In 2020, retailers faced previously unheard-of shipment volumes, carrier capacity constraints and inventory shortages. While welcoming the surge of online orders, it led to significant increases in last-mile delivery costs.
Having an accurate view of your customers — their likes and dislikes, purchase behavior and history, demographics, etc. — is critical to success in retail and ecommerce.
A year into the pandemic-influenced explosion in ecommerce, and after the recent peak holiday season, one thing is abundantly clear: Retailers can no longer afford to view returns as a cost of doing business, but instead need to see it as a key business strategy driving customer loyalty.
Having experienced significant pain in the fourth quarter of 2020, when millions of orders showed up late during the holidays, many retailers have stepped up their preparation efforts to ensure that 2021 isn’t a repeat of that ugly scenario.
Now that the challenges of the lockdown era are behind, and the disruptions have solidified into new consumer behaviors and business practices, what comes next for ecommerce and retail companies?
While many retailers saw — and are still seeing — record ecommerce sales in the pandemic era, the execution hasn’t always been pretty.
The pace of change is requiring retailers to strategically unify their brands and offerings. Evolving omnichannel scenarios, such as BOPIS and store returns, mean interacting with customers in new ways for the same transaction.
Consumers may focus on curbside pickup, speed of delivery, trouble-free returns and seamless experiences, but retailers and brands face heightened fulfillment challenges, leading many to embrace outsourcing to third-party logistics (3PLs)