Holi-daze: Delivering for e-commerce customers in an unpredictable holiday season
By Annie Rolfe and Rachel Huvard
The holidays are a peak season for retailers, both on and off-line. This year, as brands try to salvage sales that have been pillaged by the pandemic, it’s more important than ever. Guaranteeing delivery of customers’ purchases in time for the holidays used to be a complex, but doable, challenge. As most things in 2020, that looks a lot different this year.
The pandemic triggered such an increase in online shopping that shipping volumes for carriers including FedEx, UPS, and USPS have already been at peak Christmas or Cyber Monday volumes for months. When you layer holiday shopping on top of that, shipping delays are inevitable. No, really — data from Salesforce predicts the total number of packages expected to ship during the holidays this year will actually exceed the capability of the US delivery ecosystem by 5%.
While you might not drive the FedEx truck yourself, you can avoid damage to customer relationships resulting from a missed holiday delivery by communicating in the right way. Here are our recommendations for how retailers can continue to deliver a great customer experience in a year with no guarantees.
Four ways to capitalize on communication (and control what you can):
1. Be real
In a year of extraordinary change and challenge, we’re all doing our best and learning to adjust. Whether you’re selling online for the first time or are working under new protocols to keep your employees safe, be upfront with consumers about what they can expect and when they can expect to get it. A willingness to be candid shows respect for your shoppers and may just build trust that can grow into long-term loyalty.
2. Lay out the options
Help shoppers who are accustomed to lightning-fast delivery understand all their options this year. Whether you’ve introduced curbside pickup or local delivery, provide customers with clear information so they can easily compare methods and be confident in new ways to get the perfect gift from point A to B.
3. Lower the stakes
With online shopping, there are some things you can’t know until the purchase is in hand. Reassure anxious shoppers in an uncertain season by offering clear, concise return and exchange policies that reduce the perceived risks of buying online. If the perfect gift doesn’t arrive on time or you’ve totally misjudged Uncle Mark’s slipper size, let shoppers take comfort in knowing returns or exchanges will be a cinch.
4. See shoppers through to the end
Holiday gift-giving doesn’t end when shoppers click “buy.” See your customers over the finish line with festive vouchers that can stand in under the tree in the event that a purchase doesn’t arrive on time. Sharing your sincere apologies and offering a creative fix can go a long in preserving your relationship with shoppers. Like a belated birthday card, your willingness to own the miss (no matter the circumstances) shows that person you really care.
Customers will remember how they experienced your brand — good or bad — for years to come. There is emotion tied to gift-giving, and you don’t want to leave your customers feeling burned.
While Slalom cannot guarantee delivery of Uncle Mark’s slippers in time for the big day, we can help bolster your holiday CX strategy to withstand the test of this year’s holiday shipping conundrum. Our team of retail strategy experts and communication specialists are here to help you adapt and make the most of this holiday season.
Slalom Customer Insight is created by industry leaders and practitioners from Slalom, a modern consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation.
Annie Rolfe is passionate about helping our clients in retail and beyond solve for some of their biggest challenges. Have a question or want to talk retail? Annie can be reached at annie.rolfe@slalom.com.
Rachel Huvard is a multi-disciplinary designer and strategist who harnesses verbal and visual language to capture insights, reframe problems, and help clients discover and realize creative solutions.
