E-tailers must effectively fulfill online orders over the holidays to build consumer loyalty
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US e-tailers racked up an estimated $21.4 billion in online sales across Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, per Adobe Analytics, and just like during any holiday season, delivering all consumers' orders quickly will likely be a difficult task.
This year may be especially challenging because there are six fewer days between Cyber Monday and Christmas than last year — making this the shortest holiday season since 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal. And US e-commerce volume in Q4 2013 was just $83.8 billion, while Adobe estimates that US e-commerce sales from November 1 through Cyber Monday have already reached $81.5 billion this year, so e-tailers must contend with the abridged holiday schedule while handling far more volume than in the past.
It's extremely important that retailers meet consumers' delivery expectations this holiday season given the high e-commerce volume and merchants' recently ramped-up fulfillment efforts.
- Consumers' perceptions about a retailer's fulfillment capabilities may be shaped by their experience over the holidays, impacting their loyalty to the merchant. Because Q4 sees increased e-commerce volume and consumers may need their items before a specific date, the holiday season could be particularly impactful on whether consumers will shop with a retailer again. This is especially true since consumers report that faster delivery services will increase their loyalty to a retailer, per a report from Capgemini.
- Delivering consumers' orders quickly is particularly important this year since e-tailers have been in an arms race to offer the fastest shipping possible. Amazon announced plans to shift its free two-day shipping for Prime subscribers to one-day earlier this year and offered one-day delivery on over 10 million items going into the holiday season. Its move set off a chain reaction that's seen retail competitors like Best Buy, Kroger, Target, and Walmart introduce fast delivery offerings, and several retailers are providing special holiday shipping deals as well. The holidays may be many consumers' first exposure to these improved fulfillment capabilities, which may mean that how effectively retailers handle deliveries during the holidays this year will impact consumer loyalty and their performances for years to come.
Retailers that use omnichannel fulfillment options may be best positioned to successfully handle their e-commerce orders this holiday season. Shipping orders from stores can enable retailers to get consumers their orders quickly while limiting costs, while buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) services have the same effect since they eliminate last-mile delivery entirely.
Offerings like these can help retailers avoid surging shipping costs and late deliveries even though they have fewer days to make deliveries during the holidays than usual — and considering consumers were 45% more likely to convert with retailers offering BOPIS options on Cyber Monday, per data from Adobe Analytics sent to Business Insider Intelligence, omnichannel initiatives can help merchants secure more sales, too.
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