How to Choose a Delivery Service for Your Marketplace: Tips and Reviews
If you want to develop a product marketplace or improve your current, you probably need to find a reliable delivery service company to integrate its API into your platform.
Each marketplace has its own requirements to delivery companies depending on the industry, location, audience, and business model. However, there are common characteristics you need take into account to make the delivery experience flawless. Let’s dive right into them!
Main criteria of delivery service apps
- Transparent shipping costs and guaranteed prices
Make sure that the platform provides upfront prices without any additional charges and commissions. It’s important for the user to see the exact final price, as well as all the elements it includes.
- Strong verification process
Ensure that the drives on the platform go through a thorough verification process and include all driving credentials such as car registration, car insurance, and drivers license.
- Availability of different sized vehicles
If your marketplace sells large items, check if the delivery company provides different types of vehicles for safe and smooth delivery.
- Lifting services
Lifting services for large items delivery will be a great bonus for your users.
- Real-time delivery tracking
Ensure that a delivery app provides real-time map with the ability to track the delivery and receive it in a desired time and place.
- API with scalable features
Before choosing a delivery solution for your marketplace, ensure that it has API with detailed documentation and necessary features.
- Clear arrival and delivery times
Make sure that the users can see delivery time and receive notifications when their item has arrived.
- Delivery damage coverage and insurance
To protect the products you deliver, choose a delivery company that covers theft, damage, and loss of the merchandise.
- Trial period
Each idea has to be tested. It would be great if you can choose a trial period to see if the delivery app works for your business.
- Community and support
Before integrating a delivery API into your platform, check if it has a well-supported community, detailed documentation and customer support.
Delivery service apps with APIs and their main features
We have prepared a list of delivery dervice companies for your marketplace that provide APIs. Let’s check them out.
Dropoff is an on-demand delivery service focused on B2B delivery. It offers scalable and innovative solutions to optimize and improve delivery for both small businesses and enterprises. Its main features include:
- Flexible scheduling
- Tracking technology
- Transparent prices
- Driver ratings
- Fully insured and HIPAA compliant driver fleet
- Feature-rich API
- 24 / 7 on-demand and pre-scheduled delivery
- Dropoff tracker to know the status of all your shipments
- Mobile app for iOS and Android
Dropoff will come in handy for such industries as retail, healthcare, food and grocery, business and industrial services.
Stuart is a B2B delivery platform that connects businesses with local couriers. It offers a flexible API you can add to your checkout. With Stuart you can:
- Request deliveries at your customers’ convenience
- Schedule a delivery
- Track your delivery on a real-time map
- Choose trial period and see how it performs for your business
- Choose the fleet that works best for you (walkers, cyclists, mopeds, cars, vans)
StarTrack is a freight company that offers a wide range of ecommerce and logistics solutions. Here is what it offers:
- Regular, same-day and next day delivery
- Service and finance reporting
- Contact center support
- Online pick-up and re-delivery bookings
- Online tracking
By integrating their API into your platform you will be able to:
- Track parcels
- Get shipping rates
- Print labels
- Handle shipping payments
- Track parcels
Deliv is a delivery service, that fills a gap between retailers and their customers, by providing same-day delivery for small businesses and enterprises. Here are its main advantages:
- Easy delivery scheduling
- Quote tools for transparent prices
- Real-time delivery dashboard
- Minimal packaging
- Highly rated couriers
- Damage coverage and insurance
- Custom delivery windows
BoxC is a logistics platform for managing international trading from overseas merchants to international buyers. Their main services include:
- Inventory and shipping management
- Custom return policies
- Bulk shipping
- Customized solutions especially for your business
- International dropshipping
- Delivery tracking
- Delivery estimate
We hope that this list was helpful for you. The main takeaway is to choose a flexible company, that can customize their solutions to your business needs. If you have any questions or need a piece of advice, feel free to leave a comment below!