It’s no secret that small business owners are often pressed for time and support. Many of Australia’s small business workforce would admit that they are constantly looking for new ways to get their job done more efficiently – because they know that every dollar counts toward their bottom line.

There are a range of new products and services being developed across the country to assist these small business owners with their day-to-day workload. But it’s not just start-ups and tech businesses that are developing these small business offers; one of Australia’s most established businesses is working hard to support the thousands of small business owners who send and receive parcels every day.

The team at Australia Post have investigated the ways that their delivery network and infrastructure can be leveraged to create more efficient processes for small business customers.

Innovating for the small business market

While you may still think of Australia Post as a network of retail post offices and delivery staff riding pushbikes around Aussie suburbs; The 208 year old organisation has used its technology resources to develop a service that’s created specifically with local small businesses in mind.

The company’s MyPost Business product can be hugely beneficial for small business workers who want to save time and hassle when shipping their parcels around the country – and the world.

How Australia Post aims to help your business succeed

If you’re wondering what type of offer Australia Post could make to genuinely improve the efficiency of your business’ workflow, you might be pleasantly surprised. For one, you may not need to go offsite to post your packages – a huge time-saver for anyone operating with a small and busy team.

If your business is located in one of the selected metropolitan areas, MyPost Business allows you to schedule parcel pickups from your home or office. All you need to do is print the labels.
If you’re concerned about the cost of sticky labels, you can save some money by printing straight onto ordinary A4 paper.

Additional charges apply for this service, but if your business does deal in deliveries, it’s worth considering the small fee to streamline the sending process. The amount of time you’re spending on post office trips can be reinvested into more critical tasks to focus on improving your business.

If you’re located outside of those selected areas, you can still take advantage of the convenience of easily printing your labels on location at your own work space. That way they’re ready to simply stick on the parcels, so you can quickly drop them off at your local post office or street-side post box. This may seem like a small time saving initiative, but it all adds up and helps you to minimise the amount of time you spend standing in line and doing your admin work at the post office.

Using technology to create a better shipping experience for business owners and their customers

This whole sending process is made all the more convenient with the MyPost Business app, which is available on both the App Store and Google Play.

You can use it to scan your shipping labels and enter the customers’ details using your own smartphone.

But it’s not just business owners that benefit from the technology used in this process. Customers will see an enhanced shipping experience as well. They will receive automated tracking notifications so they’ll be kept up-to-date about when their order is arriving. Their order will be added to your tracking list too, helping you to deliver great customer service and providing transactional visibility to both parties.

Supporting ecommerce businesses

You can streamline the process further and avoid double handling if you have an eBay or online store. Connecting your eBay account to MyPost Business, allows you to import customer details to use for your labels and tracking. For online stores, you can do this by importing the information from a CSV file.

In addition to the convenience that this provides you as a business owner, it offers your customers a great experience when interacting with your business online. They can keep tabs on their parcels; and you’re setting yourself up to provide better assistance if they have any questions or queries during the delivery process. Don’t underestimate how important this can be – customer service is paramount to any business.

Australia Post also recognises this, and are there to support their clients around the clock. After all, it’s rare for a small business to stick to a 9-5 work day.

You can contact them anytime through their 24/7 online support service. Or if you would prefer a conversation, their phone support line is open 8am-8pm AEST.
These immediate problem solving capabilities can have a positive impact on your business operations. It can enable you to get back to the job at hand faster, as well as increase your own customer service capabilities.

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