Tag: same-day delivery

5 E-commerce Trends that will Define 2023

Aiza Chaudry
Insights

2022 was a wild ride! 

Despite the headwinds, US online retail sales hit $735.12 billion (in the 3rd quarter of 2022), and as per a study by eMarketer and Statista, e-commerce sales will reach a phenomenal $6.51 trillion by 2023. (source) 

E-commerce is unquestionably here for the keeps. Much of the growth we’ll witness this year will likely be driven by the customer’s appetite for connected and seamless experiences, fast delivery, social shopping, etc.  

So, with the calendar turned to 2023, it is crucial for businesses to stay abreast of the e-commerce trends that will set the course for the year.

Here’s a roundup of the hottest trends and topics to help online merchants fortify their strategies and stay on top of their game. 

1. Providing a consistent, seamless omnichannel retail experience will be a bleeding edge in 2023.   

In 2023, frictionless ‘phygital’ retail experiences will pick up steam because customer journeys are no longer linear. Shoppers now engage with brands and shop across a multitude of channels in various ways. 

And they want to be able to move seamlessly between these channels, whether it’s in-store, online, or a combo of both. 

Data from McKinsey shows that omnichannel customers shop 1.7 times more than single-channel shoppers—and they also spend more.

In 2023, brands that provide their customers the best of both worlds will have a competitive advantage over those that stick solely to traditional retail or a singular channel. 

Major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are already maximizing omnichannel retail to provide a seamless and consistent experience. Even smaller retailers are getting in on the action. 

Here are a few ways retailers can enhance the shopping experience through a connected, seamless retail experience: 

  • By offering mobile-specific features such as personalized product recommendations or location-based offers
  • Integrating features such as in-store pickup for online orders, the ability to return online purchases in-store, and delivery speed for both online and in-store 

For instance, Walmart enables same-day delivery on its website as well as in-store. You can order online and pick up your order in-store. 

  • Using data analytics and AI/ML to better understand customer behavior and preferences and to personalize the shopping experience 
  • Offering 24/7 live chat support, personalized assistance via email or SMS, or other services to help customers throughout the shopping journey
  • Making sure that the inventory is accurately reflected across all channels to avoid frustrating customers with out-of-stock items or incorrect availability information
  • Offering same delivery and pickup options across every channel to give customers flexibility and convenience

2. E-commerce sales in 2023 will be significantly driven by mobile commerce.

Smartphones are a go-to option for most shoppers, whether it’s browsing for products, making purchases, or tracking their orders, etc.  

Factors like social commerce catching on and more brands enabling mobile-first experiences will drive mobile commerce sales to $4.5 trillion, or 69.9% of total retail e-commerce sales.

Let’s dive into the details to picture this trend better.

a) Growth of social commerce 

Do you know how much time an average user spends on any of the top 5 social platforms? two and a half hours per day. 

Initially, social media platforms served as a place for shoppers to window-shop. But within the last couple of years, the major social platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and now TikTok have expanded their in-app shopping options, making in-stream commerce a bigger focus. 

“But are consumers actually buying products while browsing social media?”

  • About 1 million users regularly buy from Facebook Shops every month. (Statista)

And, if not experienced, we’ve all heard or skim-read about live selling. Although the US live-selling market is still in its infancy, with major players like Walmart, Nordstrom, and Macy’s experimenting with live shopping on their websites, it is expected to hit $25 billion in 2023.

So, whether you decide to sell directly through social media or not, these channels should not be overlooked in your e-commerce strategy in 2023.

b) The ease of buying that comes with mobile-first experiences & personalization

Mobile is changing the way we shop. The evolution of mobile-first and personalization features like one-click checkout, BOPIS, personalized recommendations, scheduleable delivery options, and mobile payment solutions such as Apple Pay, PayPal One-Touch, Visa Checkout, Amazon Pay, and Venmo have made mobile shopping more convenient and accessible compared to a few years ago. 

Mobile devices now make up 71% of all retail traffic, and they generate 61% of online shopping orders. (Statista.)

That’s substantial growth! 

3. Delivery speed and delivery certainty remain a top priority for shoppers.

Whether customers shop in-store or online, they want convenience, speed, and certainty—a behavioral shift caused by Amazon during the pandemic. And this isn’t changing in 2023. 

  •  According to a study by Digital Commerce 360, 80% of online shoppers in the US want same-day shipping options. 
  • Meanwhile, in another study, nearly 70% of consumers said the ability to track orders was one of their top three considerations when buying a product online, and 56% said it was a top consideration when ordering a luxury item. 

