Shape up, Ship Out: The Ecommerce & Retail Shipping Dilemma

In our latest GDS Video Snack, Shawna Ryan, Editor at Meet The Boss TV, asks retail executives why their online strategies need to shape up when it comes to shipping out.

It’s hot here in NYC – perhaps as hot as the world of ecommerce for retailers. Retail executives at our NG Retail summits in the US and Europe told us they know customers today prefer to stay in the shade and skip the trips to their physical stores.

Roman Melzer, Senior Customer Care Consultant, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG:
“There are less and less willing to go to the store and spend time there, valuable time they have from their home and private life”.

According to a report released by Internet Retailer, Ecommerce sales grew 6 times faster than total retail sales. But with the heat of ecommerce comes the risk of feeling the burn when it comes to delivering those purchased items.

Roman Melzer, Senior Customer Care Consultant, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG:
“Aside from ecommerce, the demand of consumers to be able to order something and have it delivered somewhere or being able to just pick it up somewhere is one of the biggest challenges we’re seeing in the retail market”.

That challenge is not just delivering the package. It’s also extending the retail experience to the door.

Roman Melzer, Senior Customer Care Consultant, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG:
“The best approach would be to extend service to a certain level where you get a wow reaction from a customer, like ‘Oh my God that’s something I wouldn’t have expected.’
It’s how to get stuff to customers in the right way”.

But delivery services like Fed Ex say they will spend 4.8 billion on capital expenditures this year led by the major increase of ecommerce deliveries

Roman Melzer, Senior Customer Care Consultant, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG:
“It’s pushing the expectations of customers in so many levels right now as they are used to getting so many things very fast and in a very convenient way”.

And FedEx expects retailers to pay more to reflect the true costs of delivery.

Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf saying “We can’t build these networks and spend this kind of capital and not get a return on it.”

Roman Melzer, Senior Customer Care Consultant, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG:
“And we’re just trying to figure out what the best process would be so that it still makes sense for us to actually offer this kind of service to customers”.

Which means that this hot topic is about to get that much hotter, so I’m going to find some shade.

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