Australians will spend less time waiting for the postie and chasing missed deliveries thanks to a deal which lets online shoppers opt for Australia Post while still taking advantage of advanced parcel tracking features. 
Aussie startup Shippit launched last year as a rival to Australia Post, coordinating courier services for more than 300 online retailers to allow them to offer tight delivery windows ??? even outside business hours.
Now Shippit has signed a nationwide agreement with the postal service, meaning Shippit's business customers can offer Australia Post's Standard and Express Post parcel delivery as a cheaper option than courier services. While covering more of regional Australia, the deal also lets shoppers track their Australia Post parcels and receive email and SMS notifications, as well as reroute and reschedule deliveries on short notice.
The new deal is a key part of Shippit's goal to extend a great online shopping experience beyond the Buy Now button in the shopping cart, says Shippit co-founder Robert Hango-Zada.
"While it's great to have deluxe delivery options with narrow delivery windows, around 90 per cent of all online shopping still goes through a standard means of parcel delivery such as Australia Post," Hango-Zada says.
"The Australia Post deal lets us provide transparency and consistency to those shoppers ??? a little bit of extra delivery information can go a long way in reducing customer anxiety after they've forked over a lot of money and their valuable shopping is now in the hands of the postie."
Similar to some courier services, Shippit allows online shoppers to know exactly when their item is collected from the retailer by Australia Post. They're issued an estimated time of arrival and receive a follow-up notification when their parcel is onboard a van for delivery. Shoppers can also rate their delivery experience, with that feedback going to the retailers.
"We're in the business of reducing shopper anxiety and we'd love to banish those dreaded "missed delivery" slips once and for all," Hango-Zada says.
"It's not just news good for shoppers, it's also good for the retailers because it helps them address unsatisfactory delivery experiences before customers reach the point of no return and are so angry with the retailer that they take their business elsewhere."
Unreliable delivery services also force online retailers to dedicate more resources to dealing with unhappy customers. It takes around 20 minutes for a retailer to resolve a delivery complaint, Hango-Zada says, but this can be avoided by providing customers with improved self-service options to assure them that their delivery is still on track.
"One of our customers, The Academy Brand, says we've reduced their complaint resolution costs by 90 per cent because customers are better informed and less likely to email or call to resolve a delivery issue," he says.
"In return we're also finding that people who shop with stores that use Shippit tend to be more satisfied customers, and in turn shop more frequently - so it really is a win/win situation when you can improve the online shopping delivery experience."