Types of delivery and trends in the industry

Difference between delivery and logistics service

When managers talk about logistics, they usually mean the system they’re investing in to control and track components and various materials entering and leaving their organization.

Depending on the type of business, logistics can be an incredibly complex process responsible for organizing a huge number of supplies, orders, materials, and work processes for the entire company.

When enterprises need to send or receive products, especially large ones, for example, machines, furniture, etc., they need logistics services. Courier services usually don’t deliver oversized goods.

Delivery or logistics? Who does what?

The primary focus of deliveries are retail goods and speed. Lots of companies require an on-time delivery, and that’s when they call for courier services. When working with regulars, many deliveries offer them standard services with a slight discount, allowing them to pay less than for individual delivery.

The key difference between delivery and logistics services is the difference in methods and deliverable goods. The logistics service focuses on freights that can be scheduled for an entire year or more. The freights are being sent and delivered in a fundamentally different way than with couriers.

Logistic shipments are usually much larger and not as time-sensitive as courier delivery. Usually, large consignments are delivered by trucks, ships, airplanes, or trains. Shipping per unit of weight or packaging can cost much less than delivery by courier, and it can also be tracked constantly, but the security of a big batch of goods can be lower, for example, in sea transportation.

It is practiced to get insurance from damage in transit and the destruction of goods in an accident to protect them during shipping.

Differences in costs

Differences in costs between delivery and logistics services can be significant. While it is generally cheaper for an enterprise to ship a single parcel using a national logistics service, investing in your own fully functional logistics service typically costs hundreds of times more than just to use the delivery.

Find out how Front Desk Helpers can help you create your own delivery business and why you need FdhCloud Delivery applications for it.

Why do some businesses invest in their own delivery service?

It all depends on the specifics of the business, or rather, the number of materials sent and received. For example, suppose your business earns its primary income by sending physical goods across the country or producing goods using external supplies of components and materials. In that case, it is essential to estimate the number of funds that you constantly use in the logistics.

If the economy shows that more than 35% of your money turns into deliveries and shipments, then it would be wiser to consider investing in your own logistics service to control shipments, deliveries, and expenses to the last cent, as well as track all incoming and outgoing goods and materials.

The introduction of IT systems into logistics services provides technologically increased efficiency in complex supply chains so that the company’s leaders can always control the strength of their business.

Courier service for retail deliveries.

For businesses that ship groceries, goods and handle sensitive documents, a local courier delivery has more benefits. Some companies don’t need to track every package they’ve sent, but for businesses that need to ensure that documents or packages were delivered to the destination on time, external courier services can offer the most convenient and cost-effective service.

The main advantages of this kind of delivery are speed, tracking, and safety of parcels. So, to sum it up — safety and speed distinguish a courier service from a logistics company.

While logistics services aim to move a load as big as possible most efficiently and cost-effectively, courier services focus on one package, giving their customers a promise that their goods will be delivered quickly and on time without delays or incidents. 

Various types of courier delivery

Delivery services have become an integral part of modern life. They provide employment opportunities for a significant number of people and convenience for customers who want something to be delivered. Moreover, without these services, shoppers would not be able to buy online, and e-commerce businesses would not sell many products.

Today, more than 8000 delivery services are operating in the country. They provide different service options to their customers, and they have evolved amid the need to deliver various goods, purchases, food, and more.

Knowing about the different types of delivery will help you get your items when you need them and save more money. 

The primary delivery services that you can get today are:

Standard delivery services

If your company is one of those who work with standard packaged goods or packaged food, then a regular delivery service is the best choice for you.

Standard delivery services follow solid and understandable rules to ensure quality. Often this means that to avoid additional delivery expenses, the parcel should be no more than a certain weight and size. For the most part, the limit for large packages is up to 50 kg.

If you exceed this weight or the established dimensions of the parcel, you will be charged an additional fee for the services.

Standard delivery often takes no more than 2-3 days. This is the best and cheapest way to receive your purchase if delivery time and safety are not critical to you. Standard delivery services also prioritize package weight oversize.

Same Day Delivery

Same Day Delivery is the more popular option. The name indicates that you will receive the package the same day you place the order. This is ideal for those with an urgent need to deliver important documentation, urgent shipments, vital medicines, or medical supplies.

