainable.
A regular van collection service from where your goods are made at times to suit you.
An account manager who will take the time to understand your business needs so we can match your delivery expectations.
A UK-based customer service team to assist with any problems you might have.
Parcel sending to over 220+ countries and territories around the world so you can maximise your customer base.
Excite your customers by sending through Evri
No matter the size of your business, everyone who sends with Evri gives their customers access to all these great sending benefits as well:
- Great value prices starting from as little as £2.62
- Standard and Next Day delivery options
- Flexible collection options from our ParcelShops and Lockers
- Regular tracking updates via our website and app
- Free parcel cover up to £20*
Check out our business page to learn more about sending with us. And don’t forget to check out our dedicated guide hub for more tips on sending parcels.
*Excludes Postable parcels