What is a multi-courier strategy?

A multi-courier strategy is one of the best ways to run your retail shipping operation. You can optimise for costs, give yourself a safety net and add new delivery options as and when required.

In this article, we’ll explain exactly what a multi-courier strategy is and the benefits you can expect to see from implementing this strategy. We’ll also look at some leading Australian retailers who have found success with multi-courier strategies – as well as how you can get started.

Table of contents

• What is a multi-courier strategy?
• What are the benefits of a multi-courier strategy?
• Leading retailers growing faster with multi-courier strategies
• How to use Starshipit to enable your multi-courier strategy

What are the benefits of a multi-courier strategy?

1. Save on shipping costs 💰

First and foremost, setting yourself up with multiple courier services means you’ll save money on every order you send out. Why? Because unlike a single-courier strategy, you can choose the cheapest courier for each shipment. In practice, if you were shipping a small number of large items, you might try and source a specialised courier for only those items, leaving the rest of your orders with a more standard courier service.

You can also shop around for new shipping rates as your business evolves. What works for you now may not work for you in a years’ time.

2. Keep your customers happy 😊

A multi-courier strategy also benefits your customers – and can give you an edge over your competition. When you’ve got more courier services available, you can pass that choice on to your customers through the delivery options available to them.

For example, when they’re at the checkout, you can offer options like standard, same day, evening express, overnight, weekend and more. With the right shipping software, you can even take this further (we’ll explore this more in the next section).

Working with companies like Dropoff courier or Uber for urgent orders, while having other partners on hand to tackle less pressing fulfillment duties, gives you the best of both worlds for pricing and flexibility.

3. Pick and choose your couriers 🚚

When you use one courier, or a courier aggregator shipping platform, you’ve got very little control over your courier services – which can be a problem when they’re not performing.

This is yet another benefit of the multi-courier strategy. Here are a couple of reasons why:

• Swap out couriers when they aren’t performing and keeping up with their SLAs, and your customers are getting annoyed.
• Add new couriers when you want to offer additional delivery options. For example, you may send most of your orders with Australia Post but want to start offering on-demand delivery with Uber.
• Access specialised couriers to meet your specific needs. For example, if you need to start shipping dangerous goods but your current couriers won’t take them, simply find a new courier service and add them to your mix.

4. Easily grow your business 🌱

Growing a business is always a balancing act; how much stock you should order, how many staff you should bring on – it never stops. However, you can make shipping easier by opting for a multi-courier strategy.

If you’re just starting out, you may find that a single courier meets your needs perfectly, but when you start to grow, you can then add new courier services as and when required. If demand ever falls, you can then scale back too.

Leading retailers growing faster with multi-courier strategies

Now, let’s look at a few retailers who use multi-courier strategies to grow faster and deliver better experiences for their customers.

How to use Starshipit to enable your multi-courier strategy

A multi-courier strategy is one of the best approaches for any retailer wanting to optimise their shipping operation. As we’ve seen above, leading retailers use Starshipit to easily manage multiple courier services – and a whole lot more.

1. Support for all major couriers (and eCommerce platforms)

You need courier services if you want an effective multi-courier strategy. Starshipit supports 60+ couriers and eCommerce platforms – including all the major ones like Australia Post, FedEx, DHL, Shopify, WooCommerce and more. Starshipit also has an API if you need to integrate other applications.

2. One dashboard to manage your couriers

This is the true value of a multi-courier strategy with Starshipit. Instead of needing to hop between different courier portals, cutting and pasting tracking numbers, you can manage all your courier services and print shipping labels from one central dashboard. Starshipit also features rich shipping notifications and branded tracking pages, meaning you won't have to manage multiple notifications from different couriers.

3. Automate your shipping with rules

As we saw with Bulkpantry above, Starshipit’s rules engine let's you automatically assign couriers to relevant orders based on things like location and type of product. For example, you might want to assign all orders with Sydney postcodes to Australia Post, and all orders going to New Zealand to FedEx.

Rules let you do a whole lot more too, including adjusting the rates you display at checkout or set so that every order that has a value of more than $100 must be signature required.

Focus on the technology – and the relationships

While technologies like Starshipit can make the process of courier management significantly easier, it's also a good idea to build a strong relationship with your courier providers so you can more easily resolve issues if and when they come about.

One study from NZ Couriers found that despite tools making shipping much easier, many retailers still value relationships with courier partners.

Wrap up

If you’re growing an eCommerce business, a multi-courier strategy is one of the best ways to improve your shipping operation. By taking advantage of multiple courier services – and their various products – you can add a safety net to your operations, keep your customers happy and manage your shipping costs.

Interested in seeing how Starshipit can help you to save time and money on every order? Try out platform for free for 30 days (no credit card required) or book a demo with one of our helpful team members.

You can also check out more of our case studies to see how other retailers have used multi-courier strategies to grow faster and deliver better experiences for their customers.