The Tides Of Retail: Strategies To Transform Your Ecommerce Growth by Modern Retail

The Tides Of Retail:

Strategies To Transform Your Ecommerce Growth

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Foreword This publication focuses on the ways in which ecommerce enterprises can streamline processes, improve operations, and in turn, grow business.

Topics include the benefits of installing Software-as-a-Service solutions as enterprises adjust business operations to respond faster to industry changes. Headless commerce is another point of discussion, enabling merchants to keep up with innovation while maintaining the vital elements of a trusted ecommerce infrastructure.

guaranteeing lifelong brand growth and success through utilising the correct channels. Alongside the rise of social commerce, see how the ecommerce industry is changing and how multiple touch points are needed to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

With more ways to purchase online than ever before, retailersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; marketplace strategies are increasingly important. BigCommerce looks into the best methods of

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Finally, this publication outlines the importance of implementing an effective shipping process, which can transform the cost of shipping into a major selling point, create a memorable experience and incentivise customer purchases.

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Contents SaaS technology transformation

p.4 -9

The case for headless commerce

p.10 - 13

Streamlining the modern enterprise - how a shift in marketplace strategy may make or break a brand’s growth pattern

p.14 - 17

The evolving buyer’s journey: is your website enough?

P.18 - 23

Evolving shipping from a cost centre to a revenue driver

p.24 - 27

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The SaaS technology transformation: retail innovation As any ecommerce business owner knows, standing still is essentially moving backwards. Brands that aren’t innovating and undergoing digital transformation get left behind. Just ask the Blockbusters of the world.

Ecommerce - and the fact that more and more consumers are engaging with and purchasing products online is obviously not new. But the influence and market share are snowballing at an incredible rate. According to data from Statista, retail ecommerce sales in 2018 in the United States (including digital services) were $514 billion. In 2023? It’s projected to be almost $970 billion. The expectation is no longer just that a business must have an ecommerce offering. In a crowded marketplace, they also need to have a presence that excites customers, provides a frictionless buyer journey, and gives them an experience and brand identity they can connect

with. Beyond that, they want to see things like fast shipping and multiple payment methods. They want sites that are easy to navigate and work just as well on mobile. As businesses strive to meet these expectations and stand out from the crowd, many are finding the limitations of traditional, on-premise ecommerce software aren’t able to get them where they need to be. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions allow businesses to be more nimble and respond to changes in the industry faster. It’s no surprise that SaaS is also seeing a fair bit of the snowball effect. According to Statista data,

“...(SaaS) solutions allow businesses to be more nimble and respond to changes in the industry faster.”

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“With SaaS, a business pays a monthly fee for the software, and it’s hosted over the cloud. The business can use the software to provide the necessary ecommerce functionality for their store.”

SaaS companies generated an estimated $72 billion in 2018 and that number is projected to rise to $113 billion by 2012 as more and more businesses see the advantages of implementing SaaS technology systems.

The difference between saas and on-premise A decade ago, traditional software was the primary option for businesses to run their ecommerce. A business had to purchase the software and host it on their own, on premise servers. They owned the software, could make whatever modifications and customizations they wanted, and were responsible for all maintenance and security.

SaaS has completely changed this model. With SaaS, a business pays a monthly fee for the software, and it’s hosted over the cloud. The business can use the software to provide the necessary ecommerce functionality for their store. They will be somewhat more limited in what they can customize; however, they will not be responsible for hosting, security, or maintenance costs.

insurance and security system, and you can renovate it to your heart’s content. With an apartment, you save both on upfront costs and often on your monthly outlay. You can make some customizations, but you can’t knock down any walls. You can also choose an apartment that comes with added features like a pool or dog park that serve your particular needs or interests.

A good analogy is the difference between renting an apartment and owning a house. By owning the house, you pay a lot more upfront and will have to pay to upkeep the plumbing, electrical, roofing, and other random systems that seem to break as soon as you buy it. You handle the

Why SaaS?

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The reason so many merchants are moving away from traditional onpremise software in favor of SaaS is because of what SaaS enables businesses to do.

