Best Courier Services for eCommerce businesses in Australia

In 2021, courier services have always been a part of the eCommerce industry but have become a more popular and essential part of the industry in recent years. An increase in the number of eCommerce sites available has seemingly led to a rise in the number of purchases made daily across different sites from different locations.

This has coincided with a trend in these times where everyone wants their items and goods delivered to them as fast as possible; probably at the speed of light if possible and without any stress or fear of loss.

The domino effect this had on courier services has been staggering as courier services have evolved their operating modules to be able to:

•         Deliver goods and services in shorter and faster delivery times than would ordinarily have been required with services to provide next day and even same-day delivery
•         Receive multiple deliveries and bulk deliveries and coordinate logistics to have them delivered to the same or different locations
•         Save customers of the headache and hassle of logistics and getting their products

 

 

For eCommerce businesses, Australia has several different courier services such as:

 

1. Australia Post: formally the Australian Postal Corporation. Australia Post is a government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. With an extended workforce made up of nearly 80,000 individuals, provides very reliable and affordable postal, retail, finance, and travel services. A reliable service that offer both Standard and Express Shipping that is a great for new startups and all the way to large volume businesses. Offers the customer a vast range of collection services like Post Offices, Parcel Lockers and deliveries to PO Boxes.
2. StarTrack Couriers: a business of Australia Post that has over 16,000 vehicles. With 11.9 million delivery points across the Australia Post network and over 750 national flights each day to more than 80 destinations, StarTrack is Australia’s leading parcel, freight, and logistics company that offer only Express Shipping services and offer the most premium service within Australia.
3. TNT Express/Fedex: an international courier connected across more than 200 countries and territories. The company provides a wide range of delivery services and connects Europe with more than 55,000 trips by road each week. Within Australia, Fedex, formerly known as TNT Express, it offers the most robust deliveries to a Commercial or industrial location that is a must have for businesses that require B2B delivery capability. Generally more expensive than Australia Post but if you are shipping bulk or a few boxes over 30kg than you will surely save with Fedex.
4. Toll: a major logistics company within Australia. The Asia Pacific-focused company delivers optimal logistics solutions to customers. Toll offers logistic capabilities such as express services, freight transport services, distribution services, port, and maritime services, airport, and aviation services. Similar to Fedex/TNT and offer Residential deliveries with Standard and Express options but overall not as cost effective when comparing B2B deliveries with TNT/Fedex or B2C deliveries with Australia Post.
5. Aramex: formerly Fastway Couriers a leading global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions including freight forwarding, logistics, express courier delivery. Cheap courier service that is not always reliable, good for shipping cheap products as they are not always reliable.
6. Couriers Please: a trusted courier company that delivers for lots of Australian brands. With a fleet of vehicles including crane trucks, Pantech trucks, vans, Utes, and tautliners, they travel over 50,000,000km along Australian roads to deliver tens of millions of tons of goods. Similar to Aramex/Fastway Couriers but offer a slightly better service.
7. DHL: resident in over 220 countries and territories worldwide. The private logistics company is one of the world’s leading couriers with different services including rail freight, road freight, ocean freight, and air freight. Very reliable service but very expensive therefore it has a small share of the local deliveries around Australia.
8. Allied Express: an independent courier and express freight company that has over 1000 vehicles in its fleet. With offices in all major mainland capitals, the courier has a comprehensive range of fast and efficient freight transport services. Offer a vast range of delivery services from pallet delivery to parcel delivery to residential, commercial and industrial locations.

9. Sendle: a certified B corporation that is Australia’s first 100% carbon neutral shipping service. Connected both locally and internationally, Sendle is a convenient, affordable, and fully carbon offset that offers free pickup and ease of access. Please note Sendle is an shipping aggregator who pulls good rates from several courier companies for you to choose and they do not do any deliveries themselves.
10. Shippit: a carbon-neutral and cloud-based Australian shipping company. With both local and international bases, Shippit allows you to ship to anywhere in the world with Australia’s leading couriers. Another Shipping aggregator in Australia that compares the rates from several delivery companies and again they do not do any deliveries themselves.

How to Rank Courier Companies in Australia?

