GBG Research: Risk Late Delivery, Risk Losing Customers

The exponential rise in online shopping (according to Australia Post, 1.3 million households bought something online for the first time ever in 2020) adds to a sizable stress on a system that includes retailers, courier companies, and freight carriers.

But this strain on delivery resources has not resulted in a more forgiving consumer. Accurate and timely delivery, as well as a seamless customer experience during online check out, are still of massive importance to Australian shoppers. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Loqate, a GBG location intelligence solution, of more than 1,000 Australian consumers shows that if a retailer delivers a product late, it risks losing that customer for any future transactions.

The survey’s findings were featured in two prominent Australian news publications:

• ChannelLife Australia: Delivery delays during holiday season could damage brands' reputation - survey
• Small Business Answers: Retailers could lose customers to late deliveries

According to ChannelLife Australia, businesses need to ensure customers are well informed of the delivery cut off dates before shopping for the holiday season. Without clear communication on this, customers will lose trust with the brand and may not return.

The GBG survey shows 27% would not purchase from a retailer again if their package was not delivered in time for the upcoming holidays. A further 15% believe delayed shipments damage trust with a brand, with more than 1 in 10 believing retailers are ultimately responsible for ensuring packages are delivered on time — suggesting that external supply chain issues don’t result in any leniency.

Regional General Manager of GBG for Australia and New Zealand, Carol Chris, goes into detail in the ChannelLife Australia article about how GBG’s Retail and eCommerce solutions can supercharge the online shopping experience by providing more secure and accurate checkout processes. Getting this crucial stage of the customer journey right goes a long way to meeting increasingly high expectations of shoppers, even amidst global disruptions.

“Retailers and online merchants need to recognise that a significant portion of online shoppers will not show leniency if their customer experience is sub-par,” Chris explains in ChannelLife Australia. “Retailers need to have the technology in place to make sure purchase processes and customer information are both accurate. This is necessary to providing a secure and frictionless customer experience.”

Just some of the solutions GBG provides to address these vital issues for retailers are:

• Fast and frictionless document verification: Online registration and checkout often requires identity or age verification. GBG makes this simple using sophisticated technology such as FaceMatch, passive liveness checks, and smart capture technology.
• Address capture technology: Loqate, a GBG location intelligence solution, uses global address verification and geocoding to autofill addresses from around the world. This elimination of manual data entry not only improves the customer experience, but reduces failed deliveries to improve conversion and completion rates.
• Compliance: Once retailers have mastered identity verification and high-speed address verification, not only does their eCommerce UX drastically improve, GBG’s software also ensures businesses adhere to global compliance regulations.

In the Small Business Answers article, Chris provides advice about how retailers can evolve their digital transformation journeys in line with customer expectations at this crucial time of year. “The ongoing impacts of the pandemic have not deterred Australians from wanting to ensure this time of year remains the biggest and busiest for their online shopping and holiday gifting needs,” she said.

“GBG’s Loqate address verification solutions have been specifically designed to enable merchants to deliver exceptional experiences to every customer, wherever they are located, by being powered by the most accurate global and regional location data.”

To read the full article on ChannelLife Australia, visit: https://channellife.com.au/story/delivery-delays-during-holiday-season-could-damage-brands-reputation-survey

To read the full article on Small Business Answers, visit: https://www.smallbusinessanswers.com.au/news/retailers-could-lose-customers-to-late-deliveries/

To find out more about the survey, visit: https://www.loqate.com/resources/ebooks-and-reports/anz-2021-loqate-holiday-shopper-insights-report/

To learn more about GBG’s Loqate, visit: https://www.loqate.com/anz/