However, this type of service has some limitations. For example, you must place your order before noon on the same day you need it delivered. This will ensure that the courier service can arrange for your package to be dispatched and delivered.

In addition, this kind of delivery must be local. The sender’s address must also be within local boundaries for you to receive it within the specified time. If these conditions are met, you can expect your package to arrive by the end of the day.

Overnight delivery

Courier services usually operate from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, and after 5:00 pm, couriers no longer take new parcels, they only deliver those received previously. However, if you choose the overnight delivery, according to the terms of the service, the addressee will receive the parcel during the night or early in the morning the next day.

Overnight delivery is suitable for companies and organizations that cannot deliver their goods during peak hours or for those who operate at night. Often, this service is used by construction companies and others who have bulky goods, mechanisms, or structures for transportation.

With this delivery option, you won’t have to worry about your package getting stuck in traffic jams and arriving late. You should inform the delivery service in advance that you need overnight delivery. Some goods and products need to be transported in special conditions, and in a traffic jam, extreme heat or, on the contrary, frost, products or goods may be damaged.

Thanks to the overnight option, your product spends less time on the road and under challenging conditions.

Express delivery and delivery upon request.

Urgent delivery and delivery upon request is intended for those who need to deliver a parcel as soon as possible or precisely on time, for example, important documents to the court for a particular time. You do not need to wait several days or worry about the delivery time of the package.

The delivery service has specially trained couriers who know how to make urgent delivery completely safe. Of course, this kind of service costs a little more than regular courier delivery.

Often, urgent delivery takes only a few hours. This is an excellent service if you are waiting for important documents to arrive. Delivery of medical supplies and equipment for emergency medical care and other types of materials for emergency care also use this type of urgent parcel delivery.

Delivery of purchases

Delivery of purchases is the most popular today due to the development of e-commerce and online trade in goods and food. Often these parcels are minor and do not take a long time to be delivered within the same region or city. For the most part, this type of delivery follows the same-day delivery schedule, which is very convenient for most online shoppers.

In some cases, exceptions apply, depending on what kind of purchase it is. For example, the delivery of pizza or food from a restaurant takes no more than an hour, which is important for customers since, for example, pizza should not be dry or stale. Other products may also receive special delivery instructions to ensure the consumer is satisfied with the product. This type of delivery service is usually available for local deliveries.

Luggage delivery service.

If you need to transport your luggage, for example, to the airport or from the airport, this is another option to use. Luggage delivery offers to pick up your bags and deliver them to the destination so that you do not have to transport them by taxi or carry yourself.

This way, you don’t have to worry about your luggage getting damaged or lost along the way. Often, the reception desks of many hotels interact with such delivery services, and you don’t even have to worry about it. Just enter the name of your hotel, and the delivery service will take care of the rest.

The luggage delivery service ensures safety during transportation. Courier services often use protective film to prevent damage to expensive suitcases and travel bags. This will allow you to avoid damage to your belongings while traveling. The courier service uses special beacons to track your luggage on the way.

This allows you not to worry about its safety and keep track of your belongings online while the luggage is moving to its destination.

Important technological solutions for the development of the delivery industry

In the era of rapid development of IT and GPS technologies, it is expected from delivery companies to offer innovative services of high quality at a low cost. These overestimated expectations mean high responsibility and reduced customer loyalty due to minor mistakes and difficulties in the delivery. Customers often have high demands for standard delivery services, as if it was VIP.

Due to the high psychological stress these days, people do not have enough patience and simple politeness when receiving various services. The same applies to couriers and delivery. Every customer wants the goods to be delivered as soon as possible, at the lowest cost, and high market competition aggravates the situation even more.

This is why delivery service software is a necessary and critical solution for the development of a modern transport company. Leading transport and logistics companies have already implemented new technological solutions for logistics management.

Medium and small delivery businesses are now actively adopting delivery management technologies to improve their efficiency and competitiveness. And they are in dire need of the best delivery management software.

Find out how the FdhCloud Delivery solution can help you improve the efficiency of your business.

Important Trends in the Modern Delivery Industry

The largest growth in the industry is seen in the Asia-Pacific region today. The courier delivery and express delivery markets are expected to grow most rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region over the next few years. China is the most significant. Contributor to the development of the delivery services industry. 

