The question of whether to offer same-day delivery to your customers should be met with a “yes,” but implementing this service isn’t always easy. However, if you want to get a slice of the $9.6 billion dollar market same-day delivery affords you, adopting fast shipping is a necessity.

Partnering With a Reliable Courier Service, e.g., in San Antonio

Brick and mortar and eCommerce retailers alike aren’t willing to implement same-day shipping because of the upfront costs that come with it. It’s not like they don’t have a point. From recruitment to training to truck maintenance, offering same-day delivery can be expensive.

However, you can greatly reduce the cost of expedited shipping by partnering with a courier service. For example, a courier service in San Antonio can keep your store or restaurant competitive in a high-octane market where you can’t afford not to have same-day shipping.

What’s more, courier services offer incredible perks and unique benefits to their clients. Couriers can offer everything from HIPAA compliance to API integration with your online platforms.

4 Questions to Ask Before Offering Same-Day Delivery

There’s no doubt that same-day delivery gives you a competitive edge, but not every store needs to offer it. Here are a few questions to ask before rolling out expedited shipping.

1. Can You Offer Same-Day Delivery to Everyone?

Same-day delivery is more successful in large cities or metropolitan areas where your customers live close together or in clusters. That’s because your courier driver can make multiple stops in a single day without driving several miles in between customers.

If your customer base is dispersed across multiple regions and you don’t have enough fulfillment centers to cater to your market, same-day delivery either won’t be feasible or expensive. If you can’t guarantee same-day delivery, don’t offer it to your customers.

2. Do you or Your Carriers Have Multiple Warehouse Locations?

While it’s possible to deliver all of your same-day shipments from one warehouse if you’re keeping it local, you still have to account for staff shortages, weather, etc. If you don’t ship your packages on time, you’ll lose customers, regardless of why the holdup occurred.

Having multiple warehouse locations come with many more positives than a larger fulfillment area, but you need to consider the cost of this investment. Having more warehouses can reduce your consumer's shipping costs, but you may pay more for the extra trucks or drivers.

3. Will Your Customers Pay an Extra Cost for Same-Day Shipping?

Nearly half of all U.S. consumers would pay extra for same-day shipping, but that also means the other +50% wouldn’t. Consumers are traditionally reluctant to pay shipping costs to the point that they’ll opt-out of a transaction at the last second if they’re charged 10$ or more for delivery.

As a retailer, you have to discover which portion of your audience is willing to pay same-day shipping fees, even if that means bundling items or paying up to free shipping. Shop for carriers that are committed to keeping delivery costs low or offer discounts for high-volume shipments.

4. Are Your Last Mile Logistics Incredibly Tight or Fool Proof?

Whether you’re hiring a courier service or your own drivers, you must understand that a successful last mile can make all the difference in a seamless delivery. But with same-day delivery, you won’t have the same margin of error as you would with longer shipment times.

If you’re late on one delivery, you’ll disrupt the whole process, so you have to invest in route optimization software and tracking software to make sure your customers always get their packages. You should also use SMS or email notifications that ping users after a delivery.