UK Delivery Options Explained: What to Offer Your Customers

Customers judge your shop on delivery as much as on your products. Offer the right mix of options, and you win more orders without paying for speed nobody asked for.

This guide explains the main UK delivery options, what each one actually promises, and which services the carriers included with ShipStation offer for each.

Standard delivery

Standard delivery is the everyday option for parcels that aren’t urgent. It’s usually the cheapest service, and most customers are happy to wait a couple of days if they know when to expect their order.

Royal Mail Tracked 48 aims to deliver in two to three working days. Evri’s standard ParcelShop drop-off service, DPD Two Day, and UPS Standard cover the same need. ShipStation’s documentation describes UPS Standard as one to five working days.

Next-day delivery

Next-day delivery suits urgent orders, and many customers will pay extra for it. All five domestic carriers included with ShipStation offer a next-day option:

Royal Mail Tracked 24 aims to deliver the next working day.

Evri offers next-day versions of its ParcelShop drop-off and Postable services. Postable is for letterbox-sized parcels.

DPD Next Day is DPD’s next-day service. With the DPD labels included in your ShipStation account, you drop the parcel at a DPD store.

Parcelforce express24 delivers by close of business on the next working day, and Parcelforce guarantees the delivery time.

UPS next-day and express services are time-definite.

Timed delivery

Some customers need a parcel by a particular time, not just on a particular day. DPD lists timed next-day services, Next Day 12 and Next Day by 10:30, and Parcelforce runs express10 and expressAM, which guarantee delivery by 10am or by noon. Check which of these appear for your account when you compare services. UPS’s express services are time-definite.

Weekend delivery

Royal Mail’s Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 delivery aims include Saturdays, according to the Post Office, and Royal Mail says Tracked 24 also includes Sunday delivery at no extra cost to the sender. Parcelforce says its next-day service delivers five days a week. With your own Evri business account, Evri also offers Saturday and Sunday courier services.

Tracked, signed for, and guaranteed: what’s the difference?

Tracked. You and your customer can follow the parcel to delivery. For Royal Mail’s Tracked 24 and Tracked 48, the Post Office says these services include proof of delivery, a photo on delivery, and an SMS or email to the recipient when the parcel arrives.

Signed for. Someone has to sign for the parcel when it is delivered. Through ShipStation, Royal Mail offers Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 with Signature, which capture a signature on every delivery. Use it for valuable items, or where you need proof of who received the parcel.

Guaranteed. The carrier commits to a delivery day or time. Parcelforce express24 is guaranteed by the end of the next working day, and UPS’s express services come with a money-back guarantee. Royal Mail’s Tracked services aim to deliver by a day, but they don’t guarantee it.

The difference between an aim and a guarantee matters when you describe delivery at checkout. “Usually arrives next working day” is accurate for a service with an aim. “Guaranteed next day” is only accurate for a service with a guarantee.

Delivery to a shop or locker

Many UK customers prefer to collect a parcel from a local shop or locker, rather than wait in or risk a missed delivery. How you offer it depends on the carrier:

Evri supports delivery to its ParcelShops on its ParcelShop Dropoff Next Day, Postable, and Postable Next Day services through ShipStation.

DPD delivers to its Pickup points, and its Parcel Shop to Shop service goes from one shop to another. If DPD can’t deliver to an address after two attempts, it diverts the parcel to a local shop for collection.

InPost runs a network of lockers and shops, and its Shop to Shop service delivers to them.

Royal Mail services bought through ShipStation can’t be sent to a collection point. They go to the customer’s address.

If you have your own shop, you can also offer click-and-collect from it. That’s a choice in your checkout, not a carrier service. For the other side of the same journey, see our guide to where to drop off a parcel in the UK.

What to offer at checkout

Offer a standard option and at least one faster paid option. Most customers pick standard, and those in a hurry will pay for speed.

Describe each option accurately. Use “aims to” or “usually” for services with a delivery aim, and save “guaranteed” for services that are. Royal Mail also doesn’t provide delivery targets for some remote postcodes, so check before you promise a date there.

Show the total price clearly. The Competition and Markets Authority expects the total price you show consumers to include the cheapest delivery option they have to pay for. Faster options, such as next-day, count as optional extras that can be added when chosen. Our guide to how to calculate shipping costs and what to charge customers covers the details, and the CMA’s price transparency guidance has the full rules. This is general information, not legal advice.

Match each checkout option to a service automatically. With ShipStation’s service mapping and automation rules, the option a customer picks in your store becomes the right carrier service when the order arrives.

How ShipStation helps

ShipStation lets you compare services across Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Evri, DPD, UPS, and GlobalPost in one place, and map each delivery option in your checkout to the right service. You can connect your own carrier accounts too, including InPost.

Riccardo Russo

More articles by Riccardo Russo