Alibaba, Tencent, Aliexpress, Taobao, WeChat, and others have made a massive contribution to the online shopping and e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia. Therefore, the express delivery market in the country is the largest in the world, and it accounts for 40% of the total global delivery volume.

Technology continues to be a catalyst for change in many industries, and the delivery industry is no exception, but it used to lag behind other sectors in digital adoption.

Today, new technologies have changed the way we do business and fueled the industry’s rapid growth. The delivery industry is set to reach a whopping $ 470 billion by 2024, according to a recent report. Just imagine this huge amount of money! But, does anyone still think that delivery services are just an add-on to boost sales? 

The delivery industry continues to grow from year to year due to the introduction of new technologies.

Key technology trends that are hot right now in the delivery industry.

Delivery management software

Delivery management software is one of the revolutionary technology trends in the industry. It includes automatic order acceptance, order generation, route planning, monitoring, delivery route optimization, and real-time updates for the client and dispatcher.

Gone are the days when customers missed important appointments and events while waiting for delivery, often with uncertain estimated arrival times. With delivery management software such as FdhCloud Delivery, dispatchers and couriers can work more efficiently with high timing accuracy.

The dispatcher can also see the location of the driver in real-time and receive information about the deliveries that are already completed.

Delivery management software also includes tools for obtaining proof of delivery (customer signature or a picture of delivered packages). This helps to improve the courier’s productivity and quality of service, reducing the likelihood of errors and potential future disputes.

FdhCloud Delivery makes it easier to accept orders and deliver them, resulting in increased productivity for your employees. In addition, according to a recent report, the software contains a comprehensive list of additional functionality and capabilities to use with other business systems.

See how the FdhCloud Delivery system can help you improve the productivity of couriers.

Delivery Droids

The implementation of droid couriers is now central to the delivery industry. Delivery droids will reduce the amount of manual labor in the industry due to their efficiency and high productivity 24/7, and experienced delivery service personnel can be retrained as managers and engineers.

Delivery droids are equipped with advanced automation and robotic technologies – sensors, cameras, manipulators, and the necessary software that allow them to perform all delivery functions without the participation of a driver or courier.

So far, the control of the droids is performed remotely by an operator in the control center of the delivery service, who makes sure that the droid car delivers packages to the right place and on time. By replacing the work of the driver-courier, droid-cars optimize the company’s delivery costs while eliminating all the negative factors associated with human error and inoperability.

After all, these days delivery is required 24/7!

GPS software and route tracking

Delivery services have changed with the introduction of GPS technology and thus the ability to track the location of the vehicle and parcels using GPS software. GPS monitoring eliminates the problem of determining the location of the car and cargo. This, in turn, helps to improve driver efficiency and delivery quality.

Route tracking is a vital function. Today, the delivery manager or dispatcher knows where the parcel and the courier are located, where they are going, and what possible difficulties can be expected on the route in real-time. This feature allows to respond to potential incidents in time and to prevent failures.

With the help of route planning software, the dispatcher can plan the route, optimize the travel time between delivery points, thus save time and fuel, and deliver the package on time.

Drone delivery

Several tech companies and e-commerce giants are now developing logistics solutions for drone delivery. This was pioneered by Amazon in 2016 when they suggested using drones to deliver goods to customers by air. The drone can do the job on its own or in conjunction with auto-droids.

For example, an auto-droid provides a batch of parcels to a specific area, and then drones deliver goods to a customers’ door. The prospects of drone delivery systems are based on their ability to quickly deliver small parcels by air, avoiding congestion delays, strikes, etc.

The technology of logistics systems with delivery drones is the next stage of development of existing pilot projects, but the prospect of their use already looks promising. Amazon, Wing Aviation, Uber, Matternet, and others have already entered a new era of competition in the drone delivery of goods, packages, and food.

So we have an exciting future that will change our vision of good delivery service ahead of us! Some technological solutions are looking clumsy just yet. Still, the economic potential will lead to the emergence of efficient and reliable solutions that will make our lives more comfortable, enjoyable, and safe.

Already existing designs of drones of delivery control centers make it possible to create a fully functional drone delivery system for sparsely populated regions within a range of up to 30-40 km in the presence of qualified developers.

See how the FdhCloud Delivery system can help you improve your delivery service management.