How To Provide White-Glove Service for Product Deliveries

Imagine you’re an art collector and you just won a highly coveted painting at a competitive auction. It’s extremely delicate, so getting it safely to your gallery wall is going to be tricky. Enter white-glove delivery.

The auction house directs a throng of trained art handlers to pack your painting, releases the painting to a specialized art shipping corporation, and dispatches the same throng of professional art handlers to unbox and hang your painting for you. The auction house’s customerserviceteam is responsive when you notify them that you require to transformation your delivery date and fastidious with tracking updates. The staff members who deliver your painting are courteous and cautious, taking meticulous worry as they unload the carefully packaged artwork, carry it into your gallery, and hang it on your wall.

Does this sound like the level of service your ecommerce corporation might advantage from? Read on to discover more about the benefits of white-glove delivery service and how to integrate it into your tiny business.

What is white-glove delivery service? 

White-glove service refers to a extra charge shipping and delivery alternative that ensures a high-level of worry and special attention for transporting fragile and valuable goods. It often involves installation and product assembly, personalized customer service, and delivery to the customer’s desired room (instead of to the doorstep).

For example, furniture and décor brand Arhaus offers white-glove delivery service which, in addition to shipping, includes unpacking, assembly, and removal of packing materials.

What types of businesses require white-glove delivery service?

Any business can provide white-glove service as part of the customer trip, but companies that propose the service often sell high-complete, bulky, or delicate goods. You might consider offering the service if you provide:

• Electronics: Companies that sell home entertainment systems and other large electronic devices often propose white-glove delivery with installation back, helping buyers assemble complicated, multipart purchases.

• Furniture: Furniture items can be cumbersome to transport, deliver, and assemble, and fine furniture and antiques can be especially fragile. White-glove service helps furniture stores get their products safely into homes, and many services propose assembly.

• Art galleries and auction houses: Artwork is especially fragile, and you can’t depend on traditional shipping methods to deliver it safely. Museums, galleries, and auction houses often depend on specialized art delivery services staffed by experts, who can both prevent damage during transport and assist customers with hanging and installation.

• Medical equipment: Businesses that sell fragile and climate-sensitive medical equipment and medicines can depend on white-glove service to ensure proper transport and on-site setup for buyers, ensuring their products function as they’re intended.

• Luxury goods: Luxury brands that sell expensive clothing, accessories, and handbags may opt for white-glove delivery to add an extra level of high-complete service to a luxury shopping encounter.

• Builders and contractors: Builders ordering expensive custom materials like marble countertops may turn to white-glove delivery to prevent any damage in transit, and contractors like interior designers might depend on these services to ensure timely delivery and proper installation of these items for their clients.
• Gym equipment: Gym equipment like treadmills, stationary bikes, and weight racks are heavy. White-glove delivery makes the setup procedure easier for customers in both at-home studios and commercial gyms.

• Collectors: If a one-of-a-benevolent product gets damaged in transit, the seller can’t just send the customer a recent one: Businesses and individuals that specialize in buying and selling rare goods and antiques may opt for specialized services to prevent any damage during transit and delivery.

• Specialty foods: Bakeries and other businesses selling specialty foods might require temperature-controlled shipping vehicles (and extra careful handling) to make sure their products arrive at their goal unharmed. These businesses might also provide trained workers to set up the food items at their destinations, ultimately providing personalized service throughout the customer trip.

What services are included in white-glove delivery service?

• Careful handling by professionals
• Thorough inspections
• Specialized packaging
• Customized shipping
• quick and flexible delivery
• Installation and assembly

Businesses often utilize white-glove delivery services to bypass ordinary shipping problems while customizing the shipping procedure to the customer and product, providing add-on back as needed. Effective white-glove delivery services can include a number of different services, such as:

Careful handling by professionals

Companies that provide white-glove services hire experts who are specially trained in the secure handling of specific types of goods, who in turn may hire different experts to oversee specific phases of the delivery procedure. For example, an auction house might hire art transport professionals to pack a painting in a special truck, who then subcontract art handlers to hang the painting in a customer’s home.

Thorough inspections

Since white-glove delivery services typically safeguard the transfer of costly and fragile items, merchants conduct thorough examinations during order processing to ensure the product is undamaged before it heads out for delivery.

Specialized packaging

White-glove delivery services typically merge specialized packaging options like custom-sized boxes, foam inserts, and other protective elements to ensure that the product travels to its delivery goal as safely as feasible.

Customized shipping

Some products require ultra-specific conditions, like humidity control (for paintings) or refrigeration (for some medicines). A white-glove service might use special delivery vehicles to deliver these climate-sensitive items.

quick and flexible delivery

White-glove services propose quick shipping speeds, and they’ll often accommodate the customer’s personal schedule, allowing for expedited, after-hours, and weekend delivery to meet the customer’s needs. Delivery typically includes specialized drop-offs, like leaving a package in a customer’s desired room rather than on their doorstep. Additionally, white-glove delivery services are receptive to customer feedback throughout the entire delivery procedure, often providing trained professionals to assist with any questions or concerns.

Installation and assembly

White-glove services often propose product installation and assembly, whether that means mounting a large flatscreen television or putting together an expensive dining room table made with rare reclaimed wood. They also receive away packing materials and may even dispose of ancient items for an extra fee (like taking away an ancient piece of equipment while installing a recent version).

How to propose white-glove delivery services

1. Determine the parameters for your services
2. Set fees and communicate them clearly
3. discover the correct insurance coverage
4. throng up with shipping partners
5. Ensure efficient scheduling and planning

If you’re interested in incorporating white-glove delivery services into your business, here’s how to get started:

1. Determine the parameters for your services

Before implementing a white-glove delivery service, decide which features of white-glove service you desire to propose. Do you desire to include inspection, shipping, delivery, personalized customerservice, and installation? Or would you prefer to skip installation? Select a schedule that makes sense given your product, your business’s resources, and your customers.

2. Set fees and communicate them clearly

Once you’ve determined what services you’ll propose, it’s period to compute your white-glove delivery expense. Your shipping costs might vary depending on product size, product weight, order worth, and goal.

White-glove delivery can be expensive: Make sure to clearly communicate the costs on your website and promotional materials to avoid any customer sticker shock. For example, if you include add-on services like installation, make sure to explicitly state that installation comes at an additional fee.

3. discover the correct insurance coverage

Handling expensive and fragile goods is inherently risky, so you’ll desire to make sure you discover a excellent shipping insurance policy to recoup losses from damage during transit.

4. throng up with shipping partners

If you’re implementing white-glove service for high-complete and fragile items, you’ll likely require a specialized shipping associate that offers services like climate-controlled trucks or specialized packaging. Identify which special features you’ll require before you commence comparing potential shipping partners.

5. Ensure efficient scheduling and planning

Working in tandem with your shipping partners, try to schedule efficient shipping routes, which can ensure that deliveries make it to clients in a timely fashion.