Any business looking to offer delivery to their customers needs to consider how their product is going to reach the doorstep of their eager customer. However, with industry leaders like Amazon offering everything from next day and free standard delivery to minute-by-minute tracking and full transparency, smaller companies looking to keep up could fall behind quickly.
The wide availability of quick and free shipping today has changed the way consumers expect their deliveries to be made and here at Barrington Freight, we are proud to offer our own next day services to speed up the delivery process for you. The question remains, however, as to just how powerful shipping times can truly be. We’re exploring further, below.
Loyalty Is Low But Expectations Are High
Consumer loyalty has been on the decrease since as early as 2014, with talk of failures by brands to keep up with expectations and experience as a whole being to blame. The reason for the lack of consumer loyalty may not be quite as crystal clear but one thing is for certain – brands and companies have needed to adjust their method of working as a result. However, with falling loyalty comes higher expectations and more and most customers are expecting fast and free delivery as standard when ordering online.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see just how powerful such a service could be. If you can offer fast shipping, free shipping or better yet, both, then you’re likely to pull in customers against competitors that may not be able to cater for the same thing.
Convenience Is Key
Consumers who are shopping online are likely to be doing so for convenience purposes. The ability to sit back, click a few buttons and have something delivered straight to your door has driven countless consumers to opt for online shopping over in-store browsing but as demand for speedy deliveries has increased, this need for convenience has gone one step further.
With 83% of consumers saying they expect a guaranteed delivery date from as early as 2015, you can only imagine just how much this has grown today. The ability to know when a parcel is going to turn up and hold some control over a delivery is something that consumers crave, and businesses that can cater for this are likely to excel in their industry.
Faster Shipping Rationalises Buying Online
Until same-day delivery becomes not only much more accessible but a standard delivery option across the globe, shopping in-store is always going to be a ‘faster’ method of getting hold of the items you want. If you order something online when you could access it by taking a trip into the local shopping area, you need a good reason to opt for ordering from home instead and that reason can come in the form of faster shipping. If a business could offer a next day delivery service, for example, customers may be able to rationalise that the convenience of not having to leave the house or change their routine is worth the 24-hour wait.
The Power Of Free Shipping
The Global Online Consumer Report by KPMG International in 2017 saw that 29% of their surveyed consumers admitted to shopping online for free shipping offers. With Amazon Prime dominating the delivery world and increasing how many companies are offering similar services to compete, free shipping has become something that every consumer is likely to search for, even if they ultimately settle for paying a delivery fee. If your company opted for offering free shipping as standard, you could pull in a large chunk of that 29%, potentially expanding your customer base, especially in niche industries or those who may still be struggling to keep up with these changing expectations.
With the increase in businesses offering free and fast shipping services and with Amazon leading the revolution, the importance and power of meeting expectations are impossible to ignore. Companies and brands need to meet consumer demands to make a mark in their industry and here at Barrington Freight, we can help transport your goods across the UK or globally to ensure that these demands are more easily met.
For more information, feel free to apply for a free quote today, or get in touch with a member of our friendly team for more information.
