How Click & Collect drives customer loyalty
A key area of focus for any retailer running a business is customer retention. By now, it’s common knowledge that it’s much more time consuming (and expensive!) to acquire new customers than it is to retain your current ones.
There are some clear and straightforward ways to improve levels of customer satisfaction, which in turn encourage repeat purchases and brand loyalty – all without having to make drastic changes to your business’ core functions or operations. As the online shopping experience becomes increasingly seamless, customers expect their delivery experience to be just as smooth and simple; today, it’s one of the key metrics against which customers will measure the quality of their shopping experience.
One of the ways in which retailers can delivery on these heightened customer expectations is by providing convenient delivery options, whether that be next day, local or in-store Click & Collect. Read on to see how offering Click & Collect can help cement loyalty from customers.
Why offer Click & Collect in the first place?
Click & Collect is taking the world by storm, and it’s not surprising. From a consumer’s perspective, having a reliable parcel delivery option is a dream scenario. Long gone are the days of coming home to “We missed you!” notes from the delivery driver or a parcel being taken while sitting on the front porch all day. According to a report by Which?, 60% of people who shopped online had issues with delivery. The transition from a world where receiving your order requires one to stay at home from work to one where online shoppers can stop by a local, reliable shop to pick it up after they get off is fast approaching.
Between 2016 and 2021, GlobalData predicted that Click & Collect would grow by 64%, eventually accounting for over £9.6 billion in sales. This dramatic increase in Click & Collect in the retail industry is a result of customers increasingly relying on the delivery option in order to be able to receive their purchases. In the year 2016, around 72% of online shoppers in Britain used the service.
Customers value flexibility and control when it comes to delivery
The e-commerce world reflects the convenience-driven society we currently inhabit, and across industries, we see that consumers increasingly expect to be able to access goods and services on their terms, in a manner that fits their lifestyle.
Having to wait in for a parcel, or getting up early on a Saturday to retrieve a missed delivery falls far below the level of service a customer expects. Adding a new dress to your cart might be easy, but if you’re spending days trying to track down a missed parcel, the hassle quickly outweighs the convenience.
From a retailers’ point of view, Click & Collect could be the defining factor as to whether a customer chooses to make a purchase with them or not. According to MetaPack, over 60% of online shoppers have chosen one retailer over another because of the delivery options available. Companies that offer customers multiple options for parcel delivery have an advantage over their competitors because of the changing desires of consumers.
Secure delivery options add trust to your order process
46% of people say that they’ve abandoned their carts due to delivery concerns – if you had any worries over whether you might receive a parcel, especially if its arrival is time sensitive, you would be unlikely to risk placing an order.
Particularly when it comes to the first order experience, it’s important that customers know when, how and where they will receive their orders. If shoppers have a negative delivery experience with a retailer, even if it is due to factors outside of their control, shoppers may be unlikely to place an order with them again. Indeed, customers are much more likely to hold retailers responsible for delivery issues, rather than the courier or delivery firm.
Customers appreciate it when you make the journey smooth for them
Customers will always be naturally inclined to follow the path of least resistance, which is why it’s crucial to remove as many points of friction as possible from the checkout process.
Having to fill in long forms, consent to additional features or input information needlessly can frustrate the user, and cause them to abandon checkout. In fact, as many as 20% of people end up abandoning their carts at the stage where they need to submit their delivery details, which is particularly telling.
It’s simple: the faster the better. Studies show 88% of consumers cite speed as a reason for using Click and Collect because it allows them to check-out on a website with ease.
Offering Click & Collect from a local collect point or your own store can be one way of reducing this friction, as it eliminates the need for customers to manually enter their delivery details, allowing them instead to selecting their preferred location from a map or a list and have these details entered automatically.
Apart from appeasing their customers, Click & Collect also helps companies save significant amounts of money and resources that might otherwise have to be allocated in order to deal with the consequences of failed first-time deliveries. A typical retailer shipping 25,000 orders a month loses around £35,000 per month as a result of missed deliveries. The Click and Collect delivery option helps cut down on those costs and allows retailers to focus their budget on more important areas.
Why Choose HubBox?
HubBox makes things easy. The seamless integration of its software system into a retailers’ checkout platform removes any stress from the actual company with its transition. Additionally, HubBox’s solution works with any couriers instead of one, leaving retailers with the flexibility to continue the services they have already had in place. Finally, with 4,000 and growing collect points nationwide, HubBox offers customers vast amounts of opportunities for loyal click and collect points guaranteed to be near them. The London startup is leading its competitors into the transition to an efficient and enjoyable Click & Collect future.