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1. Lower total cost of ownership Unlike on-premise solutions which, in addition to steep up front costs for software and infrastructure, also require development and design costs to get them configured and later to maintain and update them. With SaaS, you don’t have the upfront infrastructure costs or ongoing maintenance, hosting, and security costs. It’s all included in your monthly fee.

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2. Reduced time to market

SaaS solutions take less time to deploy than traditional on-premise solutions. This is because most SaaS platforms have built-in features and integrations that are already set up with the basics of what you need to run your store. You have a launch-ready platform that doesn’t require as much provisioning and testing prior to launch.

3. Decreased Risk

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Businesses are always looking for ways to mitigate risks by maintaining best practices in data security, compliance, and backups. Threats like downtime and security breaches can be a major hit to a business’s bottom line. With on-premise software, your security is as good as you make it. With SaaS, top-notch security and PCI compliance is included, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

“The businesses that are disrupting their industries are those that are building brands that people can connect with and where they have a positive shopping experience.”

And why now? Businesses are having to do more and more to keep from falling behind. While it doesn’t seem that long ago that customers were happy just to be able to buy products online, now their expectations have increased tenfold. Businesses may need to be able to sell on Instagram (and Facebook and Amazon and eBay). They may want to add artificial intelligence or utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) or a digital experience platforms (DXP). Customer experience is a major differentiator. The businesses that are disrupting their industries are those that are building brands that people can connect with and where they have a positive shopping experience. SaaS solutions can make it easier for businesses to actualize these needs and stay ahead of the curve. With SaaS, merchants can innovate faster and with more agility. They can spend less time maintaining bespoke software and more time strategizing expansion of their brand and improving their customer experience and marketing.

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By contrast, with on-premise software change often requires substantial IT resources, which can hinder digital transformation and slow growth.

can configure and customize their stores quickly and easily without a dedicated IT team or extensive development knowledge.

Is SaaS Limiting?

With API-driven SaaS, merchants can even connect their ecommerce to various CMS, DXP, and IoT frontends to better meet customer experience expectations.

One potential concern some brands have with SaaS is that it may be too limiting for their needs. If we consider the analogy of an apartment, it’s certainly great to have a roof over your head and not have to fix your own plumbing...but what if you want to knock down a wall or build a new bedroom? If your business has needs that require significant customization, is traditional on-premise software the only option? While traditional SaaS is less customizable than open-source, on-premise software, SaaS itself is undergoing a digital transformation of sorts. Some SaaS solutions are pioneering a new type of “open SaaS” that is able to be more easily customized. It does this by communicating to other systems in your tech stack through API calls. Open SaaS combines out-of-thebox shopping functionality and comprehensive APIs, so merchants

The future of commerce is open SaaS With so much changing in ecommerce and so quickly, businesses have to be open to digital innovation to stay competitive and relevant. Open SaaS solutions enable businesses to use APIs to achieve the customization they need, while saving time and resources on managing infrastructure, hosting, and security. BigCommerce is the industry’s most versatile open SaaS solutions that enables brands to create differentiated commerce experiences that help them grow fast.

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The case for headless commerce As is often the case for mid-market businesses or large enterprises, creating an exemplary tech stack seems continuously up for debate.

As large swaths of retailers shift online, RECENT ORDERS the conversation only grows, and with it comes increasing friction the way ORDER in #1105 $849 ROB MACHADO retailers build their digital presence and make themselves accessible to the ORDER #1104 modern consumer. $749 MIA MCCARTHY

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What’s a company to do?

One industry driver is changing the way retailers build their ecommerce

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storefronts - headless commerce. Headless commerce, or the decoupling of a brand’s front- and back-end systems, offers industry executives a way to appease multiple internal PERFORMANCE stakeholders while reconciling theirE V E R Y D A Y tech decision making with external industry forces. SLATER

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DESIGNS

Taken a level deeper, headless commerce enables a retailer to OMNI $749 use whatever front-end content The (orOmni takes modern functional aesth clean and minimalistic meeting of perfor hull presentation layer) and back-end designs. The Omni will revel in smal with smooth and extremely radical perfo commerce engine is preferred for that ADD TO CART brand to conduct its ecommerce. By distinctly separating these elements, a brand’s web presence is not impacted by the performance or design limitations of a single platform.