The choice of the courier to pick to get your delivery sorted out and dropped of safe, sound and on-time represents a dilemma for a lot of potential customers because of the plethora of options available in the industry. Certainly, no one wants to spend a fortune purchasing an item only to have it broken, damaged, or even worse, get it delivered weeks after its due delivery date.

There are certain criteria that courier companies should be judged on to ascertain if they are good companies that should be trusted. These criteria are; reliability of service, cost, delivery time, booking process, value for money, pick up and drop off options.

1. Ranking based on the reliability of service

Reliability is a gold currency in the courier business because customers need to be able to trust that a particular company can be trusted with their goods. Simply put, if a customer is to return to continue business with you, he must be able to count on you to ensure not just delivery of goods, but prompt and safe delivery of goods.

Reliability is the simple trick to keep a happy customer in the business. In this regard, DHL is the top-ranked company as the most reliable company with a five-star rating in a survey conducted by Canstar Blue with StarTrack, TNT/Fedex, Toll, Australia Post, Couriers Please, Aramex/Fastway all falling below the five-star rating with a four-star.

2. Ranking based on Cost

After shelving such huge amounts on purchasing goods, the last thing every customer wants is to have to spend so much on courier services. While wanting the best quality of service and on-time delivery, customers still want to spend as little as possible on transporting the goods.

The cost of shipping goods though is dependent on these factors;

      Weight of your parcel

      Dimensions of your parcel’s packaging

      Distance to be traveled

On a general survey carried out, Australia Post ranks at the top of the survey with Sendle, TNT/Fedex, Allied Express, Toll, DHL ranking next.

3. Ranking based on Delivery Time

The golden rule to; never be late to an appointment is one of the most crucial factors in this business. Time is money and a courier company delivering goods not just safely but also on time is a sure trick to ensure that customers are happy. Every customer would love to have their parcel turn up in time than to have to wait for days beyond the due delivery date.

TNT Express and StarTrack tops the rankings as regards delivery on time in a random carried out with a five-star rating.

4. Ranking based on the booking process

Truth is, no one wants to have through a long stressful process just to have their booking taken down. With the seeming move from physical booking to online booking, the courier service website is the first point of reach to make your booking and an easy-to-navigate process must be in place.

In this ranking, Australia Post, StarTrack, TNT, Toll, Fastway and DHL comes out on top with a five-star rating.

5. Ranking based on Value for money

Customers are delighted when they can see that they receive value for the money they paid to get their goods delivered to them. It may cost a few more but if it is clear that it is worth every penny, then customers would happily pay and return.

TNT Express/Fedex, DHL, Australia Post and StarTrack Couriers were all top-rated in this ranking with five-star ratings.

6. Ranking based on Pick up and drop off options

In most cases, this is usually the last part of the process and the point where the customer finally gets a physical meeting with the courier company. It is therefore important that the customer can sense and see professionalism, great customer relation, and service.

Flexible pick-up and drop-off options are a great way to keep customers happy and ensure that they deliver positive reviews.

Most courier companies seem to have integrated this with all receiving a four-star ranking except for Australia Post which has Post offices everywhere for parcel collection.

Problems may arise in the process of delivering goods but courier companies must be on top to be able to solve such problems swiftly and when they arise. There is a plethora of courier companies but the ultimate decision on the courier business to go with rests on you, so it is best to do your research and make your choice.

 

We at Awesome Pack choose to only use reliable couriers that offer the best service to adhere to our Awesome Service to our customers. We will change the courier depending on how many boxes are sent and to residential or commercial/industrial address as per below:

For Commercial & Industrial Addresses: Awesome Pack use mostly TNT/Fedex for bulk deliveries and Australia Post or Startrack for small parcels.

For Residential Addresses: Awesome Pack use mostly Australia Post and StarTrack

 

We hope our article have provided you with some useful information about choosing Courier Services in Australia for your eCommerce business. In 2021, there are a wide range of shipping couriers and the last mile of delivery is so vital in the success of your business, so make sure you do your due diligence before you select to your next delivery partner.

 

Always helping you on your eCommerce business journey,

 

Bill

Director

Awesome Pack