What Is An On-demand Delivery Service?

You can also be in a rush to get a package or goods delivered. In such a case, what is the best course of action? How can I send or receive a package as quickly as possible? In such cases, on-demand delivery service is a viable option. Restaurants have no choice but to hire delivery services to bring their meals to customers in the shortest feasible period and before it cools down. When you buy from a grocery shop near your home, the things will not be sent by postal service but will be delivered immediately or one or two hours later by courier. We’ll look at on-demand delivery services and their uses as one of the types of courier services in this post. The areas of enterprises that provide this type of service are described in the following sections.

How On-demand Delivery Service Works?

Some courier businesses offer an on-demand delivery service, but they focus on the parts of delivery orders that have to be handled immediately. Upon registering an order, a customer, or a business, receives a courier assigned to the order. The courier travels to the customer’s pick-up location, collects the product, and drops it off at its destination. 

On-demand delivery services generally execute orders one at a time. The courier places order number one with a defined pick up and dropoff first, and then order number two. On-demand delivery services are pretty similar to Internet taxis in terms of processes and software, which is why companies like Uber are branching out into delivery. Some of the most well-known startups that provide this kind of service are Loggi in Brazil, Stuart in Europe, and Uber Eats in the U.S.

What Are The Benefits of On-demand Delivery Service?

As other delivery methods are available, an on-demand delivery service is typically used when the need is urgent or scheduled. Clients that receive on-demand service, as opposed to postal service or same-day service, have greater control over their time and schedule. So if scheduling is a concern in same-day or next-day services, it isn’t an issue with on-demand services. When ordering same-day or next-day services and postal services, a customer cannot be sure of the exact time of delivery. Thus, the customer might lose time waiting for the shipment to arrive and be delivered. 

On-demand delivery is generally preferred over other delivery methods in the following situations:

• When a shipment needs to be dispatched or received urgently.
• The shipment includes food, medication, or other products that must be delivered hot, cold, or quickly.
• When the shipment is time-sensitive and requires the services of a dedicated courier.
• When the shipment’s security is critical, you want it to be delivered straight to the intended recipient.

Who Uses On-demand Delivery Service?

Customers of on-demand delivery services include both individuals and businesses alike. They use the fleets of courier companies that provide on-demand delivery services or hyperlocal delivery for many reasons, including sending a package, letter, gift, or product.

Among the companies that use on-demand Delivery Services are:

• Restaurants 
• Florists
• Gift shops
• Hospitals
• Drug stores
• Therapeutic clinics
• Groceries
• Supermarkets
• Bakeries
• Online Stores
• Pet shops
• Beverage Stores
• Cafes
• Some Government Offices
• Laundries

And all the other companies that offer their clients services.

How Do On-demand Delivery Services Locate Their Customers?

On-demand delivery services are used by both individuals and businesses, which means the approaches to enticing them are pretty different. That is why we are going to examine them separately.

Individual Customers

Regular consumers use on-demand delivery services to get their packages delivered. B2C marketing tactics are typically used to find these clients. Environmental advertising (citywide banners), digital marketing, and mailings are ways to attract individuals.

Customers From the Business World

Here are some B2B marketing techniques that can help you attract this type of customer:

• Establishing a Customer Referral System: Customers or resellers can introduce potential customers to you, and if they become end customers, they will receive a point.
• B2B Digital Marketing: Businesses within your target market can be reached using digital marketing.
• Influencer Marketing: In particular fields related to on-demand business services, there are people with a lot of influence. Consider food and restaurant industry professionals who have a large following on social media. They can promote your courier service through influencer marketing.
• Face-to-face Marketing: You can do business with a company that gets a lot of requests. Large restaurants or online stores, for example, are excellent places to negotiate.

What Services Do On-demand Delivery Services Offer?

On-demand delivery companies depend on software to improve and grow their businesses as technology advances and offer a range of innovative services. We’ll look at some of these services below.

