A courier is an individual or entity responsible for the exchange of items between two or more parties. A courier service is a fast, door to door, local or international, pick-up and delivery service for high-value goods or urgently required goods. The courier services industry is typically made up of two major segments namely, big and small couriers. Big couriers usually service a broader market (up to global). Small couriers service the domestic market. Due to the proliferation of ecommerce in the past couple of years, the demand for courier services has shot up. This article will outline how to start a courier services business, and the courier services business plan – PDF, Word and Excel.
Location & Premises
Consider Accessibility
When choosing a location and premises for your courier services business you must consider accessibility. Is the place easily accessible by any means of transportation? This means the specific design of the infrastructure in question must be factored in. Available space weighs in on this accessibility aspect. Is the place strategically located close to key road networks? Accessibility considerations must also enable restricted access to potential trespassers. You will be dealing with mostly high-value goods so security is paramount.
Proximity To Core Target Market
You must also consider proximity to the core of your target market of your courier services business. This is central to being able to provide fast and efficient courier services. Imagine setting up a courier services shop in a distant and remote area. Precious time will spent covering long unnecessary distances to and fro your offices or depot. Though centrality matters you must still consider other variables. What is the general flow of human and vehicle traffic like? Being located in a central but often congested area can slow you down.
Enough Space For Storage
Besides accessibility, space considerations matter storage-wise. The size of the place matters; is there enough storage? Storage is highly important for a courier services business since you will deal with wide-ranging parcels or packages. You need to be able to receive, hold, and dispatch everything with ease.
Courier Vehicles
You will need transportation vehicles for your courier services business. These can constitute any one or more of the following: bicycles, motorbikes, light motor vehicles, vans, trucks, lorries, and even drones and planes. Your specific needs will be guided by the average package or parcel sizes you will be dealing with. The average distances and the terrains you will cover also guide on that. Where applicable you might need loading equipment such as forklifts. The courier services business plan should include the costs of purchasing the transportation vehicles.
Equipment For A Courier Services Business
The type of equipment you need for your courier business will be informed by the products and services you offer. Office equipment and supplies will be essential for setting up your courier office and command centre. You must also get communication equipment for your courier services business such as walkie-talkies and mobile smartphones. Vehicle tracking can be necessary and that would necessitate getting a GPS tracking system and equipment. Packaging material will be needed for packaging or repackaging parcels. You will need a variety of ancillary equipment e.g. pallets, trolleys, protective clothing, and so on. Basically anything that optimizes operations at the office or depot. Branded wear for staff is usually a no-brainer when providing courier services. The costs of the equipment should be included in the courier services business plan.
Products & Services
The products or services that your courier services business can offer depend on your niching choice. There are basically 4 broad courier services that you can offer namely:
Global Services
This entails delivering parcels or packages across countries. This usually spans across all forms of terrains e.g. land, sea, and even air. For someone starting out in the courier services business this might be a stretch. Over time, as the business grows global courier services become imminent. That is why most major established courier services companies can offer them.
On-Demand Service (Also Known As Express Service)
This is designed to often be the most expensive but fastest courier service. It entails serving clients whose packages or parcels must be delivered immediately. This means the packages here are not subjected to other service types that may take some time. There is no waiting period or any delays. Once a client indicates a package has to be delivered it is done immediately even if it just the only one going to that destination.
Same Day Express Service
Here the core focus is to deliver parcels or packages within 24 hours. This means courier packages being delivered the very same day. This implies such a service that can apply for intercity deliveries. It also applies to intracity deliveries as well. Overall, this courier service focuses on doing deliveries within a country’s borders.
Overnight Express Service
There might be intersections with the same day express service. However, the major distinction here is that for overnight express, packages are transported overnight. The idea is to ensure they arrive to intended recipients starting the following morning. That is why in some way this is a service for delivering within 24 hours (just not on the same day).
Vast Room To Tweak
Those are standard courier products or services. However, you can tweak them as informed by your market research and competitive analysis. For instance, some can diversify into renting out warehouse space or storage space. The courier business plan should outline all the products and services that you intend to offer.
Staff & Management
You need to have administrative, depot and transport and logistics personnel. The number of specific designations will depend on the size of your courier service operations. It is possible for staff to double up as management as well. At the very least, you can have an operations manager, driver(s), general hands (packaging and loading), and an office administrator. The salaries for all your staff should be accounted for in your courier business plan.
Market
The market for courier services is huge. In every industry there are potential customers you can serve. Some of the noteworthy client segments are individuals, healthcare entities, academic entities, e-commerce entities, manufacturing entities, and business and finance entities. It is up to you to niche or to be all encompassing. The bottom line is the market is there but competition can be intense. For your courier services business to stand out you must strive to have several differentiators. A proper marketing strategy should be included in your courier services business plan. The most important this is being a reliable business, guaranteeing security (and safety) of parcels, and offering a broad range of services. You must also incorporate a sustainability focus in your operations. Customers must be able to fully access and pay for your services online. These are the things that can set you apart from your competitors.
Pre-Written Courier Services Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel): Comprehensive Version, Short Funding/Bank Loan Version and Automated Financial Statements
For an in-depth analysis of the courier services business, we encourage you to purchase our well-researched and comprehensive courier services business plan. We introduced the business plans after discovering that many were venturing into the courier business without enough knowledge and understanding of how to run the business, lack of understanding of the financial side of the business, lack of understanding of : the industry, the risks involved , costs and profitability of the business; which often leads to disastrous losses.
The StartupBiz Global courier business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run your courier services business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. This is a complete business plan for a courier business. It will be easier to plan and budget as you will be aware of all the costs involved in setting up and running the courier business.
Uses of the Courier Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The courier business plan can be used for many purposes including:
- Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
- Applying for a bank loan
- Start-up guide to launch your courier business
- As a courier business proposal
- Assessing profitability of the courier business
- Finding a business partner
- Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
- Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation
Contents of the Courier Services Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The business plan for courier includes, but not limited to:
- Marketing Strategy
- Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, payback period analysis, start-up costs, financial graphs, revenue and expenses, Bank Loan Amortization)
- Industry Analysis
- Market Analysis
- Risk Analysis
- SWOT & PEST Analysis
- Operational Requirements
- Operational Strategy
- Why some people in the courier business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
- Ways to raise capital to start your courier business
The courier services business plan package consists of 4 files
- Courier Services Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive Version – 80 Pages)
- Courier Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive Version – 80 Pages)
- Courier Services Business Plan Funding/Bank Loan Version- Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan/funding – 44 pages)
- Courier Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel File)
The business plan can be used in any country and can be easily edited. The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the costs, salaries etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.
Click below to download the Contents Page of the Courier Services Business Plan (PDF)
Get the Courier Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
Click Buy Now below to purchase using Paypal, Credit Card, or Debit Card. After you have purchased, you will immediately see the download link for the business plan package on the screen. You will also immediately get an email with the business plan download link.
The Pre-written business plan package (PDF, Word, and Excel) costs $30 only!
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The business plan package is a zipped compressed file containing the PDF, Word and Excel documents. To open the package after downloading it, just right click, and select Extract All. If you have any problems in downloading and opening the files, email us on shop@startupbizglobal.com and we will assist you.
We wish you the best in your courier services business! Check out our collection of business plans , and more business ideas.
