The delivery experience is fast becoming a major differentiator for retailers.

The delivery experience is fast becoming a major differentiator for retailers and it is no coincidence that we have seen a whole raft of announcements over the past few weeks from big retailers on their plans to provide customers with more delivery choice.

With in-store collection and home delivery fast becoming an expectation when shopping online, rather than a “nice to have”, retailers are having to adapt. In fact, research from IMRG shows that over 43% of regular home shoppers view the delivery experience and options as key influencers in their choice of retailers, so it really is something that cannot be ignored.

Whilst online retailers such as Amazon, Net-a-Porter and Asos lead the pack in providing customers with delivery options which suit various needs and budgets, we are now seeing more traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers looking to improve their delivery service in order to capture (or regain in some cases) share of wallet.

While it is tough to encourage shoppers to pay on average 10% of the purchase price of an order for delivery, we have seen that retailers offering convenient delivery options often attract higher average basket values; shoppers who are eager to receive their goods are prepared to pay handsomely for the convenience.

But in-store collection and home delivery are just the start. Retailers are focused on offering their customers more choice and more innovative ways of delivering direct to consumers from store, rather than distribution centres. This will be the next logical step for many.

There is no “one size fits all” approach however. Retailers need to have a suite of options to suit different customer needs and expectations, especially if they are going to keep up with demand during peak periods. Added to that, there is no single distribution partner in the UK that can offer all of these choices so retailers need relationships with several distribution partners. While it is vital that these partners provide delivery options that are convenient, efficient, reliable and robust, at the same time, they must also protect the brand values of the retailer who is entrusting the final point of customer contact to them.

This is just the start of a complete overhaul of how retailers approach delivery. It is certainly an exciting time for the leading same day distribution company to be working in retail logistics.

  •  Patrick Gallagher, CEO of CitySprint, the UK’s leading same day distribution company