Product News: Online retailers identify customer deliver standards as key to business growth
British-based online retailers are devoting more focus on improving customer deliveries in order to generate more business.
UK parcel and carrier manager, Global Freight Solutions (GFS), has revealed a sharp increase in the number of retailers seeking advice about delivery standards.
GFS has reported that “very substantial” numbers of both small retailers and household brands had identified reliable consumer deliveries as an important element of their attempts to cash in on the e-commerce boom.
The discussions followed the company’s decision to make its multi-carrier delivery management software, GFS Selector, available without charge in October 2011.
Director Simon Veale said: “Many of the enquiries which we have received have come from retailers which have had delivery issues of their own in the months since we made our software available.
“They have been telling us that they appreciate more than ever before how effective deliveries are becoming as much a part of maintaining customer satisfaction and generating repeat business as how they actually sell their products.For some, pressures on their delivery networks in the run-up to the Christmas peak season really brought home the importance of making contingencies to get goods to consumers, something which we would argue has year-‘round relevance.”
The company says that free registration has meant subscribers being able to download the GFS Selector software, which allows them to choose a range of ‘best fit’ carriers for their individual requirements as well being able to ‘track, trace and manage’ their deliveries. The system also generates specialist carriers’ own labels, even if internet connections fail.
The GFS software is available on a tiered basis, meaning that smaller customers will face no on-going charges. Larger clients pay minimal transactional fees but have additional features, such as ‘smart-routing’ and E-commerce shopping trolley integration.
Mr Veale stated that a number of large, high volume shippers had decided their delivery needs were so specific that they had signed up as clients in order that GFS could directly manage an element of the parcels on their behalf.
