Nowadays, more and more businesses and individuals are using the United States Postal Service and other shipping suppliers to send packages to others. This is especially true in states that are still under the stay-at-home order. Thanks to COVID-19, more and more people are ordering things online as a means to stay in touch with friends and family members.
Postal carriers and delivery workers are helping people stay safe, so now is an excellent time to launch your own shipping industry if you’ve been sitting on the idea for a while. With high demand across the postal and shipping sector, attracting customers will be easier than ever—ultimately allowing you to form a strong foundation of clients to buoy you during your business’ beginning. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you work to start your own shipping center.
Are you going to start from scratch or open a franchise?
One of the first things you’ll want to consider when starting your own shipping center is who you want to serve. After all, people use mail and packaging services for all sorts of things. While some business owners would rather work with everyday consumers, others prefer to work with small or mid-sized businesses.
Beyond thinking about your target demographic, you’ll want to decide whether or not you’re willing to put in the legwork to start your business from the ground up or you’re interested in franchising opportunities in your area. Franchising a business like the UPS Store could be perfect if you don’t have any business experience since a franchisee gets to use an existing business model to work within. A franchise business also lays out initial investment costs and other expenses so you have a much better idea of what you’re getting into.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to go it your own. It all comes down to what sort of business opportunities you’re looking to make for yourself as your own boss. If you’re really serious about helping other business owners, you may not be able to find a franchise that works for your goals. Even so, if you can connect with the right people and build upon your years of experience in the business world, it’s possible to still make something successful.
What tools can you invest in that will help others?
If you decide to pursue the business-to-business (or B2B) route instead of franchising a consumer-facing store, it’s critical that you think about what sorts of tools and services you can offer to others. Obviously, offering fulfillment and logistics is something you’ll want to think about since it can help businesses scale their eCommerce sales. Another area to think about in terms of packaging businesses is how to give other companies the professional edge they need in order for their products to be taken seriously.
A great example of this is helping connect businesses with a shrink wrapping service. Shrinkwrapping protects products when they’re being shipped, lets customers know that what’s inside hasn’t been tampered with, and adds a professional sheen to any item when it’s sitting on a shelf. That being said, the equipment to shrinkwrap products is costly for most business owners and difficult to operate at scale along with everything else on a business owner’s plate.
Being able to connect businesses to help outsource their packaging as part of your fulfillment services adds value to your offerings and makes you more competitive than other fulfillment or shipping and packaging companies. By having the right vendor on your side, like US Packaging and Wrapping, you can continue to offer great shipping services to your clients while increasing your value with add-ons like shrink wrapping, shrink film, or clamshell packaging.