Building trust in 2023: Five location intelligence predictions

Next day delivery is 23 hours too long  

The rapid delivery trend, where an order gets fulfilled very quickly after it’s placed, has exploded. Turkish rapid delivery start-up Getir for example was valued at $12billion this year, having grown its business to operate in over 80 cities globally.  

This trend massively took off during the pandemic as home-bound shoppers required delivery for more goods than ever. Now, it’s not just takeaways that consumers can order and receive within an hour, but they can do the same with full grocery shops and clothes. Shoppers can even order a lipstick for a night out the same evening, with Space NK offering a two-hour delivery after purchase.  

As rapid delivery continues to grow in 2023, we will see a critical change in consumer sentiment. Rapid delivery will move from being perceived as ‘unexpectedly delightful’ to the ‘expected norm’, a by-product of the increasing number of adopters as these services penetrate a wider audience.  

Retailers need to be prepared for this change and understand this service will no longer be a point of differentiation but instead a consumer demand. As such, businesses need to invest the right technology, including accurate location intelligence data such as address verification and geo-fencing, as well as the required infrastructure, like dark-stores and couriers, to deploy and maintain a successful rapid delivery service or risk falling behind to competitors.

“In 2023, we will see a critical change in consumer sentiment, where rapid delivery will move from unexpectedly delightful’ to the ‘expected norm’.” 

An evolution of the front-and back-end parts of the payment system 

Open Banking, technology that allows third-party providers to access financial data through APIs enabling secure interoperability in the financial industry, is reshaping the global financial services ecosystem. As the payment landscape continues to evolve, both consumers and businesses worldwide are being exposed to new, frictionless, fintech-powered payment options. As a result, this has caused a ripple effect on the entire financial services industry forcing mass disruption and innovation.  

Globalisation is the driving force behind change, but the financial industry has not kept pace with the shift to a global economy. The growth in cross border peer-to-peer (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) transactions will continue to expose vulnerabilities built into traditional payment infrastructure. Today’s entrenched financial services companies will undergo dramatic transformation to keep pace, while at the same time fintechs and neo-banks will continue to disrupt. With this, expect to see a dramatic growth in embedded finance within non-financial offerings – where the financial and fraud experience (FX) is integrated in the customer experience (CX). Businesses that seamlessly integrate identity, fraud and payment experiences will have a competitive edge in 2023.  

In turn, this will impact how location data is leveraged. Most existing payment products are developed on a country-by-country basis with data exchanges agreed and built between governments, banks, and financial institutions. Currently, most of these solutions are limited to US, Canada, and UK address data. This year, we will see greater investments from businesses in global location verification solutions related to payment transactions as part of a growing cross-border commerce strategy. With the pace of innovation in the payments landscape, this will very quickly move from a nice-to-have to a must-have.  

The death of the keyboard 

Over the years, innovation has dramatically changed the computer, making it faster, slimmer, lighter, touchscreen and transportable. One thing that has remained consistent, however, is the keyboard. Until now.  

Recently, the role the keyboard plays in people’s lives has been changing. With innovation and advances in voice recognition technology made mainstream by the rise of smart home assistants such as Alexa and Siri, more of our interactions with smart devices is done without the need for any physical interaction at all. In fact, with the right technology, consumers can now browse and purchase all via voice.  

This begs the questions: are keyboards on their way out? It’s my view that while we aren’t going to see the keyboard buried in 2023, we are going to see its dominance steadily decrease.  

Reels become reality 

In years gone by, you could guarantee that where there was news, you’d find advertising. But with social media platforms taking prominence as the main ‘news sources’, this process has reversed. We now see that where there are users, there is advertising and the news follows.  

The rise of TikTok and Instagram as destinations for all content continues to bring the huge opportunity for brands to sell direct to consumers. In 2023, we will continue to see more retailers expand their cross-border commerce through social selling.  

It’s not hard to understand why - with 4.7 billion people in the world using social media, delivering shoppable content to millions of potential buyers in hundreds of different locations at once can make any business global in a matter of seconds.  

The potential reach is almost endless, but brands need to be ready to become global and fast. It is critical that this is done with customer experience front of mind – our own research revealed that 41% of customers will place blame on the retailer if their order is late and 40% will abandon their cart and seek out a competitor if they face address entry issues. Only with the best quality location data, will brands be enabled to take full advantage of borderless commerce in 2023.  

“With 4.7 billion people in the world using social media, delivering shoppable content to millions of potential buyers in hundreds of different locations at once can make any business global in a matter of seconds.”

The battle for growth investment Vs cost saving 

Businesses will need to carefully consider how they grow this year while we continue to experience macro environmental pressures. With the rising cost of living slowing consumer spending, cash injections for growth may be limited and in 2023, there is likely to be a greater focus on cost savings as businesses look to future-proof themselves against a difficult backdrop.  

It’s my view that businesses, or at least those thinking about the long-term battle, will prioritise efficiencies but won’t forget about their customers by delivering a ‘surprise and delight’ experience to build loyalty where possible. It’s likely we will see several businesses walking this tightrope – a misstep could be fatal, but those who balance it correctly will come out the other side in a stronger position.  

Also, while this year there may be fewer new customers available for Direct to Consumer (D2C) brands to attract, there is a huge opportunity for reengagement with the vast numbers of existing inactive customers. I predict that the main aim for retailers in 2023 will be to get these existing customers spending with them again.  

One specific area where businesses can both make savings as well as delight customers is perfecting the delivery process. Failed deliveries costs retailers an average of £200,000 a year as well as negatively impacting brand reputation. This issue can be easily combated with an investment in the right technology. For example, Loqate’s customers have reduced failed delivery rates by up to 70% with its unparalleled global location data coverage.