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“Headless commerce enables a retailer to use whatever front-end content (or presentation layer) and back-end commerce engine is preferred for that brand to conduct its ecommerce.”

The resulting combination gives web designers and marketers the powerful content tools they want, while still guaranteeing developers and ecommerce managers have the robust commerce tools they need.

Why move to headless? Until recently, most ecommerce platforms were supported by monolith architectures, which provide businesses a centralized, on-premise, feature-rich system to meet their needs. But, as a business gets more complex, these systems can be slow and difficult to scale. Headless commerce, on the other hand, offers speed and flexibility. Decoupling the front and back end of your headless ecosystem offers a number of other advantages: Heavy front-end traffic does not affect the back end. With headless commerce, the front end and back end of a website can be individually scaled. This means that developers can extend services where needed without adjusting the entire system - a contributing factor to slowed performance.

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Increased customization opportunities. Headless offers merchants the ability to have multiple front ends connected to a single back-end system, which means that a merchant can personalize multiple sites to specific audiences without setting up unique storefronts for each. Consider how this can benefit a merchant looking to sell in multiple countries. Tech stack enables rapid implementation. Because headless systems have a decentralized development process, it’s easier for developers from different teams to collaborate to adjust the code base and get to market faster. Get best-in-breed solutions. Instead of relying on a single system to do everything, a merchant can pick and choose the services and service providers that specialize in their specific use case. Having a vendor-agnostic approach allows the merchant to hone in on services that match their exact business needs.

Today’s consumers have developed an expectation that online brands - retailers, lifestyle or otherwise - double as purveyors of engaging content. While the ultimate goal from a retailer is to drive sales, consumers increasingly look to shop with ones that offer an experience rather than just a transaction. They seek out retailers that build brands that extend beyond the product to engage through content and community, be it social, educational, lifestyle or editorial. The addition of an experience results in a symbiotic relationship for both merchant and customer; one that fosters a more dynamic, deep, sustained customer relationship, rather than a one-anddone transaction that leaves potential future revenue on the table.

Consider how this can be implemented in the context of a popular industry trend: content and commerce.

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With headless commerce, blending content and commerce is now a simple endeavor because it allows a merchant to connect a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or digital experience platform (DXP) like Acquia specifically designed for creating content- or experience-led commerce without impacting backend operations. This means that essential ecommerce functionality like checkout, security and inventory management are safeguarded through the existing backend ecommerce infrastructure.

Headless commerce in practice

What this all means

Local Italian restaurant and specialty food provider Carluccio’s is one example of a business built on a headless solution. Through a relaunched website, the brand brought together rich content and online shipping into a single web experience for the first time. By adopting a headless commerce approach, Carluccio’s is able to have a best-in-class, contentrich web experience that serves both its in-restaurant clientele as well as its growing audience of digital consumers.

Two decades ago, a monolith system was the only option for large brands to build their ecommerce presence on. Unfortunately, monolithic platforms can restrict the fast-moving pace of innovation demanded by modern retail. Headless commerce provides merchants all the tools to match today’s pace of innovation while maintaining the critical elements of a trusted ecommerce infrastructure. It promises to grant retailers and their internal teams the choice, flexibility, customization, global scalability ;and time-tom-market necessary to collaborate in an increasingly crowded ecommerce landscape.

“Headless commerce provides merchants all the tools to match today’s pace of innovation while maintaining the critical elements of a trusted ecommerce infrastructure.”

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Streamlining the modern enterprise - how a shift in marketplace strategy may make or break a brand’s growth pattern Intro to marketplaces Globally, the rising swell of shopping online has brought new meaning to the phrase “add-tocart” - now, any device with access to the internet can become a tool to purchase or sell goods to anyone else in the world.

