by Johan Hellman, VP Product and Carrier Management
Black Friday continues to reign supreme as the world’s major global shopping event. In 2023, the day of discounts generated $70.9 billion in online revenue. For leading online retailers, as well as growing ecommerce businesses, Black Friday and the peak season of deals and discounts it ushers in, remain a huge opportunity for growth.
Win lifelong customers
Beyond creating a welcome chance to boost revenue toward the end of the year, Peak season can become an opportunity to win customers for life. Some 84% of consumers agree that a positive experience during Black Friday would encourage them to shop with that retailer again.
The challenge then, is for retailers to turn those Black Friday bargain hunters into life-long customers by giving them an experience that will keep them coming back long after the fanfare, deals and pre-Christmas shopping splurges have passed. They can do this by providing an outstanding post-purchase experience covering everything from branded tracking to offering best-in-class reverse logistics.
The importance of multi-carrier shipping software
Research tells us that 58% of shoppers would buy again from retailers that deliver purchases efficiently. This means making the delivery experience as compelling and reliable as possible creates real opportunities with those who have clicked the buy button for the first time.
It’s why we’ve released a new guide which sets out how the delivery process is a crucial means of building loyalty. However, delivering this experience means being able to scale up capacity and offer real choice. And this requires multi carrier shipping software to manage deliveries.
Four strategies to enhance the ecommerce customer experience
The guide demonstrates how access to a range of carrier companies can help enhance the customer experience and offers the following four strategies to retailers. They are:
- Ensure reliable and high-quality deliveries – retailers must hold carrier companies to account for any issues, delays or errors with the shipment. To do this effectively, retailers and warehouses require robust and easy-to-use data on carrier performance
- Master international deliveries – 52% of shoppers look for products internationally. But issues around shipping remain the biggest barrier to retailers getting this right
- Provide greater delivery choices to customers at checkout – a good delivery experience is one where shoppers get to choose the shipping solution that suits them. This should include more sustainable choices and out-of-home delivery options
- Get the best value from deliveries for the business (and customers) – retailers that shop around for the best delivery rates can cut delivery costs by over 30% without undermining the customer experience. That unlocks savings which can be passed on to customers, or fed through to the bottom line
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