Dive Brief:
- Speed of delivery is the biggest concern of consumers shopping online, according to a survey of 3,000 consumers conducted by e-commerce company Radial.
- About one third of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. said they were frustrated with the time it takes to receive their orders.
- Overall, younger consumers tend to be "more critical of delivery and fulfillment orders than their older counterparts," the survey noted.
Dive Insight:
While the millennial demographic is often blamed for killing off dozens of industries, it's still an important consumer base for retailers to cater to, especially when it comes to e-commerce.
For shippers, understanding the biggest complaints from consumers can help set a business up to succeed in differentiating itself from other companies that continue to deliver late or incorrect orders to customers.
About 59% of millennial consumers said their orders were consistently on time and "in perfect condition" — meaning the other roughly 40% had problems with their deliveries.
"The results show that issues with delivery execution — cost, speed, reliability — are bubbling under the surface," the survey said.
While last-mile challenges can contribute to issues with delivery execution, many retailers are not making fulfillment strategies a priority.
"Retailers are often times more concerned with the acquisition of customers and front-end marketing tactics," Sean McCartney, executive vice president of operations services at Radial, told Supply Chain Dive in an email. "While this is certainly very important, challenges with fulfillment damage what was otherwise a healthy customer relationship."
Retailers that don't address fulfillment issues "risk losing customers due to shopping cart abandonment," McCartney said.
Improving fulfillment starts well before deliveries reach the customer — back at the warehouse. Retailers "need to invest in technologies to drive improvements in warehouse automation [and] inventory accuracy," the survey said.
McCartney also pointed to omnichannel strategies as a way to improve fulfillment, leveraging brick-and-mortar stores to aid e-commerce, and vice versa.
"Retailers must view the customer journey holistically ... to enable a single brand customer experience through all consumer touch points," he said.
