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Very simply customers want be communicated with and to know the truth at all times. This is no different than what we expect from others in other areas of our lives. E-commerce companies must ensure they are communicating appropriately and providing transparency across the entire customer journey—from the ads that drive prospects to the site—to the package being delivered to the customer's front door. This has become even more important now as a result of the pandemic because it has changed the way companies sell, market, and deliver their e-commerce experiences. In short, your brand experience is enhanced by great customer communications and transparency.

Inside companies, the term “Brand” is often used as a sword and a shield. All departments will use phrases like “that will hurt the brand” to defend their position and their departments. Making sure you communicate across the buying process and across the customer journey should be an easy choice. It solidifies your brand and ensures your customers feel you are living up to your brand promise, whether it is stated in your positioning or simply expected by the customer. A customer should be able to see things like price, offers, complimentary items, inventory and the package delivery process easily.

On the delivery side, it is not often seamlessly integrated into the customer journey. E-commerce companies often do not provide the communication customers want. Think of the excitement a customer has in waiting for that new phone, jeans, sneakers and etc. Their anticipation is high in many cases as they wait to receive that item. It is also the last chance to ace that transparency and communication with the customer. Regardless of size, all e-commerce companies need to be able to communicate accurately where a customer's package is according to the given milestones—from printing the label to, the first-mile, air transportation, and finally to the last-mile and delivery at destination. Customers hate surprises and even if there is an issue, people are willing to accept some level of issues.

Making sure that transparency is effortlessly part of your brand is not easy. Organizations need to apply the principles of transparency across all components of the customer journey. Efficient communication and collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners is essential. Having the technology to enable constant, accurate and transparency that is accessible via mobile or desktop devices is a must to ensure an excellent customer experience, that ensures repeat business. If you build transparency into your brand, you will have more repeat customers, more word-of-mouth recommendations and will build great customer loyalty along the way.

Economies around the world have adapted to fast-evolving consumer behavior as Covid has changed the world in many ways. The shift to e-commerce across the globe has certainly been one of the biggest changes. In countries like Mexico and India who had a slow, but growing, adoption of e-commerce prior to the pandemic have seen an increase of over 30% in e-commerce purchases. It is clear that those who formerly had avoided e-commerce, preferring to shop in stores, malls and in shopping throughfares tried and liked the convenience of online shopping. As consumers do not typically revert and go backwards, home delivery of goods will likely become the standard for many consumers going forward.

This disruption has had an effect on all stakeholders. Whether they are working from home or part of a generation that see digital commerce as the norm they expect their packages delivered to them, and fast. Many retailers who have just moved into e-commerce are changing their logistics and delivery practices. They now can take orders through multiple channels and need fast and reliable shipping, tracking and mobility to get the packages into their customer’s hands. The bar for shipment delivery and customer service has been set by the large online retail purveyors such as Amazon, Ali Baba, Mercado Livre and the like, all across the world. This is a bar that individual retailers must also reach to provide an expectation of customer service that consumers are used to. These expectations will only increase as consumers expect not just next day, but increasingly, same day delivery. And the newest stakeholders are delivery companies who are rising to meet this surge in demand for shipment delivery commensurate with online purchasing. They know they must deliver service that gets the package to the customer when they want it and how they want to receive the package.

The new delivery is really an As Soon as Possible (ASAP) transporter. A delivery company needs to have the capacity to ensure that the package is delivered from the online shopping cart to the customer’s door. Another factor is the network. Your network needs to be robust and always connected, in order to meet the needs of the retailer and their customer. Transaction transparency from end-to-end is a must for the transporter, as every stakeholder should be able to see where the package is along every milestone on the journey, from the retailer to the customer’s door.

All of this needs to be instant, in real-time. If a transporter has the right capacity, with the right network and featuring great transparency—then speed is a given. But in countries where e-commerce is just taking off, these components may not in place for a delivery provider.

SmartKargo has a reliable delivery resource for first- and last-mile transport in place for our customers to fill the need in these situations around the world. It is called, kart2door, our new delivery network that is available on demand for our customers adopting our e-commerce technology. Kart2door can be created to supply the capacity, speed, transparency and put the required network in place, across the world. In doing so, we provide a colossal win for Retail with a single solution that covers the entire e-commerce delivery chain. More importantly, it is a win for the customer, by keeping the customer informed at all times from purchase through delivery—ultimately getting their purchased product to them ASAP. Kart2door is an innovative solution that is built upon phenomenal advanced technology. We provide ground transport for packages using airline capacity and network strength for long distances, and bring in innovative hyper-local models making the ASAP factor easily possible with same day or next day delivery. Retail companies that are evolving to meet their customers’ needs must have a delivery solution that can deliver on the promises made to your customers.

For more info, look us up at https://www.kart2door.com. We help retail get there, real fast.

Online consumers expect consistent brand experience and expedient delivery from the point at which items are placed in their shopping cart to when they arrive at the front door. Perhaps the most significant threat to retailers getting constant brand loyalty is an issue with last-mile delivery to fulfill their consumer goods.

According to LoyaltyLion, retailers are up to 50% more likely to sell additional products to an existing, loyal customer than acquiring a new customer for the same or similar product. This translates to a meaningful conversion rate of online sales over time—provided that a company’s last-mile delivery and overall logistics operations can fulfill according to customer expectations.

During the pandemic, we have witnessed a solid conversion to e-commerce. With that conversion, we also see increasingly higher demands for same-day, next-day, and second-day shipping solutions for products. We are confident that these new dynamics will continue to expand in the coming years, not retreat to pre-pandemic levels. Customer expectations are closely tied to brand loyalty, and retailers must pay close attention to all aspects of product production, shipping, and communications.

Should logistics falter and a same-day, next-day, or two-day delivery fail to make it on time to the customer’s door, that same customer may not purchase from the retailer again. Brand loyalty will suffer, and customers may express dissatisfaction in online forums, reviews, and social media. Impacts on brand loyalty mean retailers will have to work significantly harder to acquire a new customer base. 50% harder, to be exact.

The last mile, while accounting for up to half of all logistics expenses for a company, is indeed the most critical when it comes to customer satisfaction—provided the products are as promised and expected by the end-user. The threats to a retailer’s brand have become very real in today’s logistics ecosystem. Without a reliable logistics partner, retailers are gambling their brand reputation. Ultimately, that brand is their most important asset.