4 Simple Ways to Up eCommerce Delivery Performance in 2020

TechsPlace | Have you ever asked yourself how reliable your shipping policies are? How often do you ship the wrong products or miss shipping dates? Most importantly, how do you handle negative customer experiences in eCommerce Delivery Performance? The best eCommerce fulfillment services are always able to adapt to the changing times. This is why it’s important to always update your strategies with each new year. Check out some of the new ways we’ve come up to increase your eCommerce delivery performance goals for 2020.

The quality of your delivery services can heavily impact your brand image, brand loyalty, and customer relationships. These factors will also dictate your bottom line. Research says that 84% of customers won’t buy from you again after just one poor delivery experience.

To work for your customers, your supply chain management needs to be highly productive, fast, responsive and, above all, customer-centric.

Here are four key steps eCommerce businesses should take to improve their delivery tactics in 2020.

1. Harmonize your Internal Business Processes

In the world of customer-oriented eCommerce, there is no place for siloed organizational structures. From material sourcing and product manufacturing, through product storing and delivery, to your sales and marketing, all stakeholders need to be harmonized in order to improve delivery processes.

And, to synch your internal business operations, you need to invest in the right tools. Unfortunately, many businesses still don’t leverage the latest technologies. According to The Delivery Economy and the New Customer Experience, 39% of companies still use paper documents, 42% use spreadsheets, while 40% of them use disparate tools for different parts of their supply chain.

If you’re one of them, replacing slow and outdated supply chain management methods with sophisticated technologies will be a great starting point. For example, instead of using numerous tools for different activities in your supply chain, invest in cloud-based MRP software that streamlines all critical business processes.

Apart from automating and simplifying your labor-intensive business processes, cloud manufacturing software will also provide real-time insights into your supply chain processes, as well as offer the historical data you need to estimate your inventory successfully.

2. Invest in Inventory Forecasting

It’s the holiday season and your sales are probably flooding in. But, are you ready for them? Overselling products is one of the major customer experience problems that may significantly impact their overall experience, your brand image, and your revenue. To avoid this problem, you need to invest in inventory forecasting – the process of estimating your inventory levels to cater to your customers’ needs successfully.

By tracking industry trends, your customers’ behaviors, historical purchases, and your product popularity in real-time, you will be able to restock and deliver your products on time. Knowing that their desired product is available right away and that it will be promptly delivered, your customers will be eager to buy from you and come back to your site again and again.

Apart from increasing customer experiences and minimizing overselling, inventory forecasting will also help you reduce overstocking products. Excessive stock is often caused by poor management of product demand. It leads to greater costs, as you will need to invest in additional warehouse storage and deal with mountains of obsolete products.

3. Improve Customer Support

In today’s hyperconnected era, shopping online has become a mainstream practice. Today’s customers are tech-savvy and more demanding. Aware of the variety of purchasing options on the internet, they will browse through numerous websites, read customer reviews, and compare products until they find the one they like. Above all, they focus on the overall user experience. A slow eCommerce website, inefficient customer support, and the lack of information about pricing and shipping will only drive them away.

Statistics back me up on that. Namely, one in three customers will decide not to buy from you after one negative experience, while more than 90% of consumers will never come back after two negative experiences with your brand.

And, there is no denying that shipping and delivery play a fundamental role when it comes to improving customer satisfaction. The above-mentioned research study emphasizes that 74% of customers say that late deliveries harm their perception of brands. Moreover, 49% of them believe the retailer is responsible for the delay.

That’s why you need to consider yourself accountable for any missed delivery promises. To increase customer experience:

Provide 24/7 customer support.
Offer package tracking options.
Inform customers about the estimated delivery date.
Notify customers about shipping delays.
Offer package rerouting to minimize customer frustration.
Provide refunds for delayed deliveries.
Provide same-day and one-day deliveries.

4. Choose the Right Courier Service

The Delivery Economy survey also says that 42% of customers hold the delivery service responsible for the package delay. If the courier company you’re working with is responsible for the majority of your missed deliveries, it’s time to switch to a more reliable partner. For starters, make a list of popular courier services that collaborate with companies in your industry. Now, there are many factors to consider before choosing the right courier company, including:

The type of delivery service
Their security policy
Reliability
Ability to deliver special packages
Delivery speed
The cost of delivery
Their overall customer experiences

Over to You

Today, customer experiences drive business processes. Therefore, to make your customers happy and stay competitive, you need to improve your shipping and delivery practices. Invest in better collaborations between your teams. Replace outdated tools that are holding your supply chain back with sophisticated, cloud-based inventory management software. Choose the right courier company to boost delivery service reliability. And, most importantly, focus on improving shipping experiences to build trust with customers and encourage their loyalty.

How do you improve your eCommerce delivery services? We’d like to hear from you!