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September 20, 2023

How to start a courier company at Home

September 20, 2023

Courier services have always been a part of our lives for centuries. But now, when everyone is using e-commerce for every little thing, they need the courier business and there has been seen a surge in its growth. 

Earlier, courier services are mainly used for transferring important documents and letters from one place to another. But due to the rise in the digital era, everything is being delivered through courier in recent years. There is hardly been anything which we cannot assume to have on our doorsteps. 

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If we look deep into this, we can see the courier industry has been enjoying all the benefits of growth in the e-commerce industry. They have been increased in numbers, so in profits and other things. And I can see this industry is going to flourish more in the coming years with the rise in people’s dependability on e-commerce and courier services. 

This business doesn’t demand a lot of money and gives you a high return. If this business excites you to earn a lot of profit, then read this blog till the end. We will guide you on how you can start a courier company at home with less investment. 

Courier services- Definition

The first thing you should know before going ahead with this guide is, what is courier services? In simple words, courier services are those services where a courier company is allowed to move a parcel from one place to another, whose transaction is done online. These services are asked by e-commerce agents to move the items purchased and sold online to the customers. 

People take these services because they are speedy and fast. They deliver the courier on time. Generally, e-commerce operators contract with these courier companies for taking their services for delivering the product which is purchased online.

They depend on courier services for delivering the products on time, otherwise, they may lose the customers. So, to make an e-commerce website successful courier services play an important role. 

I hope you have gotten a basic idea of courier services. So, now let’s go ahead with other things. 

Does the courier company operate from home?

This question generally bothers the people who are planning to start a courier company. Those people are generally not aware of its formation and technicalities. So, we are here to help you with everything about this business. 

The direct answer to this question is Yes. You can start your courier company at home. You just need to focus on few things like, space which you will call your office, a room where you can put all the parcels, a vehicle to deliver the parcel, a few boys to run the vehicle to deliver, etc. With these things arranged on hand, you can easily run your business from home. 

When you are just starting, it is good to start at your home. But as you start to earn profits and a good income you can expand your space to a new place. To earn a great profit, you need to tap on good e-commerce operators who can give you a lot of couriers. From there you will earn a huge profit which you can spend on your business to expand it more. 

Also, to run this business from home you need to finalize a lot of things. Further, if you will run this business from home, you will save a lot of costs which will be your benefit of running this business from home. 

Does courier business profitable?

Yes. This business is very profitable. It is because it has seen potential growth in recent years. Due to the rise in courier services, these companies are making a huge profit. As you know, a lot of people depend on courier services for a lot of things. That is the main reason for their rapidly growing growth. 

There are the following reasons for this business’s growth, which are given below;

  1. High ROI- This business requires less investment but the return out of that investment is high. If you are investing 50% then you will get a 100% return on that investment. There is no doubt that this business can earn you a lot of profit. 
  2. Future growth potential– As you know, day by day people are getting very dependent on courier services for the safe and fast delivery of their item. Also, you know how digital marketing and e-commerce are paving their way into the lives of human beings making them more dependent on online marketing and online shopping. It is the main reason for the growth of courier companies. 
  3. Increasing demand– This point is connected to the above which says the availability of courier service depends on the rise of e-commerce. Today, most people prefer to purchase online because they know that courier service will deliver their parcel safely and securely to their doorstep without going out. 

This is how courier company are making and will going to make a lot of profits in coming years. 

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Types of courier services

There are different types of courier services which people prefer based on different circumstances. You may happen to provide one or more type of courier services given below;

  1. International services– If your business is doing well and you are looking to expand your services internationally as well, you can start delivering worldwide too. There are different ways of delivery like through airplane, ship, or road transport.

    You must have seen this type of courier service when your relatives or family lives in a different place you happen to courier them a lot. This type of courier service you can provide only when you are earning well because international courier services can cost you a little more. 
  2. Local courier services– Local courier services generally are those which we see on the daily basis. This type of courier service focuses on one location or any specific geographic area.

    These businesses may be are those who have just started or maybe want to focus on one place. These services are generally fast and on time to its local public. This type of courier service is within one city or state, which works locally to provide reliable services to its customers. 
  3. Express courier services– You must have heard of this kind of courier service when you needed an urgent delivery of any important document or parcel. These types of courier services are made to cater to the urgent need of a person. They specifically work in providing express courier services.

