11 Most Trusted Delivery Providers for Your Small Business

Have a home-based ecommerce business?

No matter which stage you’re at, successful deliveries are at the heart of every ecommerce business' operations.

If you’re new to ecommerce and don’t know where to start, this guide is just for you.

Read on to find out the best courier providers in Singapore for your small business.

What should you consider when choosing the right courier service?

With so many options in the market, it’s tough to make the right choice. Before we dive into the different delivery options, here are a few factors you should consider when you’re choosing a delivery service.

What is your product size?

Depending on the nature of your business, you’ll want to have a rough idea of the package sizes you’ll need for deliveries.

Products like handmade crafts, jewelry, and clothing tend to have small package sizes. Other products like floral bouquets or larger ornaments tend to be more sizable.

If you run a home-based food business, you’ll also need your products to be delivered with care. Spillage or damaged food packaging would affect your customer’s experience when they make an order with you.

What is the cost of delivery?

Cost is an important factor when you’re choosing the best delivery provider for your business. For ecommerce businesses, delivery costs make up a large proportion of your business’s overheads.

Before deciding on any delivery service provider, you’ll want to make some cost comparisons and recalculate your profit margins. Keeping costs low will help your business stay sustainable in the long run.

How much lead time can you afford?

Lead time refers to the number of days customers can expect to wait before receiving your products. Longer lead times tend to dampen customer satisfaction and their overall impression of your brand.

In general, we recommend having a lead time of no more than 4 days to stay competitive in the ecommerce space. The sooner your customers get to receive their products, the more reliable your business will seem.

Delivery services with shorter lead times tend to be more expensive than those that take a week or so to complete deliveries. Although costs play a part in your considerations, you’ll want to balance it out with the best lead time you can afford for your business.

If you run a home-based food business, you’ll probably need an even shorter lead time, which leads us to the next point.

Do you need same-day delivery?

Same-day delivery services tend to be much more costly than those with long lead times.

If you run a food business, you’ll definitely need to factor in higher costs for same-day delivery services. Make sure to have a markup for your products or share the delivery cost with your customers.

Reliability of your delivery service provider

Once in a while, you might come across horror stories about delivery services gone wrong. Customers might get their orders late—or worse, receive damaged orders because products weren’t handled with care.

It’s hard to predict mishaps that might happen in your deliveries. So how can you know if a delivery service is truly reliable?

You’ll need to read the fine print!

Reliable delivery services will have policies in place to protect businesses that use their service in case of mishaps. Opt for a delivery provider that offers some insurance on lost or damaged goods.

Are you looking at local or international delivery?

International delivery services are much more costly than local delivery services. When you’re setting prices for your products, make sure to factor in additional costs if you’re shipping to other regions.

Best local courier and delivery services in Singapore

UParcel — Best for: bulky parcels

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UParcel has a wide range of delivery options with varying lead times. If you run a business with time-sensitive deliveries, you might want to consider uParcel’s delivery services.

On the platform, you can choose from 1hour, 3 hours, same-day delivery, and even time slot deliveries. Additionally, you can also ship packages that measure up to 200cm in measurements.

Since UParcel is a more premium delivery service, you can expect to pay higher costs for delivery charges.

SingPost — Best for: small parcels

SingPost is one of the most familiar delivery service providers in Singapore. They’re also one of the cheapest delivery options around.

If you’re looking to delivery small packaged items, SingPost is perhaps the best option. Small packages for SingPost are up to 2kg and no more than 324 x 229 x 65mm.

SingPost typically offers registered and standard delivery options. If you don’t want your deliveries to get lost, we recommend getting their SmartPac parcels. These padded envelopes come with tracking and delivery takes just 2 to 3 working days.

SmarPac parcels are also postage paid so you don’t have to worry about queueing up and fiddling with stamps at the post office.

Cococart Deliveries feature — Best for: home-based food businesses

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What if your ecommerce platform has an integrated delivery feature?

Sounds too good to be true?

Then you gotta use our Deliveries feature in the Cococart dashboard.

To streamline your workflow, we’ve teamed up with our third-party delivery partner to help you manage your deliveries.

Here’s how the Deliveries feature works:

Sign in to your Cococart dashboard and go to your Orders page.
Select the orders you want to arrange for bulk delivery.
Click on Book Delivery from the taskbar.
You’ll be redirected to our third-party partner’s site to review your route and quote.

With our Deliveries feature, you can book bulk deliveries in just a few clicks. What’s more, it works hand in hand with our Timeslots feature so you can easily coordinate delivery and pick up times.

