Australian online shoppers feel disconnected with online retailers, between the shipping experiences, poor time slot delivery and no multi-shipping options. It’s time for Australia online retail to wake up and to provide the service levels expected by consumers.
Australia: Disappointing Online Shopping Experience
According to the 2016 State of Shipping in Commerce report launched by Temando surveyed over 200 Australian micro, small, mid-sized and enterprise retailers and 1000 consumers 80 percent of shoppers prefer a specified time slot for delivery and 75 percent want guaranteed weekend or after-hours shipping to fit in with their lifestyle, only 31 per cent and 18 per cent of retailers respectively are offering these services, yet 33 percent of consumers are willing to pay a premium.
In addition, 43 per cent of Australians are prepared to fork out more for same day shipping, yet just half of retailers provide this option and only 54 percent are giving their customers choice at the checkout. The majority (85 per cent) of shoppers expect to see multiple shipping options in the cart such as standard (5-7 days), express (1-3 days), same day, hyper-local same day (1-3 hours) and click & collect.
Most retailers (84 percent) believe by offering multiple shipping options, they are better served to meet customer expectations. Those who are doing so have seen an increase in sales (79 percent) and a reduction in cart abandonment (62 per cent).
Seven in ten (70 per cent) Australians are abandoning their purchases because the cost of shipping is too high and 34 per cent due to free shipping not being offered. Not surprisingly, retailers are concerned with the cost of shipping too and three-quarters (76 per cent) of micro and 74 per cent of small retailers are passing on these costs to their customers, compared to 75 percent of enterprise businesses who are absorbing the expense.
This results in the larger retailers setting the benchmark for shipping costs in the market, making it hard for micro and small ones to compete.
Carl Hartmann, CEO and co-founder of Temando, said the results confirmed that choice at the checkout is a necessity, not a feature.
“The gap between consumer expectation and retailer capability is growing. The future belongs to retailers who capitalise on this opportunity and use shipping and fulfilment as a retail weapon. Only half of retailers are offering the full range of services customers expect, which opens up a potentially huge competitive advantage,” he said.
Additional survey findings include:
- Delivery by drones – Nearly one-third (31 per cent) of all retailers reported a willingness to use drones to deliver their packages while just under half (44 percent) of consumers are willing to accept a drone delivery
- Delivery speed – Australian retailers are well placed to enable hyper-local delivery as the majority (66 percent) can ship an online order within four hours, but if retailers are not shipping from the closest location or store to the customer they’re not going to achieve the desired delivery time
- Lack of total automation – A relatively small number of retailers reported having a totally automated process for booking couriers (21 percent), 34 percent of micro-retailers have no automated backend tracking process, 31 percent of all retailers are still manually booking carriers and half of enterprise retailers (50 percent) are still manually processing returns
“Convenience for the customer is key and businesses have the opportunity to re-imagine their supply chain and create meaningful, cost effective customer experiences. Agile fulfilment remains a crucial challenge to overcome but with smart investments in technology, especially the automation of multiple shipping options, to help personalise the customer experience, many small and enterprise retailers can transform their business,” Mr Hartmann said.
The full report can be downloaded here: http://temando.com.au/en/research-2016
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