D2C | Fulfillment | Trends | E-Commerce
Independent of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, D2C retail has been recording strong growth for two years. According to numerous forecasts, this trend will continue in 2022.
This rush of demand is a test of strength for fulfillment processes, because only those stores where everything goes right in the last mile will be rewarded with new orders. If you don't want to miss out on sales, you have to ensure smooth processes from shopping in the e-store to payment, delivery and returns management.
1. Optimize your returns management
Because fast returns processing ensures high customer satisfaction. When it comes to returns, your clients want their money back as soon as possible. That's why professional, preferably digital, returns management has a direct impact on the customer experience.
2. Offer your customers 24/7 individual customer care services
With smart customer self-service solutions, you are available around the clock for queries, complaints or returns. Important: Interact immediately with your customers' feedback via e-mail, chat, WhatsApp and Facebook. Do you or your external service provider already use email tools that based on artificial intelligence algorithms to categorize emails and reply to them fully automatically?
If not, it's time to!
3. Rely on digital workflows in fulfillment
Fully networked and digital processes give you real-time access to your inventory, return rates, customer care requests, and accounts receivable. This allows you to fine-tune sales and marketing campaigns at any time and respond quickly. In addition, you can sell remaining stock more quickly or better position products with higher margins in the store via real-time comparisons with current stock levels. A high degree of automation in warehousing and logistics also reduces picking errors.
4. Avoid stumbling blocks in international expansions
Whether it's the objection period, credit checks or payment preferences, if you want to internationalize your D2C business, you need to know the details locally. With an international fulfillment network, you play it safe. Because local fulfillment partners know all the financial, technical, legal or logistical details. They know about local customer preferences and prevent their expansion from ending with dissatisfied customers and bad reviews.
5. From e-shop service to loyalty program
A 360° customer view forms the basis for precise forecasts and accurate e-commerce. Whether you want to develop special customer loyalty programs or provide end customers with individual cross-sell and upsell offers, the more data you have from different sources, the clearer the connections become. Make sure that data from fulfillment (delivery times, customer care requests, returns behavior, etc.) feeds into your campaign management.
If your fulfillment service provider manages complete loyalty programs, all the better.
Impeccable fulfillment performance is a prerequisite for maximum customer engagement and turns casual customers into loyal fans. Thanks to more than 30 years of fulfillment experience, we know what to do to make your customers happy and even more successful. With top customer satisfaction, you'll be one step ahead of your competition!
With D2C fulfillment solutions from PVS Europe, you benefit from a 360° customer view and orchestrate all workflows along the entire customer relationship!