Scheduled Delivery

A scheduled delivery is one of the services that on-demand delivery providers commonly offer. This option allows customers to organize their orders in advance. They specify the delivery time and submit their request online. Upon receiving a customer’s request, one of the couriers of the courier company fulfills the order at the specified time.

When a customer wants to arrange his/her order, he/she may use this option. For example, if a person wants an item delivered tomorrow morning, he/she may place the order the night before in a planned time slot for that morning.

Tracking

On-demand delivery companies may offer services including driver tracking through a customer app. It allows the customer to locate the driver in real-time and track the order’s progress until delivery. Customers can make more informed decisions with this strategy.

ETA

On-demand delivery providers also offer an estimated time of arrival. Based on traffic statistics and routing, this time is a particular service that significantly improves customer satisfaction and user experience. In today’s world, where consumers need to know the exact time it will take for a courier to arrive at the pickup and dropoff location is paramount to courier businesses.

Multi Drop Off

Multi Drop Off is a functionality where customers can ship multiple items with one order with companies that provide on-demand delivery services. The pick-up of the shipments is the same, but their drop-off is different. A courier delivers the items.

Vehicle Type

Courier businesses may use motorcycles, vans, trucks, and other types of vehicles. In most cases, customers can select their delivery vehicle from a list of available options, enabling them to pick the best vehicle for their order.

Order Management

A customer using an on-demand delivery service has more control over their orders. They can use a variety of alternatives. For example, cash on delivery is an optional service that is available to customers. With cash on delivery, the customer instructs the driver to purchase a product on his behalf.

The customer can also examine pricing through their online order data, and the discount code can be applied even if the courier company provides one.

E-Wallet

In the current market, most major delivery companies provide an e-wallet feature that customers can use to make purchases online, and drivers can earn money without using cash by using e-wallets.

What is The Definition Of An On-demand Delivery App?

To provide their services, on-demand delivery providers require software. On-demand delivery software consists of several apps, each with its capabilities. This section describes the components of a complete on-demand delivery system.

Customer Application

For individuals and businesses, an on-demand delivery application called the customer application allows individuals and corporations to manage orders. Customers can select Android, iOS, or web applications for on-demand delivery services that operate efficiently. Due to this, they can appeal to a wide range of customers.

Driver Application

It is designed for drivers who are part of on-demand delivery service. This application allows drivers to manage and receive orders. In most cases, it is implemented in Android and iOS versions to cover more drivers.

Dispatcher

A courier dispatcher must be able to manage orders and place new ones. It is critical for providing customer support and telephone services. In many cases, an online web application is developed to manage and send orders to drivers.

Business APIs

Several companies that provide on-demand delivery services receive a large volume of orders. Entering these orders manually into the system takes a lot of time and is complicated. Restaurants and online stores, for example, have their software. These businesses can integrate their software into the courier company’s software, allowing their orders to be automatically entered into that company’s software through the courier company’s APIs. Effectively working with businesses, on-demand delivery services must adopt this strategy.

Dashboard for the Admin

Typically, a management dashboard, a web application, is created to manage the entire business’s on-demand delivery. This dashboard contains many functionalities, including fleet management, customer management, pricing, promotions, etc.

Conclusion

On-demand delivery services meet part of the daily delivery needs, particularly when orders need to be delivered quickly. But as part of the last mile business, these services are costly and must be optimized. Across the globe, entrepreneurs have entered this industry seeking to provide the best solution to improve these types of services.

For on-demand delivery service to launch, software development is one of the most challenging aspects. The number of components and the sheer size make developing and maintaining on-demand delivery software expensive and complicated. Therefore, our Onro experts, who are intimately familiar with the issues faced by these businesses, have developed a comprehensive package to help you launch and grow your on-demand delivery operation. If you are looking for on-demand delivery software for your business, we suggest you check out our software demo. To set up a demo session, enter your information in the form below.

Originally published October 26, 2021 4:43 PM, updated Tuesday, 29 August 2023.