It turns out some retailers don’t think same-day delivery and free shipping is important to consumers! Yes – you read this mind-boggling statement correctly – according to a recent survey, only 24 per cent of retailer respondents think free shipping is important to online shoppers while only 29 per cent say 1 to 2 day deliveries is important (forget same-day deliveries).
But here’s the problem – the same survey revealed three quarters (74 per cent) of consumers think free shipping is of utmost importance (not just important) while nearly half (44 per cent) of consumers said they’d choose their retailer based on speed of delivery.
A disconnect between retailers and consumers
To say this disconnect between retailers and their consumers is “alarming” is an understatement of epic proportions – and the proof really is in the pudding. Flexe CEO, Karl Siebrecht, told Supply Chain Dive that 70 per cent of retail respondents promising next-day deliveries were found to have a shopping-cart abandonment rate of less than 20 per cent, compared to only 42 per cent of respondents not promising next-day deliveries.
So, it seems there needs to be some loud and clear messaging put out there in the world of online retail: Make no mistake, deliveries must be cost-effective and fast – otherwise you will lose sales!
Consumers want it all; cheap and fast deliveries
As the old saying goes “the customer is always right”. It’s 2017 and whether retailers like it or not, consumers want it all; they want to shop from the comfort of their homes without having to wait for deliveries and they certainly don’t want to pay through the nose to get them faster.
And here’s the sobering thought; retailers who subscribe to the crazy notion that same-day deliveries and free shipping isn’t important are in for a massive wakeup call, and it’s called Amazon. Yes, Amazon will soon be arriving in Australia promising free shipping and fast, same-day delivery services which means retailers that don’t step up their game in the online delivery space will be pushed out.
Overcoming the same-day delivery challenges
We get it, though; many online retailers are seriously challenged when it comes to meeting consumer demand around deliveries. This is because they struggle to make fast deliveries financially feasible without the benefit of multiple large-scale fulfillment centres and in-house delivery drivers like Amazon. Outsourcing these processes to distribution centres and traditional courier services is a costly affair – especially when you don’t have quantity and density of deliveries on your side.
But there is a solution with Go People. Cutting out the middlemen and huge overheads associated with traditional courier services, Go People allows retailers to take care of their fulfillment onsite by providing cheap point-to-point delivery services through our team of nearly 20,000 crowd-sourced delivery runners.
Once you’ve booked your immediate, same-day, or even entire delivery shift through our online platform, all retailers need to do is pick, pack and label their orders ready for pick-up. So, go on, get Amazon ready and avoid losing those sales!
Find out more about our range of cost-effective delivery options here.