Many businesses rely on International Courier services. With the boom of the internet and ecommerce it is now much easier for any business to have a global customer base and its vitally important that businesses are able to meet the expectations of the customers world wide.

In theory, International Courier services are no different to your national and local services. It's just that they involve different types of transportation. However, look a little deeper and things become slightly more complicated in that along the way the consignment will make many stops at different depots, and may even pass into the hands of different courier companies along the way. Naturally you may not even know who these courier companies are, how they operate or what kind of service they deliver.

However, just to confuse matters, the best service doesn't always come from the most expensive company. Getting value for money involves a balance between cost and service. Whilst one customer might get best value for money using one courier company, it is possible that another customer might need to look elsewhere to get what they would consider best value. This is where it can start to confuse consumers, who simply want the best deal that reflects well on their business.

There are different ways that you can shop around, looking for the best international courier company.

Firstly, if you have the time you can simply shop around. The internet is a very useful tool that makes this very easy but it can be difficult to get the information that you require to make an informed decision on if that company offers a best value for money service.

Secondly, you can go and talk to courier companies. Again, as with shopping around on the internet, if you meet with a sales person its their job to talk the company up, so you don't always get the true picture or reflection of service. This process can also be very costly in terms of time spent trying to get the best deal.

Thirdly, you could contact a cost consultant. The consultant will spend many hours monitoring the international courier market, finding out which companies provide which services and at what cost. They may collate independent customer testimonials, both negative and positive and also record delivery statistics giving you a real true reflection on just how good that particular company is.

As the courier consultant has the data readily available, its an efficient process for them to compare one company against the other, and as already stated, a courier isn't a one fit solution so its important that a substantial cross section of companies is used in order to benchmark them against each other.

Using a cost consultant is typically free to the consumer, as the consultant has already agreed fees and commissions with the courier companies in question, so at the end of the day its a no risk practice.