    When a person needs any document or any important thing same day or next day, it happens to deliver through this kind of courier services. Generally, these types of services are provided through people who are working as an express courier company. The things which fall under express courier are any legal documents, medical assistance, or financial service. 
  4. Conventional courier services– These are the most common kind of courier services. These courier services have been there since the very start of this business. These are the normal courier services which we see on the daily basis.

    These are neither express nor international, they work normally within the city or even outside the city. There are no particular days of delivering the product or document, they provide according to the time of consumption. These services are charged according to their size and weight, which if exceeds can charge an extra amount to the person. 
  5. Overnight courier services– In this type of service, the courier is delivered within a night or in the next morning according to its need. These kinds of services are generally asked in the rarest circumstances.

    It is generally requested in the last hour to make it available either on the same night or the next morning. These kinds of couriers are generally important. They demand significant importance over other parcels and even charge high money for the same. 

These are the few types of courier services which we go through and have already taken one or two types of services above. So, we know how it works. These are the important courier services which customers require to have. You can choose to provide one out of these or two, even you can choose to provide multiple services the choice is completely yours. 

Skills required to run a courier service company

When you are starting a company, you have to make sure that you know a few skills that are linked to the business you are starting. You cannot just hop to start a business knowing the nature of the business, you must acquire few skills to run the business. So, here we are going to talk about the few skills you must know or acquire before starting a courier company;

  • Knowledge of geographic area– If you are planning to start a courier company and you don’t have much knowledge about the geographical areas, then you must rethink. Because having knowledge of geographic areas are very much needed in this business.

    You are going to deliver the parcel to different areas, cities, states or even countries if you don’t have any geographic knowledge you won’t going to run it properly. To circumvent this, utilizing efficient and free route planners can be a helpful tool for those unfamiliar with certain areas. They help streamline deliveries with precision. Geographic knowledge is important when you will schedule your delivery then you can plan the route accordingly if you know. Otherwise, everything will be a mess. 
  • Focus on details– When you are running a courier company, there will be few things you need to focus on and that is the time of delivery, delivery address, pick-up location, pick-up time, etc. All these things must be kept in mind while running the business.

    If you will focus on these points, you will be able to make your business successful. Also, your business will be appreciated by people because punctuality and timely availability are what people want. 
  • Interpersonal skills– Another main skill you required to run this business peacefully is to handle the customers. You need to know how you can handle your customers, how you can answer their queries, how you can communicate their doubts, etc. You need to have interpersonal skills to handle all these situations.

    Because at the end of the day, you are going to face customers in one or another way. And as an owner, you must focus on what your customers want you to do. So, handle your customers with care and communicate with them from time to time when you are delivering their parcel.
     
  • Business organization skills– As you know, you are running a courier company which is a business. And as you are the owner of the business, you must know how to organize different things in a business. For that, you have to work on your organization skills. You need to organize the deliveries, their timing, their places and so many other things related to that. It will be possible if you efficiently organize your business skills. 
  • Training on loading– As a courier company, you are going to load a lot of parcels daily. For that, you may hire a few people or do it yourself if you are just starting, in both cases you must know how to load heavy parcels without damaging anything. Because if something got damaged you will have to pay it from your pocket. And you cannot afford to do that when you are just starting a courier company. So, learn to handle with care. 

These are the few skills you need to have daily while running a courier company. You need to nurture these skills timely to stay in this business. 

Simple steps to start your courier company

When you have learned enough about this business, it’s now time to know how you can start a courier company in simple steps. These steps will give you a brief idea about the process of starting a courier company. So, let’s have a look into these important steps;

Step1- Selecting the niche

As you know, there are a few certain things which you can choose to start from. You are new to this field and don’t know how to handle a lot of things together. So, in such a case it will be great if you choose your area of specialty. It means you can choose to start from which is the most suitable form of courier service to you.

