eCommerce Delivery: How Your Delivery Strategy Can Increase Your Sales

by Chloe Thomas

Why a book on Delivery? I’m often out and about speaking at eCommerce Events and 9 time out of 10 I will be asked something about Delivery; it really is the most regular question. Yet despite the impact of Delivery on eCommerce businesses there are almost no books on the subject, so I thought I should write one. (10 minutes of searching on Amazon gave me 2 heavy duty textbooks on logistics, both retailing at over £20). In eCommerce, how you get the product to the customer is a really important part of the puzzle. It can be summed up in one word as “Delivery”, and when I talk about Delivery I mean every aspect of it – how the customer perceives it, as well as how we can use it to increase retention and improve margins and efficiency. Research undertaken around the world has consistently shown Delivery as a top cause of failure to purchase (57% of baskets were abandoned due to Delivery, Royal Mail Delivery Matters 2014). Contributing factors were the cost of it and the convenience of the options available, which means getting your delivery right has a massive impact on your conversion rates. Get it right and see your sales thrive. Let’s face it we’ve all seen the impact of a Free P&P weekend. Delivery is a subject that affects your whole business. Done right it will improve customer acquisition, customer retention, internal efficiency AND profit. Done badly you will lose customers, waste money on marketing, and deal with endless headaches. In this book I’m going to take you through these key areas of Delivery and show you your options. Helping you to find the right strategy for your business. CONTENTS Step 1: Delivery Options – Getting the Order o Price of Delivery Every business should have a free P&P option After you’ve set it – what next? Delivery Subscriptions o Speed and Convenience Trends – the ever later next day option Trends – choose your delivery slot Trends – click and collect Trends – click and collect when you don’t have any stores o How to get the message across on your website The homepage Delivery information page Product pages Checkout Rest of the website Step 2: Post Purchase Delivery – Time to Wow the customer and get the next order o The Customers Perfect Parcel o The eCommerce Businesses Perfect Parcel Cost effective Outer packaging In the parcel Direct Call to Actions Make money from your parcels o A little bit about Returns Step 3: Overcome the internal challenges to improve efficiency o Getting it out of the warehouse o Outsourcing your warehousing o Finding the right courier o Involving the whole business o The 7 eCommerce Business Structures Key Delivery Challenges What next?

69 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2014