Analytics poised to make the difference

THE LAST two years have brought fast and dramatic changes to the way we buy and receive goods. We are well aware of the disruption Covid-19 has brought on retailers and brands, and there’s already a wealth of research outlining its impact. 

“That’s not what we’re interested in here,” says MetaPack founder & former CEO Patrick Wall. “In this report, we wanted to understand the extent to which these changes will endure in 2022 and beyond. We estimate that $650 billion of global non-food spending will permanently shift to online by 2025. This is already supported by 20% of consumers who say they will continue shopping more online, long after the impact of the pandemic has subsided.”

Nike

Brands adopting an end-to-end approach to sales allows them to be more responsive to market demand. For instance, Nike connects to more than 250 million customers directly on its app.

By harvesting real-time data, it can respond to changes in traffic to forecast product demand. During the pandemic, Nike noticed that app traffic was showing more customers engaging in yoga – it responded swiftly by producing new yoga clothing ranges.

Digital shifters

Many of the changes noted in the MetaPack Report have been accelerated by the emergence of new shopping behaviours, including a new wave of permanent online shoppers it calls ‘digital shifters’.

The digital shifters driving long term disruption are most likely to be delivery-speed seekers. Their priorities differ markedly from other online shopper types, particularly ‘undeterred shoppers’. Here, the greatest differences lie in their demand for speed and convenience of delivery, but they are less concerned about the convenience of returns, visibility of tracking and the carbon footprint of the delivery.

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Since Covid-19, there has been a distinct focus on the immediacy of deliveries. Digital shifters have been exposed to an increasingly competitive delivery environment which has driven heightened expectations around speed of delivery, with retailers such as Lush among the latest in the US to partner with DoorDash for same-day home delivery fulfilled from stores. Similarly, in the UK, Aldi, Boots and Holland & Barrett have partnered with rapid delivery provider Deliveroo to fulfil online orders.

Digital shifters have discovered a greater level of convenience from home deliveries since the pandemic. When surveyed about permanently shifting spending online, digital shifters are more than twice as likely to be motivated by the newfound ‘convenience of home deliveries’ compared to the average shopper (42.5% vs. 19.4%); this being more important than the ‘discovery of lower prices’, which is a top motivation for the average shopper.

As well as identifying new types of consumer, notably digital shifters, the MetaPack Report looked at three broad consumer cohorts.

Cost conscious

Prioritise the cost of delivery.

• Broad demographic in terms of age with a slight female bias.
• This group predominantly prefers home delivery (83%), but shows a relatively greater preference for collections than delivery-speed seekers.
• Cheaper delivery drives loyalty, influencing them to shop with a particular retailer more frequently.

Delivery-speed seekers

Value speed of delivery the most (e.g. same/next day).

• Even gender split, but more than two fifths (41%) in this group are aged between 25 to 44 years old.
• Almost nine in 10 in this group (87%) prefer home delivery for online orders.
• For this cohort, faster delivery drives loyalty.

Convenience maximisers

Prioritise convenience of delivery (e.g. location, time slot).

• This shopper is more likely to be female.
• Typically, an older shopper – well over half (56%) are over 45 years old.
• Online shoppers in this cohort value a range of options across home delivery (four in five) and collection (one in five).
• Better website experiences and better products details making it easier to shop drives loyalty for this group.

How to adapt quickly

So, how can retailers adjust their propositions to win and retain their business? Perceiving how consumer preferences have changed is one thing; understanding how to pivot your own business to cater to them is something else entirely. The report isn’t just about uncovering consumer trends, it’s also about the ways in which top retailers and brands are already responding to embrace change and succeed in 2022.

Patrick Wall explains: “The eCommerce-first economy we’ve been talking about for so long has finally arrived. It’s time to adapt.”

The Boohoo Group is one of the world’s fastest growing eCommerce companies. When it acquired two labels – Oasis and Warehouse – the group needed an online delivery network capable of supporting its international business.

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The Boohoo Group uses Metapack’s Shipping API to allocate the most intelligent and cost-effective shipping options, drawing from the world’s largest library of 400+ carriers and 4,900+ delivery services. This is especially important to help Boohoo Group serve its growing international market. Because the software integrates directly with carriers, different services can be added effortlessly via a single API.

Using Shipping API, the two newly acquired brands have direct access to an international fulfillment network of 53 carrier services.

The platform is capable of allocating orders at speeds of less than 300 milliseconds. This allows Oasis and Warehouse to keep up with demand even in the busiest periods. It also enables the brands to grow rapidly in international markets as the group’s global customer base continues to expand.

Tracking API

When online demand rises, so too does customer contact. It can be costly for retailers and frustrating for customers. Metapack Tracking API is used to cut customer contact by creating better customer experiences with rich tracking data. The solution converts carrier delivery events into consistent, jargon free updates customers and service agents can easily understand. Tracking API can be used to quickly build tracking features in your website, apps and customer service tools.

Sustainable options

Retailers can cater to environmentally conscious consumers with Metapack Delivery Options, which seeks to increase conversions by offering environmentally friendly delivery options like electric vehicle or bicycle, as well as out of home collection options like Click & Collect, PUDOs and lockers. A retailer’s customers see accurate delivery timeframes displayed on the product page, as well as delivery options that take into account stock availability and location.

The report highlights very effectively how data, and the ability to sharply analyse data, will be increasingly important in retail logistics, and for logistics in general.

Download the free Report here – https://bit.ly/3MnlXW6