Choosing your niche will be a realistic decision you will make because you cannot put your hands on so many things at one time. You need to focus on providing a satisfactory service to your customers. For that, you should focus on one of the following courier services;

  • Standard services
  • International courier services
  • Local courier services
  • Express courier services
  • Overnight courier services


You can choose any of one courier services and geographic area or location to provide these services to that location. When you grow, you can expand your business to two or more services. 

Step2- Research the market

Every business before getting started needs to research the market thoroughly for making a plan further to target the right audience. You need to know what is going in the market before starting your business.

market strategy


Market research will help you to know the factors like who are your competitors, feasibility of dispatch, geographic factors, etc. Also, you need to focus on logistics because logistics are one of the important parts of this business. 

Market research helps you to understand how the market works in particular segments. What is the strategy you can follow to make your business available to people in need? It helps you to approach things beforehand. Analyzing the market to ease a lot of work. So, always research the market before going ahead. 

Step3- Selecting and availability of the vehicle

In this business, the availability of vehicles is the most important thing to assure before starting the work. Have you wondered, how you will deliver the item if there will be no vehicle? Without a vehicle, your business would not be successful.

You need to assure the availability of the vehicle beforehand. Now, the question is what kind of vehicle you need to have? To answer this question, you need to first choose the particular geographic location you are going to deliver the parcel. 

If you are choosing to deliver within the city, then anything transport will work. But if you are choosing to deliver within two different states then you need to have a truck or car for the service. Also, the vehicle depends on the size of the consignment, the bigger the size the spacious vehicle you require. So, choosing a vehicle is a tough and wise task.

Step4- Purchasing required equipment

Besides the one important vehicle, you also need to require a few more things like office material, a landline to take shipments, a mobile to contact the customers, moving equipment, laptop or desktop, etc.

These things are necessary to run a courier company, without any of these you would not be able to manage a lot of things. To purchase all these, you need to fund from your investment. That will be your investment into this business. If you will invest in these things efficiently, you will incur a good profit. 

Step5- Name the business

Have you seen any business without a valid name? I guess, No. So, you must know the importance of giving a name to your company. A name gives recognition to your business. It is something from which your business is recognized by the people in the market.

It becomes your brand. Your name must be easy to spell, recognize, and creative. It helps your customers to easily identify you and attract you. Also, your name must follow all the guidelines given in companies act, which justifies that your name is unique and not forge. 

Step6- Register your business

You know the importance of registering your business under valid acts. But that will be only possible when you will decide the form of business entity you are going to choose. If you are here, that means you want to run your business in the company form.

So, your first step must be to incorporate your company. You can take the help of working professionals like company secretary, who knows everything about the incorporation of a company. Now, if you are planning to start a courier company then go and register your company, first. 

Step7- Looking for customers

Before hunting customers, you need to focus on what kind of courier services you are offering. If you are not yet sure about the kind of customers you need to tap, then choose the type of courier services and have the customers.

For example, if you choose to provide standard courier services then you must look for those agencies which ask for standard deliveries like food delivery, product delivery, grocery delivery, etc. In this way, you will hunt the right customers for your business. 

Step8- Ask for referrals

When you will deliver to enough customers and they are happy with your services, you can ask them to refer your business to other people. In this way, you can grow your audience and will have more such customers. In return for this favor, you can offer them a monthly discount or sometimes free delivery to retain their trust in you. This will help you to expand your business to a wider public. Referrals are an important aspect of every business. 

Step9- Hire delivery boys

You know, you can either handle a business or manage to deliver the products. So, to cater this trouble you can hire one or two delivery boys according to the work you have. It will ease your work and will help you to focus on important things.

how to start a courier company at Home

At some point in time, it may happen that you will require more delivery boys as your business will grow. They will help you manage the numerous deliveries at different places. It will create a network to deliver the products at different places to sustain a timely delivery. And if you have different deliveries on the regular basis, you will manage them with your delivery boys. 

Step10- Charge the right price

After talking about what you can give to your customers, it’s now time to talk about what you can charge for your timely services. This is the main part of your business. Your business’s growth depends on the earning. So, charging the right price will lead you to cater to the cost you are incurring and the profit you should earn.

A lot of people who have just started a courier company do not charge enough from their customers. It creates a huge gap between income and profit. Also, they don’t even charge the actual expenses they are incurring while running the business. A business owner like you needs to charge the right price for your effortful services.

