By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Report finds that retailers are finding themselves in the home delivery business to satisfy customers.
More and more retailers are finding themselves in the thick of the home delivery business as part of an effort to win and satisfy customers in today omnichannel world. As consumers increasingly expect a seamless cross-channel experience, retailers are scrambling to figure out how to enable home delivery capabilities to meet these demands. According to a new RSR report, retailers anticipate foisting most of the responsibility for consumer home delivery onto their vendor partners in the near future.
The report, Home Delivery: Retailers' Brave New World, created by Retail Systems Research and sponsored by Descartes, contains analysis of the business drivers, opportunities, and organizational constraints surrounding retailers' home delivery strategies and features the results of a consumer survey, demonstrating where retailers' and consumers' expectations match and where they diverge. The report also offers baseline recommendations for navigating the future of home delivery, particularly as retailers struggle with fast, free delivery from the competition.
As the report notes, this collaboration between retailers and vendors is a surprising shift in the marketplace, but the research predicts that over-performing retailers – who RSR calls Retail Winners – are more likely that their peers to see drop ship form vendors in their future.
From business challenges, to opportunities, to organizational inhibitors, and technology enablers, the report examined the current state of affairs of home delivery among retailers. Among the study’s key findings:
- Retailers are feeling the heat when it comes to meeting consumer demands for fast delivery. Beyond speed, however, the study found that retailers are split when it comes to priorities, with many not focusing on the things consumers want in home delivery services.
- Consumers also noted that they are most motivated by convenience, and retailers are responding to this need by upping their game across home delivery service. The challenge is providing these services at cost to the consumers, allowing retailers to maintain their profitability.
- Whether retailers are outsourcing home delivery services or conducting them in-house, they need the systems and employees in place to manage these services as well.
- And when it comes to technology enablers for home delivery, Retail Winners have already made substantial investments, far ahead of their peers. The report did find that significant gaps remain between the capabilities retailers value and the technology solutions they need in order to support them.
And under the Bootstrap Recommendations, RSR suggested:
- Be the Expert When Things Go Wrong. The report states that retailers must first be prepared for things to go wrong, because they inevitably will, and second to invest in customer service representatives (CSRs) as an important piece of the home delivery puzzle.
- Be Creative About How To Charge For Home Delivery Services. One way to get creative is to offer a rebate or discount to those customers who do not require fast delivery, rather than an upcharge for those who do.
- Internal Alignment Is Needed, Whether You Outsource Or Not. Regardless of who is actually doing the delivery, the brand on the box ultimately is responsible, so retailers need to have the internal capabilities to ensure that customer needs are being met and a differentiated experience is being provided.
- Technology Investments Need To Focus On Customers, Too. Provide a high degree of transparency to customers about their delivery process, which benefits not just the customer, but the retailer as well, allowing them to stay on top of how well they are executing on their home delivery promises.
