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The Impact of a Late Shipment for your E-commerce

E-commerce customers now want their products immediately. You noticed it, didn’t you? If they could, they would make them appear in front of them with a snap.

Accustomed to the speed and efficiency of a giant like Amazon, they don’t accept a shipment that takes more than 3-4 days to arrive.

According to data from an American search at the end of 2017, buyers who do not buy on Amazon expect delivery times of around 5 days, while the patience of those who buy on Amazon has a lower limit: less than 4 days.

And it’s up to you to adapt as much as possible. Maybe losing out too. But you may think that if it helps to satisfy your customers, it will be worth it.

They will not pull a face seeing a week’s shipping time, but they will be encouraged to buy knowing that in a short time they will have the object so desired at home. And maybe they will leave a positive review.

Now fast shipping is everything and, on the contrary, a delayed shipment can do much more damage to your company  than you think. In fact, most people refuse to give a second chance to the Merchant held responsible for the delay. Because maybe you did everything to send as soon as possible but then the courier delayed delivery and in the customer’s perception the fault is still yours.

Now let’s see in particular which metrics of your e-commerce are affected by a late shipment.

Customer Acquisition Cost and Cost of Regular Customer

Acquiring a new customer costs a lot because you have to put in place all the marketing tools you know, from the site, to the pages on social networks, to e-mails, and so on. The Customer Acquisition Cost is a fundamental fact of every e-commerce, from the smallest to the largest, and it can increase a lot if you manage the after-sales phase badly and maybe you are forced to offer a “repair” discount after a late delivery.

There is also another cost that you must consider, that of a regular customer. After so much effort and so many investments, you have managed to create a circle of loyal customers you have to retain. A late shipment can drive away even the most loyal of customers.

The last metric to take into consideration is the Customer Lifetime Value, or the profit you can get from each customer in a defined time.

These costs can rise also due to shipping delays, a very negative publicity for your business. But before analyzing their impact, let’s see how and why delayed deliveries are so frequent.

A delayed shipment can really damage your business.

A problem that doesn’t just depend on you

You may not know that about 10% of shipments suffer delays that are not dependent on the carrier. But it is not enough: the figure can rise up to 30% in particularly congested periods, like close to the holidays.

In short, shipments can be delayed for various reasons, including:

  1. Delivery in inconvenient areas. Delivering a parcel to remote places requires additional time and costs, which affect the final gain.
  2. Packages that remain still too long during the journey. For example, it can happen if your products travel on containers that have to make fixed stops, for example in a port.
  3. Weather conditions. It may seem strange in 2019, but weather conditions often play a fundamental role, for example by slowing down traffic.
  4. Delivery failed. It is true that this reason does not depend on you but on the customer who may not have indicated an address or a time where someone can pick up the product, but the fact remains that your image can still be damaged.
  5. Lack of clarity. For example, you could indicate to the customer delivery times that are no longer manageable by one of your couriers and create false expectations.

As you can see, shipments are delayed for many reasons, and the ones I listed to you are only a part.

How does a late shipment affect your E-commerce metrics?

Now let’s see how a late delivery affects you when you have to enter the income and expenditure account at the end of the month.

  • First of all, if you are not in contact with your carrier and you do not know where the shipment is, you will not be able to face customer complaints in case of delay and you will have to clutch at straws in front of all those who ask you: “Where is my order? “
  • As mentioned at the beginning, a customer who receives the order late feels betrayed. He feels that his trust has been put into the wrong hands, even though he eventually got what he wanted. It is essential to keep customers updated on order tracking because they can understand where the delay occurred.
  • A late shipment generates customer dissatisfaction and sometimes even a negative review, which can become a real problem. It damages the reputation of your brand, even if most of the reviews are excellent, and can convince hundreds of potential customers to turn to the competition, decreasing your profits.
A delayed delivery generates customer dissatisfaction and sometimes even a negative review, which can become a real problem.

Monitor every shipment with ShippyPro Track & Trace

So we come to the decisive question that all Merchants ask at this point: how can I manage and control shipments even in the event of delays that do not depend on me, but on the carrier? A solution exists, and it is much simpler than you think.

It’s called ShippyPro Track & Trace and it will help you to monitor every shipment, checking for any delays before the customer starts puffing and wondering where his package is.

In particular, ShippyPro Track & Trace offers you the possibility of:

  • having complete control in a single dashboard of all shipments, from the moment you entrust them to the carrier upon delivery;
  • sending to the customer shipment notifications updated in real time, which reassure him and allow you to return to your main activity, the sale;
  • checking the late shipments in the advanced filters section, in order to inform the customer before he contacts you to complain;
  • retaining the customer with branded shipping notifications, to emphasize that your e-commerce is always at his side, in contrast to other sellers who maybe abandon him;  
  • analyzing in a report, even after delivery, the effectiveness and speed of each individual carrier to decide who to entrust more shipments.

In short, with ShippyPro Track & Trace a late shipment will no longer be a question mark for customers and a problem to be solved for you.

Try it now and manage in the best way the relationship with customers in the post-sales phase. It will benefit your customers and your company, since you will no longer receive negative reviews that accuse you of a delay in shipping or poor communication.

Sign up for ShippyPro   →

ShippyPro Team

ShippyPro is the complete shipping software for online and offline retail. With Label Creator, Track & Trace, Easy Return and Analytics features, our software simplifies your shipping operations. ShippyPro integrates with over 160 couriers and 80 sales channels, making it compatible with a wide range of products and use cases.