It’s too soon for a full postmortem on the success of this year’s summer sales season. But early indications suggest that June and July discount strategies worked better for some retailers than others.
It’s vital that retailers learn lessons from anything that could have gone better – as well as what went well. Where it’s possible to do so, they can then make any necessary changes to their strategies or infrastructure ahead of “peak season”. After all, it’s the last few months of the year – which include Singles’ Day, Black Friday and Christmas shopping – that tends to be where retailers make the bulk of their profits.
To help businesses reflect on this, we’ve pulled together a new guide, “Learning from summer sales”. It explores five elements where retailers tell us they would like to do better in future.
Customers expect online and in-store to work together. It reflects how consumers think and shop. Retailers that get this right can expect to be rewarded during peak season.
Anything that retailers can do to create a positive experience with first-time customers opens the door to a longer-term relationship. Traditionally, retailers fear that sales seasons erode loyalty as consumers shop around for the best bargain. But ensuring a great ecommerce customer experience can keep people coming back for more.
When all the relevant data sits in different applications, or even in different organizations, this isn’t easy. But data from the delivery process can inform marketing and fulfillment strategies.
If people don’t get what they want, when they want it, they are less likely to buy from the retailer again. So any transport capacity issues that delay deliveries can cause a vendor to lose a customer for life. During periods of high demand, however, it can be difficult to scale up to meet this challenge.
With the ever-growing popularity of ecommerce, shoppers expect to buy from anywhere in the world. But shipping is typically one of their biggest concerns. It’s crucial that warehouses can easily ship beyond borders and keep shoppers up to date with the status of their delivery.
Too often, retailers ignore how the delivery experience can help them boost their performance. Deliveries are typically dismissed as a solely logistical consideration – a world of boxes and parcels. But deliveries hold the keys to unlocking customer loyalty, increasing revenue and improving operations. Creating the right delivery experience will be essential to reaching peak performance.
The report shows how delivery & experience management (DMXM) with nShift should be central to learning the lessons from summer sales and applying them to peak-season strategies.
Read the full report “Learning from summer sales: how delivery & experience management (DMXM) can help retailers perfect their peak-season offer by applying lessons from June discounts”