How do timely deliveries have a positive impact on your business and what can you do about it?

 

For any B2C business keeping the customer happy is of utmost importance. The focal touchpoint in this chain is the delivery mechanism and rapidity. No one wants to wait for their package to arrive after a week or having to go through the hassle of following up with the brand, thus propagating a sense of buyer’s remorse. Chances are that, if your logistics needs are not met, you will lose out on repeat customer purchase.

 

The following are some of the finest strategies to ensure that you’re one step ahead of your competitors.

 

Know What to Expect

With any festive season or change in weather, customer purchase increases. Whether you work with drop shipping or end to end solutions with your logistics provider, pre plan and keep your logistics partner in the loop. Look at previous buying trends or market reports for better understanding.

 

Re-strategize Your Shipping Options

Varying shipping and logistics options during peak season will definitely help with better customer service. Be creative and offer pick up from the nearest store. If your business is both a brick-and-mortar and e-commerce channel, a multi-carrier strategy may work better. This allows your business to address specific channel needs and ensure timely delivery.

 

Manage Customer Expectations

Communicate well in advance on the last day to order and invest in real time inventory management software to decrease the number of cancelled orders due to overbooking. Each major shipping service will have certain cutoff dates for both international and domestic shipments so be prepared and prepare your customer on what to expect.

 

Invest in Increased Resources

Hiring need based contractual employees is always a good idea in peak season. This helps with not only beating the odds of a large number of orders but also helps with creating a data pool for HR to be tapped into when you expand.

 

Analyze and Learn

It is important to review and analyze previous performances to make the supply chain better and smoother. A few important questions to ask are:

Did the products arrive properly packaged?

Did the products arrive clean?

Was the delivery guy nice and helpful?

With fast paced technological initiatives making the way for better and faster logistics, the supply chain or brands is becoming easier and more effective. Recent announcements by Swyft Logistics are one such example, with Swyft Logistics investing in technological advancements to improve processes for its brand partners.

 

Best practices of E-commerce shipping – Are you doing it right?

E Commerce is getting more competitive day by day. With the sudden boom in digital and the government facilitating e-commerce businesses, the online marketplace is going to get bigger; both on the consumer and business end. Pitney Bowes’ 2015 Holiday Shipping Survey is still a relevant read for those working on their shipping strategies.

 

  • 93% of consumers say shipping options are an important factor in their online shopping experience (up a massive 24% from 2014)
  • 88% said that free shipping with 5-7 day delivery time is more attractive than paying a fee for 1-2 day faster delivery
  • 3 in 5 consumers have increased their total spend in the past to qualify for free shipping
  • 68% have used a free shipping coupon code

 

Fulfilment & Customer Service

This is on you. Your team needs to be clear on questions asked frequently and are able to process orders quickly and efficiently with the help of your logistics partners. They need to prepare for an influx of orders on promotions and sales and coordinate with logistics partners accordingly.

 

What are your Shipping Goals?

Like all e-commerce businesses, the goals are pretty similar and focus on increasing conversions, reducing costs and attracting more customers. Working closely with your logistics partner can help you to come up with flexible and cost-effective solutions that will lower cost and improve customer service performance through timely deliveries. Logistics partners that are using technology creatively to enhance brand partner performance should be preferred.

https://swyftlogistics.com/web/contact/ 

 

Choosing the right Partner

Make sure that your logistics partner offers transparency to the customer with regards to tracking the package and timely response. It is also important that the partner enables the brand to be able to work in real time through a vendor portal.

https://www.swyftlogistics.com/