Jeff Bezos once said that he’s sure of two things: consumers will always prefer cheaper goods and goods delivered quickly. So when running Amazon, his main focus has always been to beat competitors on both price and delivery times. If your company can focus on this too, then you have a chance of competing with the biggest online retailers.
The Rise of Online Shopping
To understand why you should spend more time on your delivery strategy, it’s important to research the online shopping market. 80% of American consumers now shop online, and it’s quickly overtaking sales made in physical stores. This trend was already rising swiftly, but it was the pandemic that took things to a whole new level.
During the height of global lockdowns, over 2 billion people bought products on the internet, bringing in $4.2 trillion of income for the eCommerce industry. Amazon saw its profits soar by 220% during the pandemic. Online shopping is now the new normal. So win here, and you’ll beat your competitors.
Speed Up Delivery Times
The increased popularity of online shopping has been enabled by the amazing speeds of distributing products to customers. Previously, online shopping was convenient but meant a long wait time. Nowadays, faster delivery speeds mean that it’s almost as quick to buy something online as to drive to the store and spend a few hours browsing for the right item.
The largest online retailers can now offer products to some customers in under two hours. This is a strong incentive to shop there rather than at a place that will take several days to drop off your item. Invest more into researching technological solutions, including using drones and delivery bots to out-do the competition in terms of delivery speed.
Lower Delivery Costs
Even though mailing items costs money, most people expect free delivery. However, spending another couple of bucks for delivery can put a buyer off even on a large purchase. They’ll often cancel their order and look for the product elsewhere. So you need to find the right courier service to offer free or cheap delivery without eating into your profits.
To do this, use an online freight quote tool. This will round up all your options and point you towards the cheapest delivery companies in your area. That helps you reduce the amount it costs you to send products out to customers. But, of course, any savings you make here should be passed onto the customers directly by offering them free shipping where possible.
If you sell anything online, then you’ve probably thought about your delivery options. However, you might not have realised just how important this is in the modern world. If you’re even slightly behind in terms of shipping costs and delivery time, then you’re bound to be losing out to the competition. So focus more investment and research here to enjoy faster growth for your business.
