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It is undeniable that ecommerce took the concept of mass consumerism to a whole new level. Just the idea of buying from the comfort of your home brought in a full-fledged retail revolution. However, what made it move one step further was the notion of next-day delivery.
The reason why some people still went to stores is the fact that they could walk out with a product and use it in less than a day. On the other hand, many e-stores force people to wait for several days for a product. Unless the e-store went to compare courier quotes and got a fast courier service to deliver the product quickly, consumers could wait weeks for something they bought to arrive. Needless to say this was a deal-breaker for many people. With this barrier breached, it would be safe to assume that eCommerce has left traditional retail in the past. Here are few observations on how all of this works.
Speaking in Numbers
If there is one thing customers value above all else, it’s control over the purchase. This is why almost 74% of all shoppers tend to buy more often when they are given more control over the product delivery. In other words, allowing people to choose the method of delivery is more likely to generate you return business, which should always be your number one concern. Furthermore if survey conducted by Retail Week is to be trusted, 91% of all your customers place a great value in the time slot of delivery, which is a figure not to be trifled with.
Not Just the Delivery
Seeing how important next-day delivery is to clients, nearly everyone is providing it. However, this doesn’t completely solve the problem. Namely, a lot of eCommerce websites observe the next-day delivery as a huge favor they are doing to their customers, so they charge it accordingly. In this way, some companies can gain a significant competitive edge by offering cheaper (in some situations even free) next-day delivery.
Having a Reliable Partner
The thing about next-day delivery is that most companies cannot do it on their own. Sure, giants like Amazon have their own delivery system, but it would be safe to assume that if you’re not Amazon, this is a service you would have to outsource. Unfortunately, this puts you in a kind of a hotspot. On the one hand, you solve a huge problem, but on the other, you need to entrust this vital task to someone else.
Therefore, it would be wise to do a proper background check on a company you are dealing with and pay special attention to the guarantees they are offering. Try contacting others who entrusted them with the task of freight forwarding and see if their experiences are positive. After all, this is about trust and until you start working with the company, you’ll have to consult with your niche peers.
Looking Forward
Finally, there is one more statistic that you need to take seriously; as time goes by, the delivery performance expectations also become higher. An offer that was considered a true deal-breaker just few years in the past is completely inadequate today. This means that even if you find a ‘perfect recipe’ when it comes to the next-day delivery, you will soon have to look for a way to improve it. This usually means cutting down on prices and including extra features in the offer.
Conclusion
If succeeding in retail was simple, everyone would be millionaires. Still, with a business niche so oversaturated, only those with the ability to plan three moves in advance have a fighting chance. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have one major goal all else should be subjected to – meeting the demands of your customer base (no matter how unrealistic they may be). Perfection may be impossible, but by striving towards it you can at least reach excellence.
