The parcel delivery systems are ever changing and the good carrier services do have to be very fleet of foot to keep up with all the changes. The biggest problem is to guess which of the myriad of different options will be successful and which will fall by the wayside.
One of the new systems that may well happen is the 'ship from store systems' where a company store will ship anything directly from the store to home. This allows the customer to view and examine and even test the various companies' products and then purchase and walk out knowing that they will be delivered safely and securely. There are places like the big supermarkets that do a standard delivery service of household food stuffs from an internet order and the prices are the same as the shop with a minimal charge for transport and it would not be a major administration problem for stores to do the same for actual store shoppers. If this process is examined sensibly the administration is fairly easy as it can all be computer stored for easy access by the shipper. In essence the store becomes a showcase for the goods, which are shipped separately.
In many cases the customer and store can gain by shipping at a low cost for bulk purchases and even carriage free for orders over a certain value. The options are endless but it would be easy for a person to move from department to department buying without having to take any of the goods home. One of the biggest advantages for this system is that somebody can shop on the way to work or the theatre or whatever other activity they want to do without the worry as to what to do with the goods if they purchase them and have to take them home.
A good parcel courier has all the abilities in place to do daily deliveries in most areas and to fit in with a local store to deliver their daily sales will not only increase their daily sales but it will reduce their overall costs. This is a system that may well work with the small store as he can easily work with a good courier to ship the goods at a low price. It also means that all delivery sales can be got ready from the store all together and this reduces store operator time and should reduce costs within the store.