Online stores have been a big “hit” for several years now, and rightly so. You can find a huge selection of types of products, at prices that are often very affordable. An important aspect of the secret of their success is the great ease of being able to “get to the store”, using a few simple keyboard and mouse actions. But what about the physical products reaching the customer, if he decides to purchase? If you own such a store or are considering opening one, this is a critical point, for which you must find a quality solution.
The mystery of the missing customer
Where do some customers “disappear” in online stores? Why do they leave the site? If the customer has already started filling the shopping cart, what caused him to abandon it? Online store owners dig through the mountains of information that such store mechanisms generate, trying to solve this and other mysteries. This is legitimate and important, but before that and in any case, you should fully understand the following point: your competitors are very available to the customer, much more than in the physical store world. It is very easy for the customer to find them and enter their websites. He doesn’t need to drive to the other store again, find parking, take a stroller, and so on. It’s all available in a few quick typing and mouse clicks. Moreover, he may browse two stores at the same time, in order to compare different points. When the hassle of moving to another store is eliminated, your store must be just as good as it. That’s why excellence is important in every way, including when it comes to deliveries to customers.
Solution? Work with a quality delivery service
Whoever purchases in your store doesn’t care what happens behind the scenes of his order. How do your systems communicate with the courier company’s systems, what are your work processes in this regard, and so on. What the delivery company allows you to do, is from the point of view of your customers what you “allow”. Do you allow same-day deliveries? Anywhere in the country? Of course not! Because you’re not a delivery company. But if you work with a quality delivery company that offers such options, it will be seen as part of what you as a business offer. As part of what you are able to do for the customer. When you leave an experienced delivery company to deal with what it specializes in and the computer systems to operate automatically and efficiently, you are free to focus on your core business.
What to look for in a delivery service?
In the delivery service you choose to work with, you will want to find out at least two aspects. One, is the shipping options they offer you. For example, what quantities of products are they able to deal with? Where can they go? And in how long (is there a possibility from day to day?). A second aspect, which is very important, is the technical aspect of your website’s interface with the delivery company’s mechanisms. It is essential that your customers will have an easy order and also find out the status of their orders with the same ease and themselves. Don’t worry – this shouldn’t be too complicated and is based on a variety of ready-to-use mechanisms and easy integration. For example, following Cheetah Courier’s collaboration with the E-SHOP virtual store platform. What’s more, an online store is a type of business anyway, which is based on a lot of technology and automation. So in any case, you should be well prepared for technological challenges.