Consumers have come to expect quick and efficient delivery of their online purchases, and companies that are able to offer fast delivery options will have an advantage over those that do not.

Fast and convenient delivery options are also proven to boost conversions for businesses. ROI data from Ohi’s analysis of partner brands highlights that brands that delivered orders fast with Ohi’s same-day and two-hour delivery had 30% higher repeat purchase rates than standard UPS/FedEx. 

Here are a few ways businesses can enable fast fulfillment: 

  • Streamline their fulfillment processes by investing in new technologies and micro-fulfillment. (Setting up a distributed network of MFCs is not without challenges. And most businesses simply don’t have the time or budget to manage all this on their own.) 
  • The other way is to partner with a reliable instant commerce partner such as Ohi to ensure that orders are delivered fast, on time, and in good condition. Learn more here.

4. Sustainability will be on your customers’ shopping list. 

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental and social impacts of their purchases, and this trend will likely influence the e-commerce landscape in 2023. 

A February 2022 survey of 16,000 global consumers found that 51% of people say environmental sustainability is more important to them today than it was 12 months ago. (source)

As more customers begin to demand sustainable products and delivery methods, we will see more businesses invest in sustainability. Top brands, including IKEA, Nike, Patagonia, Ralph Lauren, Lululemon, and Chanel, are already taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint and promote sustainable practices.

A 2022 Gartner survey of CEOs found that about 20% of CEOs and other high-level business leaders are also prioritizing social responsibility and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in their organizations. This is the highest it has been in the past 10 years. (source)

Here are some ways businesses can be more sustainable:

  • Sell products made with more sustainable materials.
  • Invest in more eco-friendly packaging materials.
  • Allow shoppers to choose more eco-friendly shipping options such as Ohi’s sustainable instant delivery. It’s green and sustainable, because products are delivered via foot couriers or electric scooters from our distributed network of MFCs, located closer to customers.  

Moreover, Ohi deliveries were shown to be 22x more eco-friendly than next-day air and 5x more sustainable than 3-5 day ground. (Stanford Study)

  • Make it easy for people to recycle items, i.e., Nike’s sustainable and recycled shoes are a great example.
Puma launched ‘Clever Little Bag’ to replace the traditional shoebox, using 65% less cardboard. (source: the packaging cookbook)

5. Post-purchase experience will be a linchpin for brands. 

Make the customer the hero of your story. — Ann Handley

Most brands are so focused on increasing sales conversions that they completely neglect the post-purchase phase of the buyer’s journey. The post-purchase phase is where you make your customers fall in love with your brand and make a repeat purchase.   

Because 91% of customers say they won’t do business again with a brand that left them unhappy. (source)

By focusing on the following elements of the post-purchase experience, online retailers can create a happy and satisfying shopping experience for their customers:

  • Easy and convenient return and exchange policies
  • Providing timely and accurate order tracking and delivery updates
  • 24/7 customer support, and live chat features
  • Personalized communication and follow-up
  • Options for fast and schedulable delivery or pickup in store
  • Sustainable packaging of products
  • Include user-friendly product instructions and documentation within packaging and send out via email. 
  • Ask for feedback via email, SMS, or phone call 

In 2023’s competitive e-commerce landscape, a powerful post-purchase experience will be pivotal for merchants to differentiate themselves from their competitors as well as attract new customers. Nothing works like word-of-mouth marketing. 

In 2023, It’s Go Big or Go Home.

In the end, it all boils down to customers. By understanding and analyzing customer behavior, retailers can tailor their marketing and sales strategies to better meet the needs and preferences of their target audience. This, in turn, will help drive e-commerce growth, increasing customer loyalty, repeat purchases, and overall sales.

About Ohi

At Ohi, we’ve flipped the script for e-commerce fulfillment, transforming it from what is traditionally seen as a cost center into a growth engine. Brands join the Ohi platform to deliver powerfully fast, brand-focused, and memorable post-purchase experiences that enable them to grow. Want to learn more about how Ohi enables instant commerce? Get in touch today.

Thinking Outside the (Cardboard) Box to Reduce E-Commerce Packaging Waste & Excess Costs

Aiza Chaudry
Insights

Did you know? About 165 billion packages are shipped in the US every year, according to data from USPS, FedEx, and UPS. (LimeLoop)

The packaging required for that package volume is roughly the equivalent of 1 billion trees!

