In today’s hyper-aggressive, constantly evolving business environment, innovation is no luxury; it’s essential for any business that wants to successfully contend for and preserve loyal customers. The field where this battle is being contested most ferociously is the e-commerce sector. Whether B2C or B2B, e-commerce policies continue to be driven by ever-changing customer expectations for faster, on-time delivery, continuous product availability and accessibility. As the speed of change continues to accelerate, the foundation on which excellent customer service experience is built must evolve with newer technologies and solutions. Yet in the dynamic world of e-commerce, logistics modernization cannot focus exclusively on individual appliances and methods. This ecosystem combination will be key to meeting customers’ always-changing preferences. Vitally, it will also drive agility, profitability, and competitive advantage.
Online retail in India has seen 3x growth in the past four years touching $38 billion in 2020 and will grow 5x in the next five years to become $140 billion by 2025. As e-commerce and other related sectors have evolved over the years, it has also brought a vibrant shift in consumer behavior and expectations from the online channel. While a few years ago, discounts, offers, and product variety were key factors driving buying decisions. But it has now transformed with the development of the ecosystem and digital maturity of online shoppers, and they are now looking for accessibility linked factors such as ‘Faster Delivery’, ‘Safety & Hygienic experience’ over discounts.
While online shopping is witnessing an increase in traffic, delivery experience has become a key parameter to drive customer satisfaction. Along with it, factors such as faster delivery, better product quality, an array of offerings, safer than offline, discounts have become primary considerations. The recently launched “Delivery Delight Index” by Shadowfax and RedSeer states exciting facts about the changes in consumer behavior to facilitate a deeper understanding of customer buying behavior and preferences, and help the brands better serve their customers. The index evaluates the satisfaction of end customers for various players across two key delivery parameters – speed and experience. The report has been developed after ~9,000 consumer surveys covering 34 players across four types of platforms i.e., E-tailing Marketplaces, Hyperlocal Marketplaces, Digitally Native Brands, and Traditional Brands/Retailers.
The leaders in the delivery experience, per the Index, are: E-tailing Marketplaces – 1mg, Amazon and Pharmeasy; Hyperlocal Marketplaces – Amazon Pantry, Bigbasket, Dunzo, Flipkart Supermart, Grofers, Swiggy, and Zomato; Traditional Brands/Retailer – Decathlon, D’Mart, Digitally Native Brands – Mi, Zivame came out as frontrunners in their respective sectors in terms of high delivery experience satisfaction.
The index asserts that the “Delivery experience” is emerging as an important factor driving overall customer satisfaction. Also, online commerce has created a shift in consumer behavior, inclination, and prospects. But going back to 3-4 years, it wasn’t the case. Discounts, offers, and product assortments were key in driving buying decisions online. While today, all that has changed with the digital experience. It adds that the preference of the online shopper has evolved to seeking convenience related to parameters such as ‘faster delivery’, ‘safety and hygienic experience’, and lastly, ‘discounts’.
While the development of the ecosystem has led to the emergence of digitally native brands, the COVID-19 pandemic has further enhanced the digital journey of traditional brands and retailers. Now, post lockdown, the platforms have better control over technology and product, which helps them onboard customers easily. However, there still is a need to partner with third-party logistics (3PL) platforms for last-mile fulfillment. This reveals that the industry needs agile supply chain management and warehousing solutions of 3PL players to improve their delivery experience score, leading to better revenue per customer and helping them reach customers not only in Tier -I but also in Tier-II plus cities and beyond.
The delivery experience is measured on delivery-related metrics across various types of delivery including pre-delivery, during delivery, and post-delivery. The selection has been made based on a large network of fulfillment centers that are closer to demand hubs – High share of regional or hyperlocal fulfillment – Better control on delivery – Efficient packaging – Agile customer care operations – Better demand predictability across regions.
The report shows that logistics has been one of the key pillars for the success of e-commerce in India and our focus on customer-centric innovations and the development of products and services that customers need the most will help us remain a leader in the 3PL logistics sector.
