Black Friday Retailers! Do You Meet Customer Expectations?

The holiday season is upon us and it’s going to be a busy one this year! Halloween has just come and gone and Christmas, Hannukah and Quansah are creeping up quickly. In between those however, you’ll find a day that acts like a holiday, where retailers and E-com giants are ramping up and looking at different ways to engage with consumers in hopes to get them on the buying train. That day is Black Friday — and don’t forget about the equally important Cyber Monday! Black Friday is supposed to be “the biggest day of spending that the UK (and the world) has ever seen” according to a recent article in TechRadar. This is the day where retailers fight tooth and nail to offer consumers the best deals and the lowest prices in hopes that they will buy, buy, buy!

But how do retailers get prepared and meet customer expectations? How do they stand out amongst the sea of deals and discounts being promoted by their competitors? The answer lies in understanding the full customer buying journey and a big part of that is in the delivery. One of the key ingredients to a seamless customer experience is through customised and flexible delivery options. Consumers don’t want 1 hour or less gimmicks, they want scheduled “at their disposal” delivery options. Enhanced customer experiences are about the full journey and this cannot exist without the delivery process being carefully and consistently optimised with consumer expectations being met taking both delivery and returns into consideration. In the on-demand world we’ve so carefully created, it’s a matter of speed, and now especially of convenience.

According to a recent article by Business Matters, failed Black Friday deliveries cost UK retailers £203 million in returns. An expected £3 billion in spend in the UK alone will contribute to an expected £1.01bn worth of online delivery failure. The “returns process” can often be unpredictable for retailers when not properly planned for. Furthermore, it can cause issues with Christmas stock having to be resold in January at a reduced prices by the time it makes its way through a retailer’s system again and back onto the shelves.

While customer demands seem to increase, Black Friday tends to be a much more volatile time where expectations are extremely high. This is where Stuart can help! One of the options that companies like Stuart offer are an outsourced delivery and returns service which allows for all of the trimmings (Christmas pun intended!) a retailer could dream of. With live tracking (for both retailer and consumer), multi-drop (reducing costs) and scheduled returns/delivery (at the consumer’s convenience); retailers both large and small can meet their customer’s expectations.

For more information or to speak to one of our team, contact us at marketing@stuart.com or check out our website at stuart.com