Will fewer shipping options hurt retailers over the holidays?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
As many as 68 percent of retailers say they are not well prepared to provide multiple shipping options that will meet customer expectations this holiday season, according to a survey from Temando, the Australian shipping and fulfillment software platform provider.
On the whole, smaller retailers reported being less prepared to provide multiple shipping options (same day, express, standard, collect from store, etc.) than their larger counterparts. Only 24 percent of micro-level retailers (those shipping fewer than 20 deliveries per week) are prepared to meet these expectations, while 29 percent of small retailers (shipping 21 to 100 deliveries per week) are prepared for the season. Mid-sized (36 percent) and larger enterprise (50 percent) retailers are better prepared, likely due to the greater number and variety of consumers they ship to, which makes multiple shipping options a business requirement.
Temando and Research Now surveyed more than 200 retailers in the U.S. across a wide range of categories as part of the study.
These retailers also are ill equipped to handle shipping delays throughout the season, with only 24 percent overall reporting that they are well prepared to handle them and 38 percent indicating they are somewhat prepared. Around returns, 29 percent are well prepared to handle them this holiday season and 34 percent somewhat prepared. Larger and mid-size retailers are more confident in their ability to handle unexpected delays and returns, although the difference wasn't as much as handing multiple shipping options.
Source: Temando
There are numerous shipping difficulties retailers of all sizes experience as they go into the holidays. High courier rates — cited by 28 percent of retailers — remain the largest barrier to achieving shipping goals, with meeting customer expectations (27 percent) coming in a close second. Customer expectations consist of various factors, including overall quality of service, availability of shipping options, shipping costs, returns, tracking and notifications (via email and SMS).
Retailers listed a lack of total automation (19 percent) as their third-biggest shipping difficulty during the holidays. A majority of retailers responded that their systems were either manual or only somewhat automated, including:
- Warehouse management (64 percent);
- Booking a courier (61 percent);
- Customer product returns (72 percent); and
- Delivery tracking/customer communication (58 percent).