Ipostparcels: making life a little easier for the UK’s small business owners
Despite having had to navigate through some difficult years recently, the UK is once again thriving as a hotbed of entrepreneurialism. By the end of 2015, there were 5.4 million businesses in existence across these lands, of which 351,000 were brand new start-ups.
Over 99 per cent of these companies were small-to-medium in size too - meaning they employ fewer than 250 people - and 95 per cent were 'micro-businesses' with just nine people or fewer on the books. Independents dominate the landscape, clearly.
Without the help of each other, though, none of it would be possible. E-retailers in particular need support from companies like us to ensure they meet their own customers' needs. We're proud of the role we play in supporting everyone from one-off web stores to determined eBay PowerSellers for whom the auction site is a full-time job.
How do we do it? Let us explain.
Ultimate flexibility
When first starting out in business, the importance of agility becomes quickly apparent. The landscape can change daily, and small businesses are in the best position to react quickly – not like their larger competitors that need buy-in from innumerable shareholders. To do this, though, they need similar flexibility from a courier service - and that's exactly what we provide.
We carry parcels of all shapes and sizes, from 20cm up to 80cm. We can transport a watch weighing 20 grams or a guitar amp that weighs 20 kilograms, and we do it quickly.
What this means is we can adapt to the services our small business customers provide. If they start out selling guitar plectrums but then upgrade to sell the instruments themselves, we're still there to help. If they decide to introduce next-day delivery as a new option for buyers, we've got that covered too.
We're affordable
It's true that small business owners need to spend money to make money. It's how well they spend this money that determines how much they make, though.
Throw loads into the most expensive services on the market and the financial well will run dry pretty rapidly, leaving business owners unable to cover the essentials - bills, employees, marketing etc. Instead, there’s a need to spend wisely by shopping around for the best deal, and we can help here, too.
We strive to ensure our courier service is as cheap as it can possible be. In fact, we're one of the best priced in the UK, and that affordability doesn't come at the cost of quality either.
The fact that we offer UK parcel delivery from just £1.99 (exc. VAT), means our customers can get away with offering free delivery themselves. This is such a big selling point that it's often worth absorbing the small cost in profits as the extra sales will more than make up for it.
Then there's our international service. Starting at just £7.74 (exc. VAT), it's cheap enough to open doors for growing small businesses. When they've achieved targets nationally, they have the ability to start trading across borders.
A reputation for reliability
The idea of outsourcing will be pretty scary for some small business owners but there are a few areas in which there’s not really much choice - delivery being the prime example. Unless business owners plan to drop everything drive around the country transporting products one by one, they're going to have to enlist some help.
We know small businesses can't afford to let their customers down, so we mitigate the risk of that happening. We take pride in being one of the most reliable courier services out there, and our
'Great' rating on TrustPilot shows that we keep high standards. 11,000+ reviewers can't be wrong.
We're here to help
It might be easy to start a small business these days but running one successfully is a completely different story. The day-to-day task lists can be massive as it is, so the last thing that’s needed is to figure out the ins and outs of every courier service. Thankfully, we've kept things pretty simple.
What's more, we're always here to help however we can. We provide a wealth of information on our site to help not only with sending parcels, but also with making things work for businesses in general.
Our lowdown guides will help you avoid hassle when sending internationally, for example, and we've even gone over topics like
data protection,
politics and
finance. We also have
eBooks and
white papers if you’re looking for a more detailed read.
Can't find the answers to your questions on our website? Submit an enquiry form or speak to us on live chat (when available) and ask away! Our experts are on hand to impart their wisdom. Forgive the puns but ipostparcels really does deliver the complete package.
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Courier for small businesses