In an competitive e-retail environment, customer retention is a complex and fickle business. An often over-looked aspect of online shopping is order fulfilment, but new research shows that the delivery of goods couldn’t be more important.
By Paul Galpin, managing director of P2P Mailing
The latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index predicts £77bn will be spent online in the UK this year, a 13% growth on 2011. But as the latest research report from P2P Mailing has discovered, making sure these purchases reach the customer in a timely and hassle-free manner is fundamental to ensuring those pounds continue to be spent with your business – rather than with a competitor.
To gauge UK consumer attitudes towards online shopping delivery standards, independent research specialist Mindmetre polled a sample of 2000 UK consumers. Almost two-thirds (65%) of consumers said they consider poor delivery standards to be the worst thing that can go wrong with online shopping.
This is regardless of how simple the ordering process has been before the point of delivery, making it clear customers are reserving their judgements until the goods have been received.
The results also revealed that 87% of respondents would switch to another supplier if they experienced delivery problems twice or more. The very process of buying online requires the consumer to display a great deal more trust in the retailer than is necessary when shopping on the High St.
In an online transaction, the money is exchanged before the goods are in hand. To break that trust with flawed delivery is regarded as totally unacceptable.
Conversely, managing delivery performance well – as part of the total online shopping experience – can encourage greater spend. The majority of respondents (87%) said a consistent set of good online shopping experiences – from order to delivery – would encourage them to do an increased amount of purchasing online.
The challenge for online retailers is to achieve this end-to-end service consistenly. But with 21% of consumers saying that more than one in ten of their online shopping experiences are let down by something going wrong, current standards are clearly falling short of this ideal.
As British consumers continue to do more of their shopping online, great care and attention is given to the look and feel of a website. The same level of care and attention must also be applied to the ‘hidden’ fulfillment operation. The delivery options offered need not be complex.
As an earlier P2P Mailing research report found, 86% of consumers would select standard delivery – rather than next-day, track and trace, or another premium option – when purchasing goods for themselves online. An appealing, intuitive website may attract custom, but it is a robust and failsafe order fulfilment service that will encourage customers to return.
Online shopping is set for continued, healthy growth in the UK. It is those businesses that pay close attention to order fulfilment that stand to benefit most from this still buoyant market.
The most savvy businesses are seeking the advice of expert providers who have the knowledge and the technology to manage the entire order processing and delivery function. Those slow to address delivery standards will quickly lose out.
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