The Importance of Shipping

We’re always looking to future proof your fulfilment solutions and optimise your customer’s experience. This inspired us to reach out to the delegates at Online Retailer 2014 and film their responses to the challenges of shipping in commerce. We interviewed a number of industry experts and retailers and gathered some insights into how crucial shipping is to online customers and the way they see it evolving in the future.

Shipping’s impact on customer experiences

Many of the respondents saw shipping as one of the most crucial and also least understood components of the ecommerce puzzle. Part of this confusion stems from retailers assuming that the customer’s journey with the brand finishes when the package is picked up as opposed to when it’s been delivered. “For an online retailer that is your interaction with the customer…that’s when they touch the business for the first time. It’s the most important step.” This physical element of the transaction is key to delighting customers as good and bad experiences can both effect a customer’s likelihood to repeat purchase.

The Future

We heard a range of imaginative responses to the future direction of shipping. From dispatch by drones through to crowd-sourced delivery services and delayed fulfilment. A large amount of our responders also noted the growing importance of offering same-day delivery and click and collect options. This all comes back to the important point that all of our respondents acknowledged; that consumer choice and the ability to select how a package gets to you is a crucial component of building fulfilment processes for the future. Customer expectations around online retail and shipping are only becoming more demanding and the more options you can give to a customer, the more likely they are to have a positive experience and remain loyal.

Congratulations to our winner!

Thank you to all of the delegates that took part in our video competition at Online Retailer. Josh Emblin from IE Agency won 2 tickets to the Cirque Du Soleil in Sydney for his unique perspective on crowd-sourced deliveries and the significance of meeting customer expectations. Congratulations Josh!