How to Tie up with a Courier or Shipping Company in eCommerce

Last Updated on 20 Mar, 2026

Tie Up With a Courier Company for eCommerce Shipping

Tying up with viable courier partners forms the foundation of any good e-commerce retail and wholesale business.

Without a good shipping company that provides some kind of assurance of quality services, there are numerous areas of your business that can be impacted negatively. These are the factors to consider when selecting a courier service company.

However, the process of tying up with a good shipping partner encompasses numerous different factors that go well beyond onboarding, from the selection of a logistics partner to monitoring their performance over a period to scope out possible areas of improvement.

List of Top 8 Key Things To Keep In Mind When Tie-Up with a Courier Company in India for eCommerce Shipping

In this article, we’ll take you through the major steps of creating a relationship with a shipping or courier company in India that allows you to maintain a profitable business.

1. Choosing a Courier Company and Negotiating Terms of Service

Selecting a courier partner is only the first step in a much longer process but it is by no means an easy one. We’ve created an exhaustive list of 15 different criteria to consider when choosing a logistics company.

The first thing would be overall shipping costs but beyond that, there are also other specializations different online businesses may require.

Like a jewelry company, dealing with expensive and fragile high-value items would likely require a shipping company like Sequel that is familiar with shipping that category of products.

Narrowing down those criteria is highly dependent on the industry each e-commerce business belongs to and the target audience they cater to.

A company selling discount retail clothing would likely require less security than a company dealing with high-end jewelry.

Where a jewelry store may require insurance, a clothing retailer would likely maintain fast delivery as a priority need. A cosmetics company, on the other hand, may require temperature-sensitive courier services for a large portion of their products.

After selecting your ideal shipping company based on a wide variety of criteria, negotiations are the next step.

2. Optimum Utilisation of Resources

How resources are being used is a huge element to consider during the process of negotiating, as well as after the terms have been agreed upon and while the service is being provided.

It’s important to remember that tying up with any logistics company, even if it's one among many, is an ongoing and continuing process.

The base resources any courier company will have are a fleet of vehicles, equipment for loading and unloading shipments, and staff of anywhere between 5,000 to 500,000.

However, a good company is one that continues to develop its existing resources and utilize new ones over time, especially state-of-the-art technologies.

Having a well-trained staff can often be more effective than having a large staff, and vehicles will require regular inspection.

The establishment of Hubs & Dispatch centers in either remote or popular areas is also extremely useful. However, they can only effectively help if the network of centres is well-connected.

Miscommunication can occur in any of the stages of shipment, i.e., first mile, middle mile, or last mile leading to delays in delivery and customers left unaware of the status of their order.

This can result in a higher percentage of RTO’s. The platform a shipping services provider uses for tracking can also impact customer experience, as delayed updates to the customer during the shipping process can severely increase their anxiety and the chances of them developing buyer’s remorse.

3. Defining the Regular Process for Each Order

To avoid any miscommunications, misunderstandings, and mix-ups that could lead to potential losses, it’s helpful to create a blueprint of the delivery system and day-to-day operations.

This map would keep track of how a shipping agent is assigned to a particular order who signs for it and has the item released into their custody and when the item has to be picked up after an order has been placed.

It would also specify how the warehouse personnel would need to be trained to work with a new eCommerce shipping company. A common challenge faced by most e-commerce businesses is handling delivery exceptions.

A delivery can fail for any number of reasons, for example, when the delivery address or contact information of the customer seems to be incorrect.

In such situations, it’s vital for your eCommerce courier services provider company in India to have a clear system in place for dealing with such exceptions, ideally in the form of a customer support team that can be reached by call, text, or email address.

4. Cash-On-Delivery (COD) Reconciliation

The e-commerce sector has experienced a major boom over the past few years, which was pushed into overdrive by the need for remote services during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many consumers opt to pay for their purchases online, which adds to the speed and efficiency of delivery. However, numerous customers still have a preference for COD orders, which allow them to make the payment in cash after delivery has been completed.

While offering Cash-On-Delivery is a great way to reach a larger customer base, it can come with numerous challenges.

One of the most frequent issues that occur when COD orders are placed is a delay in updating the amount of the completed payment with the bank of the e-commerce business.

5. Documentation

Once you’ve finished all the above steps and found clarity with regards to all your determined priority considerations, the next step is confirming the shipping partner and submitting all necessary documentation to ensure you can integrate with that partner's platform smoothly and that all financial and corporate formalities are taken care of.

6. Making Use of An Integration System

Tying up with a single shipping company is only one step in the background of an eCommerce business’s functionality. Medium and large e-tailers usually require multiple courier partners to ensure the complete fulfillment of daily orders.

7. Performance Monitoring

Each shipping company is providing you with a service that can have a major impact on your overall business performance.

8. Renegotiating SLA Terms Based on Areas of Improvement

The goal of monitoring any courier company performance as well as in specific target areas is to determine what are the challenges your business is facing in providing efficient and speedy deliveries.

Final Conclusion

As said before, the process of tying up with a logistics firm is ongoing, so monitoring the performance of a courier company, noting the areas of improvement (both good and bad), and translating that into viable terms for SLA are tasks that need to be carried out over regular intervals.

These can help you to optimize the main essence of service, which is sales & delivery. It keeps customers happy and your business growing and thriving in a competitive market.