Online customer behaviors and demands changed really fast due to the increased usage of online shopping and the growing opportunities that internet technologies provide. So today, we want to talk about one of the crucial parts of the e-commerce experience, perfect delivery flows.
The lifestyle changes we were forced to do by covid-19, increased online shopping dramatically. Throughout the pandemic, retailers also had to adapt to changing conditions, expectations, and demands of their customers.
According to Metapack’s consumer research, 38% of customers said that they will never shop from the same brand after a bad delivery experience, in 2016. This date research was even before the pandemic so we can only expect this rate to be increased.
Delivery flow stands for the logistic process of a company, but it highlights the integrated and automatic nature design of the process with the word flow. Now, in the post-pandemic era, delivery experience is an important competitive factor due to the expectations of customers for almost every single one of the retailers.
There are also big players in the ecosystem that create a heated competition. Optimization of the delivery process and creating a better customer experience is the only way if a retailer wants to increase its market share. It’s more than one of the options anymore, there are businesses that fully rely on delivery advantage and succeed.
Although it becomes harder to satisfy customers’ expectations day by day, it is possible to optimize your delivery flow easily with several digital tools and create a bullet-proof system.
Your e-commerce optimization should focus on increasing conversions, improving average order value, making an easier market or audience growth, reducing costs, and efficiency improvement. Don’t forget that picking a logistic strategy for e-commerce operations is easier with the help of digital tools.
✔️ To increase conversions.
✔️ To improve average order value.
✔️ To make a market or audience growth easier.
✔️ To reduce costs.
✔️ To improve efficiency.
You can check out this article for a more detailed explanation about last mile delivery.
An Ideal Delivery Flow: Best Practice
First, there should be a centralized system where orders are monitored. In this step, orders are entered into the system. And also because this is where you began to control and optimize delivery flow. At this point, there should be panels for entered orders both by customers and sellers.
Then, orders will arrive at the transportation hub and wait for delivery. You can use digital tools and solutions to select and organize which order should be first, which should be waited, etc. The more orders wait here, the more stock costs increase. But also it’s possible that there is a customer’s demand such as scheduled delivery, or a location where you can only deliver one or two days a week. When you use software like 7islem, the wait or sent decision could be made by the system.
It is followed by the last-mile delivery process beginning. This part starts with orders arriving from the transportation hub. You should be fast, transparent, fluid, proactive, responsive, and modern as much as you can in this part.
You can optimize your couriers, and locations, and make different flows for different products. It’s all up to you and your business’ needs. That is why the important part isn’t purchasing software, but getting know-how.
After that, orders hand to couriers by routes and addresses. This step is one of the biggest opportunities to become more cost-effective by benefiting digital solutions. These solutions can also make you sure packages are in the right way for the address every single time.
To avoid any mistakes throughout the whole process, you can always ask for help from us.