It comes as no surprise that UK shoppers are familiar with shopping online. With 87% of UK retail purchases being done over the internet, shoppers have more ways to purchase online than ever before. While shopping for an item, customers make a decision - either subconsciously or consciously - as to where they will buy the product:

• In a massive marketplace like Amazon.co.uk, Etsy, Ebay, or Gumtree, • From a large mixed-retailer website like Argos, Debenhams, or Tesco, • Or from a direct brand website, such as Asos or Apple. What is often a quick choice made by customers is one of the most pivotal aspects of the online shopping journey from a brand perspective. After all - the marketplace of choice has a direct impact on whether or not that customer may interact with a brand and ultimately purchase.

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Since the beginning of online retail history, brands have worked towards being at the forefront of that decision with their marketplace strategy:

• Do they make sure their products are in every marketplace? • Do they instead focus on just one? • Do they pivot into simply a directto-consumer method? Let’s dive in to the benefits and setbacks of a marketplace approach, and how emerging brands can create a fully informed marketplace strategy.

Finding success in a multimarketplace approach It’s one of the golden rules of retail: The likelihood of customer purchase rises with the amount of touch points they have with your brand. Selling your items in marketplaces creates a broader reach. If a customer exclusively shops on Amazon or Esty, having your items in those marketplaces in theory increases the chance of them purchasing it.

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Simply put - if your products aren’t there, people won’t buy them.

The drawbacks of using marketplaces

The future state of retail will be “multi” - with multiple ways of purchasing, multiple ways of browsing, and multiple ways of discovering products.

Shoppers who purchase from marketplaces are notoriously unloyal to brands. Unless they’ve purchased from you in the past and are familiar with your products, they will most likely simply purchase whatever product is best - without looking at the brand behind it.

Even though a customer may not ultimately purchase your product on Amazon, seeing your product and interacting with it in on Amazon may further influence their decision to buy it. From a fulfillment standpoint, having your products stored, fulfilled, and shipped to customers via a marketplace automates one of the trickiest parts of ecommerce. By passing off the work to a third party, such as Fulfilled by Amazon, your team is freed up to spend more bandwidth on other aspects of business. In summary, having your product in marketplaces provides you with:

• More access to customers, • More touchpoints and purchasing paths, and • A chance at easily automating your business.

This is the problem with having your products shown amongst hundreds (or thousands) of competitors. The decision-making phase is altered, and customers will ultimately pick the product that suits their needs:

• Is it the least expensive? • Is it the most highly-reviewed? • Is it going to get to me the quickest? The not-so-easy way to combat this is to try to build a relationship with customers who purchase your product, but that is difficult when the marketplace controls the end-to-end fulfillment experience.

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Since the entire experience is owned by Amazon, you don’t have access to customer information for retargeting and remarketing. This means that your customers may make a one-time purchase and never return again - and it will be hard for you to control that. Some marketplaces like Amazon are continuously releasing in-house brands and prioritizing their appearance in search results and on category pages. If you sell items that may brush against the native competition, you run the risk of being eliminated from the platform simply due to the way that the marketplace positions your brand. Last but not least, the costs associated with using marketplaces as a channel are not minimal. Depending on the marketplace you use, you either must:

• Pay a certain percentage of sales to the platform, • Pay an up-front fee (annually or monthly) to get listed on the platform, • Or both.

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“Determine where they browse, where they shop, and where they talk about the products they recommend.”

Finding the right marketplace mix As with any go-to-market strategy, Identifying your customers should be one of the first steps. Determine where they browse, where they shop, and where they talk about the products they recommend. It is often recommended to create your brand first, along with a single channel - your .co.uk address. Having this first channel allows you to get some data around browsing and purchasing patterns - unlike with marketplaces, where you’re blind to how customers are interacting with your products. Here you can also start to build out easy digital advertising, content, and social media strategies. Once your bottom-line brand is created, you’ve reached a crossroads. Do you either:

1. Start diversifying your product into marketplaces, or 2. Continue on as a direct-toconsumer (DTC) or digitally native vertical brand (DNVB)?

