The retail landscape has been shifting toward digital for some time now. As online shopping continues to evolve, there’s less and less reason for customers to visit physical retail locations. This was particularly true throughout the uncertain times of COIVD-19. Now, as customers adjust to the new normal, they’re met with endless possibilities in regards to how they can view and decide which products to buy online. Retailers are even finding ways to improve the online shopping experience, like through various promotions exclusively available online. It’s clear that this industry has been successful in recent years, but to put it into perspective; in 2019 alone (before lockdown restrictions) online shopping totaled above $3.5 trillion spent globally, with over two billion people doing some form of online shopping.
One of the most convincing reasons for this argument is the fact that Amazon continues to rule over the online retailing space. With a selection of over 12 million products, it’s hard to imagine shoppers having a hard time finding a product they might need. This sort of selection has a lasting impact over smaller online retailers, though. Not enough of an impact to chase these businesses out of the industry, but an impact, nonetheless. The way in which Amazon truly has a grasp over these smaller online retailers is through their shipping and delivery capabilities.
With nearly 88% of online shoppers claiming that Amazon has made them expect faster shipping times out of other e-tailers they shop with, it can be difficult for these smaller e-tailers to meet these expectations. Sometimes it’s unreasonable to expect newer businesses to be able to provide the same shipment and delivery options that Amazon can, for good reason. In instances where these smaller e-tailers are tying to keep up with Amazon regardless, there are some other ways to improve the customer experience outside of shipping costs and delivery times. For example, creating a branded tracking page on their website that displays real time tracking information for each of a customer’s purchases. Despite receiving this purchase later than if it were for Amazon, customers can still appreciate the effort from smaller e-tailers to keep them fully notified of the delivery process.
If your business is currently battling with Amazon in the online retailing marketplace, you will need to adapt as well. One of the first steps in adapting is analyzing the customer experience of your website. Beginning with ease of use, how easy is it for customers to purchase a product from your website after they first arrive? Must they create an account? Or can they check out as a guest? If users do create an account, can they save their shipping and billing information for subsequent orders? Do registered accounts receive any sort of coupons or special offers? All of these are factors that can improve the online experience for your customers, so be sure to make changes if necessary. It’s also important to make improvements to internal systems, which is commonly accomplished through automated storage retrieval systems that simplify the warehousing and transportation of products.
Navigating the online retailing landscape as a lesser established business can be a daunting experience. For some more helpful information on how to improve these aspects of your business, please take a moment to view the infographic shared alongside this post.
Author bio: John Hinchey is VP of Sales for Westfalia Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of logistics solutions for plants, warehouses and distribution centers. He has more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing and warehouse automation.