10 Lockdown Business Ideas for 2021

On-demand delivery businesses have become all the rage in the last couple of years. With the growing reliance on the internet and app-based services, most people prefer ordering things online including everything from food and groceries to medicines and laundry. The growing popularity of on-demand apps has made delivery businesses a profit-making venture. All you need is a strong delivery fleet and delivery management software that can help you run the whole thing.

When looking at different delivery service business ideas, you need to consider your location, the demands and customer expectations in that location, your initial investment amount, and most importantly, the scope of your chosen delivery idea in your area/city. For instance, food delivery might be popular in a metro city where people would rather order in than cook every day but this might not be the case in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. 

To help you get started on your delivery business, we have put together a list of the top delivery business opportunities for 2021.

1. Food Delivery

Arguably one of the most popular delivery business ideas, food delivery has even overtaken e-commerce in certain markets. The appeal behind a food delivery business is quite simple; no one liked cooking every day and the convenience of getting food from their favorite restaurants delivered to their doorstep is hard to match up to. There are many ways you can jump into a food delivery business. You can either aggregate restaurants and get them to list their offerings on your online ordering app or sell food that you make yourself. While the former is more about managing a food marketplace, the latter is more about your involvement in the actual food preparation. With the right on-demand delivery app, you can get your food delivery business up and running in no time.

2. Grocery Delivery

Like food, grocery is another popular delivery vertical that has become quite popular in the last couple of years. The year 2020, in particular, saw an exponential increase in the demand for grocery delivery because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of social distancing.

You can start a grocery delivery business without much effort as long as you’re equipped with the right tools and software. All you need is a reliable grocery supplier, a dedicated customer ordering app, a delivery agent app to help your delivery fleet deliver orders on time and track their earnings, and a powerful admin dashboard that allows you to track the status of each order amongst other things. Unlike e-commerce where the delivery time can be more than a day, your grocery delivery business needs to be able to finish deliveries within the same day. This means a well-organized delivery system and better coordination while assigning orders to delivery agents.

3. Pickup and Delivery

Convenience is the name of the game in today’s economy and most people are more than happy to pay a fee for pickup and delivery services. From items you need picking up from a particular store to getting a cake delivered to your friend’s house on their birthday, pickup and delivery services have become a robust business vertical. With their busy lives, most people lead today, getting their pickup and delivery tasks handled by a reliable third-party agent is a definite plus.

You can tap into this thriving business vertical and provide exceptional pickup and delivery services to earn great profits. Unlike a food or grocery delivery business where you need physical objects to deliver to customers, a pickup and delivery business requires just a well-oiled delivery fleet with agents that are reliable and professional.

4. Courier

Courier remains a viable delivery business idea especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Unlike a pickup and delivery business that operates within city limits, a courier delivery business needs to be equipped to deliver goods between different states and cities. Given the large scale operations of a courier delivery business, you’ll need to spend a considerable amount of money to get going. Instead of bikes and 2-wheelers, you’ll need to invest in big vehicles that can store large quantities of goods like mini-vans and trucks. But with the bigger investment comes greater profit margins, especially if you expand your service area considerably and start dealing in multiple orders.

5. Logistics

Logistics is a vast business vertical that includes everything from inbound and outbound transportation to fleet management, warehousing, and order fulfillment. In the broadest of terms, your logistics business includes the delivery of raw materials, supplies, and finished products to other businesses. As you can imagine, the scale of a logistics business is much larger than the delivery business ideas listed above. You need a proper team of support staff, the right delivery management software, and trucks and other large vehicles to do the actual delivery. While a logistics business does require a lot more investment and effort on your part, the amount of money you could potentially earn is also much higher than some of the other delivery business ideas listed here.

6. Pharmacy Delivery

Another delivery business idea that has picked up pace during the COVID-19 pandemic is online pharmacy and medicine delivery. Just like food delivery, there are two ways you can go about setting up your medicine delivery business. The first involves tying up with offline pharmacies and listing their products on your app and website. When an order comes through, you forward it to the nearest partner pharmacy and deploy your delivery fleet to complete the order. The second method involves typing up with a medicine supplier, maintaining a solid medicine inventory, and fulfilling each order yourself. No matter the way you choose to go about setting up your medicine delivery business, you’ll need a powerful marketplace builder to launch your website and app.

7. E-commerce and Retail

Amongst the earliest and most popular delivery business ideas are e-commerce and retail businesses. The idea is simple. You either sell your products and deliver them to your customers or you partner with multiple vendors and handle just the delivery part of the business.

There are many decisions you need to take when setting up an e-commerce or retail delivery business including the kind of products you sell, the delivery process, the prices, delivery guarantee if any, and more. When starting, you can opt for a particular category of products, and once you start getting the regular business, venture out and add more categories to the list. A slow-burn approach doesn’t just minimize the risk but also allows you to be more methodical with the process and plan out your expansion strategy more carefully.

8. Furniture Delivery and Assembly

Want to focus on an essential vertical with your delivery business? Furniture is a great option not only because everyone needs furniture but also because of the profit margins at play. When you start a furniture delivery business, you can enter a market that doesn’t have a lot of competition and reap substantial rewards. The easiest way to start a furniture delivery business is by partnering with a talented and reliable furniture supplier. Finding the right partner is crucial to be successful since when it comes to furniture, the quality matters more than the delivery timeliness. Once you have a furniture vendor you trust, put your delivery fleet together, and launch an online furniture marketplace where customers can buy the products you offer. To make your business stand out amongst the rest, you can also add furniture assembly to your delivery services.

9. Alcohol Delivery

Alcohol delivery has become a robust delivery business opportunity, particularly in metropolitan cities. People enjoy the comfort and convenience of having their preferred alcohol delivered to their doorstep. Like most other delivery businesses, your alcohol delivery business needs reliable suppliers you can count on or a good selection of liquor stores your delivery agents can pick up the alcohol from.

Another way to go about running an alcohol delivery business is by putting together a reliable delivery fleet and getting them to buy and deliver alcohol according to the orders received. An important consideration when setting up an alcohol delivery business is the licensing involved. Many states don’t allow alcohol delivery so keep that in mind if you’re considering starting an alcohol delivery business.

10. Laundry

Like cooking food, doing laundry is something most people like to avoid, and there lies the final entry in our list of top delivery business ideas. A laundry delivery business involves a delivery partner collecting your customers’ laundry, bringing it to either your laundromat or your partner store. Once the clothes are washed, the delivery agent will deliver them back to your customers. The process is fairly simple and the only potential pain point can be figuring out where to get the clothes washed. If you don’t want to invest in a laundry station, the best option is to partner with already existing laundromats. Make use of a feature-packed delivery fleet management software and get your laundry delivery business up and running.

Conclusion

And that rounds up our list of the 10 best delivery business ideas. Have questions about how to start a delivery business? Concerned about managing your delivery fleet? We have all the answers you seek. Get in touch with our experts right away.

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