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The decision ultimately lies within where you want to grow. If you want to quickly scale and make a profit immediately in the short-term, a multi-channel approach with marketplaces may be key. But if you want to slowly build brand loyalty and experiment with other forms of performance marketing, a direct-toconsumer approach may be correct. If you select a marketplace approach, make sure you are continuously looking at the return in each of those channels. If you start underperforming, there are multiple corrections you can make - pricing, photography, copy, and more.

Conclusion Globally, brands have seen success by incorporating marketplaces into their go-to-market strategy.

product, and how effectively you can reach and re-target your customers. Start by defining your brand and your target market, and then determine whether or not a marketplace is an ideal place for you to reach your customers. Remember that while using a marketplace helps you grow your product footprint and reach more customers, care must be taken to make sure you still have a grasp on the analytics surrounding purchase behavior. Having a mix in channel strategies can help to solve this problem and holds promise for better lifelong brand growth.

But in parallel, the last several years have seen a rise in brands who are avoiding marketplaces altogether or slowly easing into them with one or two marketplaces at a time. The success also is contingent upon how well you market and price your

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Is a branded website enough in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evolving buyer journey?

It used to be said that without a website, bricks-and-mortar stores would be missing a potentially huge customer base - online shoppers. They were right. Many retailers started investing in extensions of their physical offering and, as a result, ecommerce was born. The retail landscape never stands still for long and, once again, history looks to be repeating itself.

Where to next for retailers?

Whilst some retailers are still in the process of creating their branded website presence, others are asking questions. “Is it enough?”, “how will customers find my brand in a crowded market?” and “what would make them choose me over someone else?”. Investing in a single website was once a forward-thinking strategy, and for some it has catapulted them to national and even global familiarity. But shoppers’ behaviours and expectations evolve quickly in a digitally driven market, making it easy to miss a solitary branded website. Why limit yourself to one channel to capture targeted customers when you can use two or three? Now is the time to invest in multiple touch points that put retailers in the direct eyeline of target customers.

Many retailers are spending time and money on understanding how they can reach customers beyond their website. It all starts by looking at their customers movements and behaviour patterns. According to Office of National Statistics, 18 percent of all retail sales are currently made online and this is expected to reach 50 percent in ten years (Retail Economics). These very people do not just spend their time on retailers’ websites; they spend it on social media. Millennials and Gen Z grew up with social media and treat it as a way of life. The amount of time they spend on the channel has given it unprecedented power as a communication tool and influence over the way people think and behave, not to mention created

“Now is the time to invest in multiple touch points that put retailers in the direct eyeline of target customers.”

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an opportunity for retailers to blur the lines between social media and ecommerce.

The rise of social commerce Many still consider the idea of purchasing something through a social channel to be a novelty. Yet, social commerce isn’t a new concept. The term was first coined in 2005 - but changing long-lived habits doesn’t happen overnight. Some industry experts believe the marriage of social and commerce will never move far beyond the ‘research and recommendation’ phase for audiences; others are excited to watch it evolve into an allencompassing, enjoyable experience. Twitter was way ahead of the competition back in 2014 when it launched a ‘Buy It Now’ button in its bid to make social commerce mainstream. Yet, soon after it was introduced, the ‘Buy It Now’ button was abandoned, likely because the textual nature of Twitter was not conducive for such a concept. In recent years though, Instagram has succeeded in changing the face of social commerce. Instagram’s very essence is rooted in visual storytelling and, as such, its commerce credentials are growing at speed. Consumers use the platform to be inspired. More than 800 million people use Instagram every month,

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60 percent say it’s where they discover new products and more than 130 million users tap shoppable posts each month, according to data from the platform.

actively looking to engage with brands outside of the store. BigCommerce research reveals Gen Z is three times more likely to shop on Snapchat than the average consumer.

