For retailers and distribution centres of all sizes and maturity levels, making the shift to e-commerce has been and continues to be one of the most challenging hurdles to jump. Pursuing an e-commerce strategy will require many businesses to convert their supply chain from single-channel to Omnichannel and is also not as simple…
Building a lean fulfillment stream with sustainable logistics clusters is changing the dynamics of the fashion industry dramatically. The growth in the apparel industry has seen a host of entrants to the marketplace. For retailers and distribution centres of all sizes and maturity levels, making the shift to e-commerce has been and continues to be one of the most challenging hurdles to jump. Pursuing an e-commerce strategy will require many businesses to Pursuing an e-commerce strategy will require many businesses to not as simple.
But, however challenging e-commerce is, few retailers or industries can afford to disregard it as a part of their business.
Below, we share some of the most intriguing statistics that will help frame the discussion around the role that e-commerce has played and continues to play in the world of order fulfillment.
38 percent of online shoppers will abandon their order if the delivery will take longer than a week. This compares to 16 percent who will abandon their order if delivery will take 6-7 days, 15 percent who will abandon their order if delivery will take 4-5 days, and just 8 percent who will abandon their order if delivery will day 3 days or fewer.
- Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of online shoppers would abandon their order if no delivery date was provided.
- 69 percent of consumers are less likely to shop with a retailer in the future if a purchase is not delivered within 2 days of the date promised.
- 25 percent of online shoppers will abandon their order due to unexpected shipping costs being added just to the order just prior to checkout.
- 63 percent of online shoppers cite excessive shipping fees as a reason that they have canceled a purchase.
- 74 percent of online shoppers say that free shipping is one of the most important factors at checkout
- 94 percent of shoppers have taken some type of action to qualify for free shipping.
For online retailers, the average cost to fulfill an order is 70 percent of the average order value.
By 2021, it’s estimated that global B2C e-commerce sales will exceed $4.5 trillion almost double from $2.3 trillion for 2018.
In that same span of time, it’s expected that global B2B e-commerce sales will increase from $7.7 trillion in 2018 to $17.6 trillion.
The United States’ share of global retail e-commerce sales is expected to drop from 22.2 percent in 2015 to 16.9 percent in 2020.
57 percent of consumers say that they have made an international purchase online in the past six months, including 45.5 percent of North American online shoppers.
In an e-commerce setting, products can be manually handled 20 times or more. This increased handling means that the average e-commerce package is now dropped 17 times.
To be successful is to be agile and build up core competences right from the base. The consumers not only want to see fresh new products consistently in line with global trends while also experiencing the ease of shopping. Proactive brands and retail chains are moving towards highly flexible, intelligent automation solutions which not only delivers high throughput requirements as well as the flexibility to fulfil orders quickly and in a small footprint. The solutions which empower retailers to maximize space and achieve profitability with online ordering, while also being in sync with Omnichannel distribution strategy and that can give customers what they want when they want it with one-hour fulfilment are seeing a lot of traction. These solutions include;
- Anchoring online and in-store fulfilment from the back of a retail store creating a true backroom or from nearby urban fulfilment centres and dark stores, all in much closer proximity to consumers than remote distribution centres.
- Optimizing Omnichannel distribution by more effectively using existing real estate for online order assembly, allowing retail consumers to pick up online orders at the closest retail store or service centre, or receive it using a delivery service to their home.
Technology is moving from nice to do to must to and it is no longer a choice to wait, nor is just about saving labour. Instead, technology is becoming an automation imperative and is now the key to optimizing operations to meet customer expectations and transforming the business model.
The industry’s needs have changed. The key is to transform customer experience through better decisions across merchandising, supply, fulfilment, delivery, and customer service. Being able to track real-time operational events, profitability and customer lifetime value to answer questions and drive actions fundamentals to cross-channel and direct-to-consumer success.
Innovative shopper experiences both online and in-store, distributed inventory through micro fulfillment and hybrid store models, Omnichannel direct-to-the-doorstep fulfillment infrastructure are the critical driving factors of the fashion industry today. Companies including the likes of Amazon, Walmart, Hudson Bay Co, Saks Fifth Avenue are leveraging data across supply chain networks to measure and improve the unit performance of every worldwide delivery, order, customer, supplier and product.
Being able to track real-time operational events, profitability and customer lifetime value to answer the underlying questions that are fundamental to cross-channel and direct to consumer success, companies must now ask themselves. Are we providing consistent doorstep experiences across all modes of fulfillment and delivery, including ship-from-store? Where and how can we best utilize shopper identity and value to prioritize operations and customer service? Are our stores and associates fully equipped to support customers across sales and marketing channels from conversion to doorstep?
