UK Courier Franchise Opportunities

Courier franchise opportunities in the UK are often overlooked when people research franchising. Although these opportunities may not sound like the most exciting, they have the potential to earn a comfortable income. There are a few different avenues that can be taken when starting up a courier franchise and almost all courier franchises require a physical store location. Let's look at what it means to operate a courier franchise.

What is a courier franchise?

Think about how the world communicates and transfers items on a daily basis. In almost every transaction, a courier business was used to help deliver the message or item. A courier franchise would be investing in a larger courier company (i.e. UPS Store, FedEx Office, etc.) and operating retail stores for them that sell shipping products, shipping services, faxing services, copier services, and more to customers. Not everything can be transmitted through email so courier services help out when specialized equipment is needed (i.e. fax machines, copier machines) or some object needs to be shipped.

Why research UK courier franchise opportunities?

One of the major reasons to look into a courier franchise is that most everyone is a potential customer for at least one of the services or products offered. For example, someone who needs to fax off important paperwork and who doesn't have a fax machine at home can utilize a courier's faxing service. Fax machines are not too popular in homes unless there is a business need because most people do not use a fax machine too often. For someone who does not mail a package very often, a courier's shipping products (i.e. boxes, packing tape, packing peanuts, etc.) can be of use. There is a potential for a double sale with shipping products and shipping service.

Courier businesses cater to businesses as well. Not all businesses have access to large format printers or quality printers because they are so expensive. Instead, some businesses utilise courier locations to print out important reports or presentations that they need. These jobs are usually high volume and require high-quality paper stock and colour prints to give it a professional feel.

Courier Business - Buy a Franchise Or Start Your Own?

Courier businesses are flourishing as documents and goods get transported around the world in ever increasing volumes. There are few businesses that allow you to startup your business with as little investment as a courier business. At a minimum all you really need is a reliable car and a cell phone and you can start tomorrow. Of course the realities are often a bit different from theory and after a thorough analysis you may find that buying into a courier franchise makes more sense for you.

Probably the hardest part of starting your own courier business is building up your customer base. It can be a challenge to get new clients while you are on the road delivering packages to existing ones. For this reason a husband and wife team is an ideal way to start courier business. One partner can be on the road while the other is on the phone getting new clients, route planning and informing clients of the status of their deliveries.

There is some amazing technology available to assist you, such as G.P.S. receivers and vehicle tracking devices which integrate with trip planning software. Other areas that will take up a lot of your time and resources is registering your business, getting promotional material prepared and developing branding.

Buying into a franchise in the UK can help you to hit the ground running. From your very first day of operation you will have uniforms, a branded van, clients and a mentoring system in place. Some franchise systems even promise a minimum revenue for the first year of operation.

The down-side of purchasing a UK franchise is that the initial investment will be a lot more, which of course will take time to recoup, but you may find that the "instant income" model which the franchise provides will offset the slow start that you may experience with your own startup business.

In Summary

Courier franchise opportunities have the potential to be an important and worthwhile venture due to the large customer base and ties to the communications industry. Courier businesses offer a wide variety of services and products that are attractive to many people. Most people and some businesses do not have the ability to perform certain activities such as faxing or printing high-quality reports without the assistance of couriers.