Social commerce done right

According to Bazaarvoice, the number of consumers who place high importance on the ability to discover and purchase directly through social media platforms has risen by 38 percent in 12 months. The seamless merging of physical and digital retailing is now a prerequisite to success in China. Personalisation is key. Consumer expectations for connected digital experiences are high - consumers want highly personalised experiences fast, hence the huge rise of WeChat as a platform for luxury brands. According to a recent Gartner L2 study, 60% of luxury fashion brands have at least one WeChat store, up from 36% in 2018. More than one billion people use WeChat each month, and if luxury brands tap into this vast audience in the right way, they’ll reap the benefits and be leading the way.

Currently 30 percent of online shoppers say they would make a purchase from a social media network like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat. Social commerce is increasingly becoming an integral part of the omnichannel experience where brands sell across both online and physical; a strategy that ultimately gets products in front of more people. However, retailers need to invest in a social strategy that’s right for their brand and audience if they want to be successful. Consumer purchase journeys can become complex if platforms are not fully integrated. Relying on redirects from one platform to another can cause consumers to abandon their intended purchase. A streamlined social commerce journey is one that makes the path to purchase shorter and less complicated, converting the customer while they are still engaged. A strong social presence is also key for brands to create an emotional connection with consumers. Especially considering today’s Gen Z shoppers are

Does Gen Z hold the key to a social commerce boom? Millennials were brought up with the internet. Those born in the early 90s were at the forefront of the eCommerce boom having witnessed the collapse of high street giants, such as Woolworths

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“...landscape brands can no longer just rely on their website or marketplace presence to generate sales; it needs to be intuitive and personalised. ”

and BHS. Fast forward a few years and the marketplace-effect took Millennials firmly in its grip. But Gen Z has other ideas about how it wants to shop online. This year, Gen Z is due to surpass Millennials and Baby Boomers as the largest generation. As a result, Gen Z is fast becoming the target segment for brands to capture loyalty. A study by Wunderman Thompson Commerce found that, unlike their millennial counterparts, younger consumers report less satisfaction with Amazon than older generations - and are stopping using it. In fact, WP Engine found 46 percent of Gen Z would stop visiting a website if it didn’t anticipate what they needed, liked or wanted. If they want to take advantage of the growing Gen Z landscape brands can no longer just rely on their website or marketplace presence to generate sales; it needs to be intuitive and personalised. BigCommerce’s latest Omnichannel Report revealed the ability to touch and try on a product before purchase is less of a concern, often due to the ease of next day delivery and free returns.

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Instead, brand purpose, social media presence and overall lifestyle affinity are pulling Gen Z away from one-click purchases on Amazon or through the newest drop app.

Inspiration, aspiration and a wardrobe to match Gen Z is selective about who it chooses to shop with, and social platforms are already innovating to take advantage, leading with a personalised approach. For example, Pinterest is steadily expanding from a platform for inspiration to a platform for shopping. Last month, it launched updated catalogues and personalised shopping hubs, while in 2018, it replaced buyable pins with product pins. Gen Z relies on social networks for inspirational fashion and aspirational lifestyles. As a result, they want an ever-evolving product wish list to match. This allows retailers to deliver tailored content and personalised engagement. Such content can also be easily shared, but not all brands have embraced the idea of letting consumers complete their purchase journey on a social media platform.

If a customer sees an item they like on the platform, but there’s no way for them to buy the item or access the site, retailers risk losing that sale. The recent launch of ‘Instagram Checkout’ allows users to purchase items they discover without ever leaving Instagram. By offering this low friction entry for shoppers, Instagram is successfully leveraging a global and highly engaged audience – the next generation of buying power.

Looking to the future of eCommerce The concept of shopping on social commerce brings together the power and influence of social with the convenience and ease of eCommerce. Now is the time for retailers to look beyond their core website and tap into the high expectations of their customer base. Investing in a social strategy will ensure they take advantage of the huge potential social commerce offers. Online retailers need to continue innovating if they want to remain relevant in a crowded and ever-evolving market.

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Evolving shipping from a cost centre to a revenue drive With High Street seemingly in a constant state of decline, it should come as no surprise that online sales are on the rise. In fact, 2018 data from the Office for National Statistics found that online sales account for a record high of 18.2% of all retail sales - that’s nearly double the rate from five years prior when only one pound in every 10 was spent online.