Read this article to find out more about our Deliveries feature.

Qxpress Delivery — Best for: bulky parcels

Have bulky products that to be delivered? You’ll want to consider Qxpress Delivery.

Qxpress Delivers parcels up to 30kg, with measurements up to 160cm (W+H+L). If you have parcels that measure larger than that, you’ll have to pay a surcharge, depending on the dimensions of your package.

Typically, Qxpress Delivery will complete their deliveries the next day—much faster than most delivery services. However, you won’t be able to pick the time slots for when items will reach their destination.

Qxpress is pretty cost effective if you’re looking to deliver larger items. A 20kg parcel costs just $12.90—much cheaper than the average market rate of around $20.

Grab Express — Best for: on-demand delivery

Grab Express is one of the most familiar delivery services in Singapore. They provide on-demand delivery service and live GPS tracking of your deliveries.

You can choose from a range of delivery options with packages ranging from 50g to 50kg. Items are also insured, so you don’t need to worry about additional costs you might incur if mishaps occur.

Grab Express has proven itself to be one of the most trusted delivery services in Singapore. That said, on-demand deliveries tend to be more costly. You’ll want to factor that into your consideration when choosing a delivery service for your business.

Lalamove — Best for: van and lorry deliveries

Have heavy, bulky items that need to be delivered? Lalamove could be just the service you need.

Lalamove’s delivery vehicles range from motorcycles to 14 ft lorries. Their service specializes in large, bulky deliveries that weigh up to 3,000kg.

With Lalamove, delivery services are on-demand so your customers won’t need to wait around for their orders to arrive. Drivers from Lalamove also help with moving and loading so don’t need to worry about sending movers to help with delivery.

Typically, we’d recommend Lalamove for businesses in the furnishing niche. However, Lalamove has more recently made delivery services more accessible for smaller items.

Pickupp — Best for: instant deliveries

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Pickupp is a relatively new delivery service provider in Singapore. Despite being a new player, Pickupp is challenging the delivery industry by specializing in last-mile deliveries.

With Pickupp, you can deliver goods as fast as 2 hours with their Express service. If you’re running a food and beverage business, Pickupp could be an option to consider for same day deliveries or time-sensitive orders.

Ninja Van — Best for: small parcels

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Unlike other delivery services, Ninja Van has a no-weight-limit delivery scheme for small packages.

If you’re a small business owner who is looking for cheap courier services, you might want to consider this option. Ninja Van provides door-to-door delivery services with a lead time of about 1 - 3 days.

Alternatively, you can also drop off your parcels at one of the 400 Ninja Van pick-up locations island-wide in Singapore.

There’s a small catch though—you’ll need to purchase Ninja Van’s Ninja Packs if you want to make use of their no-weight-limit scheme. And these delivery packs come in packs of 20.

This might make sense for your business if you’re sending small packages regularly. That said, you’ll definitely want to factor in these upfront costs.

Best international courier services in Singapore

JustShip

JustShip promises hassle-free services, reasonable prices, and quick turnaround times.

If you happen to ship internationally, you might find JustShip’s platform convenient and easy to use. There’s no need for you to waste time waiting in line or filling out paperwork at the post office.

With JustShip, each package is shipped by FedEx International Priority, which includes tracking and a lead time of up to three business days.

EasyParcel

EasyParcel is a straightforward online booking platform where you can easily compare prices of different courier services. From doorstep collection to online tracking, you’ll get a host of delivery services for international shipping with EasyParcel.

NinjaVan

Yup, NinjaVan delivers outside of Singapore too. With a network that spans six Southeast Asian countries, you can easily make deliveries with NinjaVan to Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

However, if you’re looking for a delivery service to regions outside of Southeast Asia, NinjaVan might not cut it for your business.

Enjoy integrated delivery services with Cocoart

At Cococart, we understand that independent business owners have a lot on their plate. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to help streamline your business.

FAQ

What should you look for in a delivery service provider?

You should consider their prices, lead time, and the parcel sizes they’re willing to accept. Different delivery providers specialize in different types of parcel deliveries. Make sure you’re clear of your business’s delivery requirements before you commit to a provider.

Which are the best delivery service providers in Singapore?

Generally, the best delivery providers provide their services at a reasonable cost and have policies in place to protect sellers when mishaps occur. Look for providers that make sense for you financially, and have excellent customer service.

How do I arrange for food delivery in Singapore?

You can check out same-day delivery services or those that are on-demand. Generally, on-demand services tend to be more expensive. If you can afford to prepare your food orders a day in advance, that will help you lower your delivery costs.

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