The massive growth of the e-commerce industry has helped to drive the courier industry into an equally impressive state, with projections indicating 9% growth annually, reaching $343 billion globally by 2020 (Accenture). With the courier industry’s growth fueled by technological innovations, the landscape is expected to similarly evolve. What can this mean for your courier business?
Without the current availability of mail and courier services, the e-commerce industry would have been incapable of achieving the growth that it has today. Likewise, the demand that the e-commerce industry has generated continues to encouraging the growth of the courier industry. As mentioned earlier, B2C deliveries are increasing and expected to overtake B2B deliveries in volume by 2020.
The growth of the e-commerce industry and B2C deliveries present an opportunity for courier companies to increase their own market via e-commerce and direct-to-customer options. Online order placement, package tracking, and customer accounts are some services that will advantage a courier business as the industry evolves.
Ambitious companies may delve into m-commerce, or mobile commerce, a sub-industry of e-commerce, by offering branded mobile applications. When customers install these applications on their smartphones, they are ostensibly putting your brand in their pocket. A fully functional website and application will give courier companies a definite advantage in the future.
Delivery software, such as OnTime 360, can give your company the tools to succeed in this space. In addition to the off-the-shelf apps available, you can also make use of OnTime’s SDK and API toolset to deeply integrate your shipping services with any e-commerce or mobile commerce platform.