Truth: Same day delivery is still tomorrow
Fewer than 5% of Scandinavian omnichannel retailers and brands offer same-day delivery. To put that number in perspective, 27% of US customers have abandoned an order because same-day delivery wasn’t available.
Even though the US is ahead of the Nordic when it comes to digital retail initiatives, it won’t be long before customers in the Nordics have the same level of expectation.
Waste of money
Approaching delivery as a key part of the service phase is crucial for omnichannel players. Today, many brands and retailers focus exclusively on on-site performance, traffic channels and physical sales channels, but forget that structural growth can be achieved with great service, especially in the post-purchase phase.
When retailers and brands do not meet customers’ expectations in terms of delivery and speed, they lose revenue and waste marketing spend on attracting new customers who do not buy because of the delivery possibilities.
In-store fulfilment is the answer
Same-day delivery is more than just a service to the customers. It is also a powerful tool when competing against marketplaces and pure players.
of Scandinavian omnichannel retailers and brands offer same-day delivery
Retailers and brands have the advantage of holding products in their physical stores – enabling them to delivery around the country in a heartbeat. Although, it requires for retailers and brands to constantly maintain satisfactory stock levels in their physical stores.
This present retailers and brands with an enormous benefit as they are able to provide a service experience which outrank that of marketplaces. That’s a great competitive advantage.
Case in point: Target, the American retailer, increased online sales by 31% in the first quarter after introducing same-day fulfilment in stores. At the same time, they reduced the cost of managing online orders by up to 90%.
The company has refurbished its stores and opened several small stores to make them the focal point of their delivery, but also to be closer to customers. We should be doing more of this in Scandinavia.
Critical focus area
Fast delivery is business-critical in all three countries. But it demands that retailers and brands start thinking in terms of local stores and local delivery methods. Who says that only the established package distributors can do the distributing of packages? Maybe others can do it faster?
In Denmark, the entrepreneur Burd Delivery specialises in same-day delivery and collaborates with some of the biggest companies like Saxo, Matas, and Carlsberg. As Burd Delivery’s service becomes widespread and more familiar to the Danes, they will expect the fast delivery service everywhere.
The inability to deliver degrades Customer Lifetime Value and customers are more likely to buy elsewhere after shopping in vain online and in-store.
An organisational change
Besides collaborating with freight companies, retailers and brands can accommodate customers’ same-day delivery expectations, by keeping their inventory in physical stores, for it to be closer to the customers.
This requires a brand-new way of thinking, structuring, and organising logistics. Nevertheless, it is by far the best way to offer same-day delivery to everyone in the country.
The problem is that many have not reorganised themselves to offer same-day delivery. Often, the physical stores have no incentive to cooperate in the offering of same-day delivery, as it is considered a direct competitor.
Who will be rewarded when products are sold? The webshop? The physical store? Both? Without an incentive or financial reward, you’ll never get the stores’ support and the transformation is lost.
