White-glove services refer to the elevated level of care and attention to detail during delivery. White-glove delivery constitutes crating, packaging large and bulky goods or luxury goods, and shipping them in the best possible manner.
For example, a typical shipping process includes picking up packaged goods from a seller or warehouse and transporting them to their destination. On the other hand, during a white glove delivery, the products are packaged to ensure no damage. The logistics partners must follow set guidelines for getting the goods into a vehicle and delivering them to the destination. A post-delivery installation or service is also a part of white-glove delivery.
Suppose you order a king-size bed online that requires installation once the package arrives; then, you can opt for white-glove delivery by paying a small convenience fee. In this case, the bed will be loaded into a container with high-quality and shock-absorbing packaging. Once it is delivered, an installation team member will visit your premises to set up the bed for you. In a nutshell, white-glove delivery protects your goods and gives you the support you need to have them up and running.
Although some shipments require white-glove delivery, having skilled and attentive teams to take care of your product is much better than receiving high-value goods in damaged condition.
On the other side, if you are a logistics company and want to increase your revenue and enter into a high-profit delivery service business, then white-glove delivery is the natural progression for your brand.
Businesses That Need White-Glove Delivery Services in 2023 and Beyond
Here are some of the most important use cases that need white-glove delivery and how you, as a delivery business, can identify their pain points in 2023. Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Furniture Businesses
The most prominent use case of them all is high-value furniture. These expensive pieces of work are art, and customers don’t wish to receive their products in damaged condition. In most cases, logistics companies can partner with furniture delivery businesses directly to provide white-glove delivery services. Since customers are investing a lot of money into buying these pieces of furniture, it is only fitting to deliver them with utmost care directly to a customer’s home.
Antique Galleries
An antique gallery’s reputation lives or dies on the back of the condition a customer receives their goods. Long story short, antique galleries voluntarily opt for white-glove delivery services since their customers don’t mind spending a few extra bucks to receive timeless pieces of work in the same condition they first saw them in a gallery.
Refurbishing Business
Many contractors take on the jobs of refurbishing or renovating properties and need large goods like marble tops, handcrafted fireplace mantles, furniture, and raw materials delivered to them regularly. As a logistics business, you can partner with the contractor to provide white-glove delivery services and deliver the desired goods when required.
Artists
Artist is a broad term and covers individuals across different walks of life. For example, a logistics company can provide white-glove delivery services to painters, antique restoration artists, writers, and publishers, to name a few. The artworks these individuals produce are of high value, and the customers don’t mind spending more money as these products hold a high sentimental value.
Luxury Brands
Luxury Brands like Louis Vuitton already use white-glove delivery services because their customers like their products and use them as a lifestyle statement. Therefore, luxury brands are always looking for ways to make a customer’s journey with their brand more memorable across every stage of the funnel. You can partner with luxury brands in your brand or also encourage brands that want to improve their customer experience to opt for white-glove delivery by offering competitive prices.
What Does White-Glove Delivery Cost?
Since white-glove delivery is primarily used for high-value, fragile, and bulky items, the pricing is slightly higher than regular deliveries. Although, if an item in transit is of high sentimental value, the customer wouldn’t mind paying the prices to receive their package in mint condition.
Because of the extra time and resources involved in white-glove delivery, the shipping costs can vary based on several factors. Some of them include
- Accessibility of pickup and delivery location to the logistics company.
- The need for an installation after the initial delivery is complete would require two teams to coordinate to complete a job.
- The size of the product is directly related to the space it requires in a vehicle. Unusually shaped goods often need more space, and thus the customer needs to pay a higher price.
- The amount of packaging required to make a product immune to shocks and damages during transit.
- The mode of transport used to deliver the product. While a shipment by road might be cheaper, an air transit for instant delivery will cost more.
Whatever the increased cost may be, once customers understand the value it brings to their delivery, they will consider it a worthwhile investment and pay the higher price.
Final Thoughts
Even though the idea of white-glove delivery sounds exciting, it takes work. First, you cannot do it with traditional operating methods that use a lot of paper and manual order scheduling. Secondly, to deliver a completely delightful customer experience during a white-glove delivery, you will need to inform them about the progress of their order regularly.
But don’t worry, though executing white glove delivery is daunting, we have got you covered. NetworkON is a powerful delivery management software that allows you to deploy white-glove delivery services with unique features.
Here is a quick overview of the benefits you can expect from NetworkON:
- AI-powered route optimization to display the shortest route to the delivery partners and keep them away from traffic congestion to reduce fuel costs.
- Real-time tracking of delivery fleets allows you to stay on top of your team’s progress on the road and enables you to share the same with the customers.
- Digital proof of delivery using pictures, e-signatures, and barcodes eliminates the need to carry bulky paper documents, and the data is stored instantly in your NetowrkON database.
- Combining pickup & delivery and installation tasks into a single job make order management easier.
- Instant push notifications allow you to share accurate ETAs for an order with the customers.
These features are just the tip of the iceberg, and NetworkON can completely transform your pickup and delivery business. To know more about how your business will look with a NetworkON integration, schedule a demo today. For more information about NetworkON, email us at info@networkon.io or visit our website.
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