Combine this with the way Amazon’s promise of guaranteed fast and free shipping globally has completely shifted consumer buying expectations, and it’s no wonder that we’re seeing more consumers look to complete their shopping lists online. Broadly speaking, many online retailers have adjusted their retail strategies to appeal to the changing customer journey, be it through buy online pick-up in store (BOPIS), buying through social media, or subscriptions; yet one thing often overlooked is the role that the shipping experience plays in the consumer’s comprehensive buying experience.

Why does shipping matter? Shipping is so much more than just another part of the process. In fact: • Nearly three-quarters of UK consumers (73%) chose not to complete a purchase because they did not like the available shipping options • 80% of UK consumers made a purchase specifically because the retailer offered free shipping • 80% of UK consumers have added items to their cart in order to meet a minimum price threshold for free shipping

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• More than one-third of UK consumers (35%) have stopped shopping with a retailer due to a bad shipping experience The message is clear: affordable shipping matters. Unfortunately, meeting Amazon’s shipping expectations is simply not a realistic business practice for many retailers.

What’s an independent retailer to do? Taking today’s expectations into account, shipping is an expensive proposition. Consumers expect affordable - or free - shipping options, but shipping is simply not free. Someone is left paying the bill, which means that merchants must be willing to absorb shipping costs into their own expenses, cutting into their bottom line revenue. The initial cost of the shipment doesn’t even take into account online returns, which some estimates suggest cost UK retailers £20 billion a year - one-third the cost of total retail returns. Despite everything, shipping remains a critical part of the comprehensive online buying experience and retailers need to consider how they can ensure that the shipping experience aligns with the rest of the consumer’s buying journey - or risk losing a customer for good.

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What should a retailer consider? 1. Consider Using a 3PL A 3PL, or third-party logistics provider, helps independent retailers manage the warehousing and shipping of products. Their work with hundreds of retailers gives them the ability to scale shipping in a way that a single merchant is unable to do on their own, and enables retailers to offer customers a more competitive shipping timeline to Amazon. While bringing on an additional partner will add some additional expenses, the competitive offering may compel more customers to shop with the brand, ultimately bringing in additional revenue that could offset that added expense.

2. Make your ecommerce platform work for you

3. Treat checkout as part of the shipping experience increase

Part of what enables Amazon - and other big box retailers - to offer free shipping is the sheer volume of packages they are delivering on a regular basis. Those retailers are able to leverage that volume to secure bulk discounts with shipping providers a luxury that growing independent merchants just don’t have. That said, a merchant’s ecommerce platform may have the capabilities to fill in those gaps.

It’s easy to think of shipping as a process that starts once an item has been purchased; but realistically, shipping begins during the checkout. Remember that 73% of UK consumers will not complete a purchase if they don’t like available shipping options. This means it’s important to offer customers choice at checkout, both in the type of carrier available and the delivery timeframes. Perhaps you even take it a step further by offering buy online, pick-up in store.

When considering an ecommerce platform, understand what its shipping offering looks like. Does it have industry-leading partnerships with local and national carriers? Do those partnerships spell larger discounts for you as a merchant? Merchants that work with an ecommerce platform that views shipping as a critical piece of the total puzzle often find that they are able to achieve bigger cost savings in the shipping process – and pass those savings directly onto their customers through more affordable shipping options.

Beyond being provided all the available options, customers don’t want to experience any surprises while finalizing the purchase - this means ensuring that all costs, including taxes and estimated shipping and delivery are accounted for on the checkout page. Failure to do so could impact the final purchase.

All in all, creating an effective, long-lasting modern enterprise requires that a merchant consider every part of the consumer’s journey, from the core site experience to the channels a customer can shop in all the way to the final package delivery. Ignoring just one of these factors prevents a merchant from achieving a true modern enterprise in the eyes of their most important stakeholder: their consumer.

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MARK HOPKINS CIO

27% 7% Increase in shoppers ppers adding add products to cart after switching to BigCommerce.

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