Consumers anticipate a hassle-free post purchase experience.
We live in two worlds – offline and online. Bricks and mortar and online stores. Omnichannel and pureplay retailers. Consumers are given more choice than ever – product, price, quality, payment options – and a culture of convenience is prevalent. Convenience has become a fundamental in the buyer’s journey. It’s here to stay. Within last mile logistics, retailers need to pivot accordingly to meet consumer demands and maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Keep reading to find out customer delivery pain points, expectations, and the solutions you can provide to them.
Customer Pain Points
- Missed, delayed or stolen parcels
Delayed deliveries are ubiquitous, with 73% vouching for this (The Growing Importance of Delivery 2022). This directly impacts on customer satisfaction and can cause a permanent riff in the brand-customer relationship. However, a major threat to consumers when it comes online shopping is porch piracy.
63% are worried about porch piracy when they aren’t home.
(The Growing Importance of Delivery 2022)
- Personalisation of last mile delivery
Consumers want to feel special. Despite the millions of online shoppers, no consumer enjoys receiving a generic email about a delivery update. Twilio reported 50% of Australian consumers spending more on a brand personalises their experience, with 79% of consumers saying this customised approach increased brand loyalty (Twilio 2023).
- Unsustainable supply chain
Consumers are becoming increasingly invested in brands that aim to reduce their environmental impacts in their supply chains. It doesn’t start and end at the amount of carbon emissions produced. It includes factors like traceability, transparency and extended to community and governance. When the three pillars of sustainability are interwoven into a business, it’s an all-encompassing endeavour to protect both the natural and human world.
It doesn’t start and end at the amount of carbon emissions produced.
Many companies use marketing tactics to deceive consumers of their sustainability efforts – known as greenwashing – by announcing misleading or false claims. Such companies can only go so far as to convince their audience of their awareness of their carbon footprint. 70% of shoppers are willing to wait for their delivery for longer if it meant an environmental incentive is attached to this action (Parcelmonitor 2023). Bottom line: authenticity and transparency are what’s valued by consumers.
Customer Expectations
- Differentiated delivery options
Offering multiple delivery options means consumers aren’t restricted to one or two choices that may not align with their lifestyle. There is a growing preference for parcel collection points being a mode of pick up. A study revealed that 61% chose to pick up from a designated location in 2023 – that’s a YoY increase of 11% (SOTI 2023). Consumers want flexibility. Our report also supports the need for additional delivery options, with 70% preferring to pick up parcels from a location close to home outside of business hours (The Growing Importance of Delivery 2022).
Equally, returning a parcel is a shopper’s vice if the returns process isn’t efficient – a stressful post purchase experience that can deter consumers from the brand indefinitely.
Consumers want flexibility
- Fast shipping
In Australia, 39% identify delivery times slower than normal (SOTI 2023). Our report revealed 43% chose same-day delivery just to guarantee their parcel will arrive. With the universal experience of delayed or missing deliveries, this shouldn’t be the norm. Confirmed by Power Retail, more than half (51%) select Click & Collect as their delivery option for speediness (Power Retail Switched On Trajectory Report #56).
- Transparent and flexible returns policy
92% of consumers will repurchase from the retailer if returns are straightforward. A flexible returns policy would be providing the option for consumers to choose when and where they can drop off their parcel. Harnessing consumer fundamentals in your Returns can help attract more people to your business.
Solutions
Click & Collect
HUBBED Click & Collect is an example of a pick up solution that caters to every SME or enterprise retailer. Enabled by HUBBED technology, our Network of 3000 locations means consumers can pick up their parcel from stores that are part of the Network. These stores are open 24/7 or extended hours, both on weekdays and weekends. So, forget making your consumers wait at the post on a Saturday.
Offering an additional delivery option means consumers aren’t restricted to one or two choices that may not suit their individual needs. With agnostic carrier solution included within our Click & Collect service, it allows for flexibility with each carrier fulfilling different services, such as express, same day or freight.
Responsible Returns
Consumers enjoy picking up a parcel from convenient parcel collection points at a flexible hour, and that applies to returns as well. Providing a drop off option means a seamless post purchase experience that can induce a lasting brand impression – since you are giving the online shopper the power to decide what time and where they can drop off their parcel. Consumer satisfaction is achieved as you are addressing pain points around the parcel returns process, such as 9-5 post office hours, parcel security and more.
PUDO access is a critical component of any agile retailer. It’s the holistic antidote for the lack of consumer choices in parcel delivery. The outcome is customer convenience and brand loyalty – two badges that every retailer can wear when providing customers flexibility in their purchase experience.