Every year brings new challenges and the e-commerce industry is no different. Customer expectations are constantly rising and online shops are struggling to keep up with them. One area where you need to be ready for more work is logistics.
What can we expect from the coming year when it comes to shipping orders to customers?
Probably few sectors are growing as rapidly as e-commerce. The pandemic has only accelerated this process. Customers all over the world have fallen in love with online shopping and there is no indication that this is about to change any time soon.
One of the key areas when it comes to e-commerce is logistics. Activities such as taking orders, packing packages and shipping them to customers can consume a lot of time, yet have a real impact on customer satisfaction. If you run an online shop, how can you prepare for the logistical challenges that the new year brings?
Is your shop ready to handle orders in 2022?
Let's start with customers' expectations of delivery times. In the second half of 2021, Gemius prepared a comprehensive report on the state of the Polish e-commerce market. One of the questions that respondents were asked was about the perfect delivery time for an order:
Graphics source: Gemius
Note that 24-hour delivery is no longer sufficient. Today, customers expect delivery within 12 or even 8 hours. Many shops that manually manage orders are not able to meet this expectation.
If this applies to you too, it is worth thinking about somehow improving or even automating the preparation and shipping of orders. One such way could be to invest in software that comprehensively helps with order fulfilment and preparation. Shops using the solution provided by Way2Send save a lot of time on packaging and shipping goods. As a result, customers receive their ordered products faster.
DELIVERY TO PARCEL LOCKERS AND FREE RETURNS
Secondly, you should ensure that your shop includes all the forms of delivery and returns that customers expect. In the Gemius survey, customers indicated the three most important forms of delivery for them:
Źródło grafiki: Gemius
Are all three on offer in your shop? If not, it's high time to get it right! What about returns? The information coming from the Polish market is clear - customers expect free returns.
Graphics source: Gemius
Of course, for your shop this is not necessarily good news. After all, a free return means extra work and costs that no one will reimburse you for. The benefit, on the other hand, is that you will gain recognition from your customers in this way. As a result, the money lost in handling free returns can come back to you multiplied in the form of additional orders and more customers. Will it pay off? Definitely yes!
What else to keep an eye on in the coming year?
First and foremost, consider possible supply chain issues. Although everyone has become accustomed to the pandemic, it still has a major impact on the way many businesses, including wholesalers and distributors, operate.
If you use foreign suppliers for the products you offer in your shop, make sure your deliveries in 2022 run smoothly. You may need to place orders in advance so that you can be sure not to run out of stock in your warehouse, especially before busy periods.
A final point that it is always relevant to automate your work. The more you can do automatically or with minimal effort, the more time you will have left for business development and customer service. This will make it easier to scale your business and increase profits. And when it comes to automating your logistics, you can start with a platform that comprehensively helps you manage your orders.
