A successful retail venture means offering the right product at the right price. When trading online, how you deliver your product to your customers becomes just as crucial.
The Europe-wide UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study [PDF] found 58% of online shoppers will abandon the goods in their shopping basket if they find delivery takes too long.
Research by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) highlights some equally stark statistics, finding that 40% of shoppers will check the delivery options before browsing an online shop, moving on to the next if the cost or method doesn’t suit.
“If you don’t have a good delivery option, then the customer won’t even look at your website,” says Andrew Starkey, founder of consultancy Spiral 4 and head of e-logistics at IMRG.
“You have to offer an affordable and appropriate range of delivery options, or else customers won’t shop with you, and then you’ve wasted your marketing budget.”
Offer a choice of options
Starkey says that delivery options fall into three broad categories.
“The first is to use the postal system. This tends to be a slower option, lacking added extras. But it is the cheapest,” he says. “Using a courier is more expensive, but comes with valuable features, such as insurance, tracking and updates, and it’s quicker.
“Customers appreciate the ability to to track their parcel, not least because it eases the nervousness between payment and receipt of goods.”
As your business grows and you begin to send out regular dispatches, a third option opens up to those that can commit to minimum order levels.
Starkey says: “The third way involves an organisation which accepts parcels, consolidates them and adds them to dispatches from other retailers. They will then use scheduled flights to land these parcels in the destination country and insert them into the local postal or courier network.”
A huge advantage is that these specialists are able to provide up-front costs, covering both delivery and customs, which the retailer can provide to the customer at the outset. No shopper likes being stung by surprise extra fees after checkout. And because they can often pre-clear all the parcels with customs, delivery is much quicker.
Starkey says a choice of two to three options suits most customers. An economy option, and a quicker option that some customers are willing to pay extra for in time-critical situations.
“The key is to be affordable, be proportionate, so no £30 delivery fees on a £10 item, and be transparent and up-front with your costs and timings.”
Work with local networks
Click and collect is growing in popularity, as customers prefer to avoid sitting by their front door waiting for deliveries. Services such as the UPS Access Point allow retailers to offer their customers the option to have goods delivered to a convenient location – such as a petrol station or newsagent – for them to collect at a time that suits them.
Arshad Mahmood Snr added a UPS Access Point to his Superway Food and Wine store in Walsall, one of 20,000 businesses to have done so throughout the UK and globally.
He said: “It’s a great service that my customers love. Our shop is open from 8am to 10pm and customers can come in at any point, whenever it’s convenient for them, and pick up their parcels or drop off returns.
“We have all sorts of customers using the service, anybody can use it.”
Be strategic
The best delivery methods for your business depend on what you’re selling, and who’s buying, says logistics expert Barrie Brackstone.
Brackstone has decades of experience helping companies get products to consumers and found that each market has its own preferences.
“The ability to track-and-trace is more important in some cases than in others,” says Brackstone. “This feature can cost as much as 30% more than delivery without.
“If it’s a valuable item, like a TV, then I’m willing to pay for that peace of mind. If I’m buying a book for a fiver, that 30% becomes a significant addition to the price.”
Brackstone also says that his time working with a large fashion group, which oversaw a range of brands, taught him that different customers have different expectations.
He says: “Speaking generally, the older audience tended to make considered purchases and immediate delivery was less of a priority. But it’s quite common for youngsters to shop online today for a dress they want to wear to a party tomorrow night.”
In the second instance, offering next-day delivery can help win customers over a rival retailer that doesn’t.
Expect returns
Whatever your delivery method, it’s imperative to have a straightforward and simple returns option.
EU law says that customers have the right to return goods within 14 days, for any reason. Though unless it’s damaged or faulty, the consumer has to cover the shipping cost.
The UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study reports that as many as a third of online shoppers want to see a returns label included in the parcel.
Goods can be returned either through the postal system, or a courier, but remember it’s only the first stage of the process.
“Some clothes shoppers will buy the same garment in a variety of options so that they can choose the best fit and the best colour,” says Brackstone. “Of the four they bought, three are going back.
“Retailers need processes in place to check returns aren’t damaged, and repackage them for a future sale. For clothing, that can be a visual check. For other items, such as electrical goods, that needs to be more in-depth. In all cases, retailers need to set aside appropriate time.”
Today’s online shoppers expect speedy and affordable delivery, secure in the knowledge that it is backed up by a sound returns option.
“A good delivery experience will make a customer loyal to a brand in 70% of cases,” concludes Andrew Starkey. “If you want your customer to come back, you have to get the delivery right.”
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UPS My Choice is also available, offering customers more power over their UPS home deliveries by providing estimated delivery windows and the ability to reschedule and redirect their goods to a UPS Access Point location, or an alternative preferred safe location.
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with UPS, sponsor of the Exporting to New Markets hub on the Small Business Network.