Step11- Take Feedbacks

Feedback helps you to work more diligently towards the business. Taking feedbacks from customers helps you to scrutinize your work and make changes accordingly. Also, feedbacks encourage you to work more efficiently. So, always remember to take feedbacks from your customers. 

Creating a market plan for courier company

You know marketing is important for every business, from small to large. Marketing plays an eminent role in the success of a business. If you want your business to reach a level of success or grow magnificently, you need to focus on marketing your courier business. 

What actually marketing does? This is a very significant question and the answer to this question even more significant. Marketing helps you to reach your business to your potential customers. Have you ever seen a business without customers?

I think, there is hardly any business that doesn’t care about the presence of customers. Every business works hard to maintain a customer base and marketing is the thing that helps you to gain and retain customers. 

So, how can you market your courier services? Here is the answer. Find the following ways to market services of your courier company;

  • You can advertise your courier company in different ways to tap more customers. You can use online marketing for advertising your services at different platforms of google
  • You can use social media to promote your services on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc
  • You can create a website to tap on people who are working online
  • You can use words of mouth to promote your business among your colleagues, relatives, friends, etc
  • You can use e-mail marketing to send a regular e-mail to your existing and new customers about the new updates, discounts, etc of your business
  • You can use digital marketing for reaching more and more people online.

These are the most common ways of marketing your business. If you find it tricky and you don’t have much knowledge of all this, you can take the help of a marketing agency. We at Traffic Tail, help such people to grow their business through marketing their services. You can contact us anytime. We can even launch a marketing campaign for your business. 

Ways to Attract more customers

Now, when you are all set to start your business. You must attract customers for your courier company. So, I am stating the ways of attracting customers;

  • Make a public announcement about your business through newspapers or billboards. Try to tell the values, you are going add to your customer’s life by your business.
  • Create a blog or website of your business, where you can target online people. You can add every detail about your business there and pitch your target audience.
  • Build a network of people by telling them what you do and how you can make it easy for them to have hassle-free and timely delivery of their package. 

This is how you can attract a lot of people to your business. 


Conclusion

The things you are required to know before starting a courier company have been thoroughly detailed above. I can conclude it by saying that you need to follow all the steps mentioned above besides the constant efforts you are putting. I hope this guide will help you to start your own courier company at home with minimal investment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is the courier services business?

Ans. A courier service business is a business where people deliver the packages of customers who have purchased online, to their doorsteps. In this business, a courier company on behalf of the e-commerce operators and others take the responsibility of delivering the courier to the respective customers. 

Q2. Is courier business profitable in India?

Ans. Yes, of course, it is profitable in India. This business requires less capital and a consistent effort to run this business successfully. Here are the few points through which you can learn that this business is profitable;

  • It has a High ROI (Return on Investment)
  • It has Future growth potential
  • Its demand is increasing

Q3. What are the types of Courier services?

Ans. There are different types of courier services, which are given below;

  • International courier services
  • Local courier services
  • Express courier services
  • Overnight courier services
  • Conventional courier services

Q4. What are the skills required for starting a courier company?

Ans. There are numerous skills required to start a business, few of those skills are given below;

  • Knowledge of the geographic area
  • Focus on details
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Business organization skills
  • Training on loading

Q5. Is creating a marketing plan for the courier business important?

Ans. Yes, marketing is the essence of every business. Without marketing, you cannot target your audience. So, to have customers and make profits you need to have a marketing plan. You can market your courier company in the following ways;

  • You can do online advertising of your services
  • You can create a working website for your company
  • You can do online marketing of your services
  • You can promote by words of mouth
  • You can do e-mail marketing
  • You can use digital marketing as a medium of reaching more customers

Q6. How can I start my courier company at home?

Ans. Here are the simple steps to start your own courier company at home;

  • Selecting your niche
  • Research about the market
  • Selecting and availability of a vehicle
  • Purchasing required equipment
  • Name your business
  • Register your business
  • Looking for customers
  • Ask for referrals
  • Charge the right price
  • Hire delivery boys
  • Take feedbacks

These are the simple and easy steps which you can follow to start a courier company at home.

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