At a micro-level, the typical household throws away up to 13,000 pieces of cardboard in a single year. Additional packaging materials, such as plastic, tape, and bubble wrap, each contribute a fair amount of landfill waste, as they often cannot be or simply are not recycled. 

Shipping packaging is directly to blame for a wide range of environmental issues, such as overcrowded landfills, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and litter pollution (both on land and in the ocean). 

As a result of this multi-pronged challenge of packaging waste, the battle to ship goods more sustainably is escalating. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in e-commerce shipping.

Let’s examine why and how online retailers can achieve greater profitability while transitioning toward a circular economy.

How does shipping packaging impact your business?

While the overall cost of packaging varies greatly by product and application, it typically accounts for 10%–30% of COGS. And if your packaging usage is excessive, you could be throwing away hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars every year. Yet, because shipping packaging is assumed to be essential, it’s often not seen as a facet that can be optimized to achieve both greater profitability and sustainability.

Factors ranging from weight and materials to size can impact your packaging needs and costs, but fulfillment and shipping methods are also key. Here are a few examples of things that will affect your packaging needs/costs:

  • Rising packaging material costs –  One of the main reasons you may have experienced an increase in packaging costs is an increase in demand for the raw materials used to produce corrugated cardboard (and hence for the finished material itself).
  • Oversized packaging – If the dimensions of the cardboard box don’t closely match the product dimensions, your packaging is likely to be excessive. For instance, a t-shirt doesn’t need to be in a 15” x 15” box. Some e-retailers make the mistake of ordering oversized boxes under the pretext of getting a discount for bulk packaging purchases and having something that can fit most/all of their products. This can become unnecessarily expensive if your delivery carrier applies dimensional weight pricing, and it is also wasteful in terms of the excess material used.
  • Ineffective packaging materials – when your packaging is not sufficient to protect your product, you end up paying for it with higher return rates (due to damage) and customer churn. This can obviously increase your overall costs and even kill your business. Do NOT attempt to save money by reducing your protective packaging unless you are (a), confident your product can hold up in transit, or (b) using micro-fulfillment (i.e. Ohi’s instant delivery platform) to greatly reduce the last mile delivery distance.
  • Order fulfillment – If your e-commerce orders typically ship via standard ground delivery to the end customer from one or just a few traditional warehouses (whether in-house fulfillment or 3PL), your protective packaging needs are likely to be high, given that orders are traveling hundreds/thousands of miles in the back of a truck before they arrive to your customer. If on the other hand, you have your inventory forward-positioned into micro-fulfillment centers, your orders can be hand-delivered by a gig driver/rider and only need to travel a few miles to reach your customer. Many merchants on Ohi’s platform have completely eliminated the need for any cardboard or plastic protective exterior packaging, which is good for the environment and for their bottom line.

How can your e-commerce business cut down on wasteful packaging and costs?

The majority of packaging used today is still linear, meaning that the packaging for a product is created from raw materials, the product is used, and the packaging is discarded.

Renowned brands like Gucci, Nike, Puma, and Zara are starting to recognize the environmental impact of their packaging and are working to incorporate sustainability initiatives to achieve the triple bottom line by creating packaging for a circular economy. 

Consider the following strategies to optimize packaging and reduce shipping costs and waste:

1. Think outside the traditional cardboard box.

Cardboard boxes, as discussed earlier in the article, contribute to millions of tons of waste each year, and even in proposed reuse scenarios, they are often quickly discarded and dumped into landfills.

Using packaging alternatives that facilitate composting and biodegradable processes will help your brand amplify its sustainability efforts.

For instance, Puma, a leader in sportswear and shoes, launched ‘Clever Little Bag’ to replace the traditional shoebox, using 65% less cardboard. 

Source: Fuseproject

The bag and box system has no printing or tissue, assembles easily, takes up less space, weighs less in shipping (saving money and fuel on the delivery), replaces the plastic retail bag, and is completely recyclable.

There are many options available to choose from as compared to a few years ago when there were limited options and they were more expensive.

  • Easily biodegradable/compostable packaging like molded pulp packaging. 
  • Reusable packaging like eco-friendly tote bags is ideal if you use a micro-fulfillment, as you no longer need a heavy layer of protection with a greatly reduced travel distance.

2. Make your deliveries faster, more sustainable, and more cost-effective with Ohi.

Ohi deliveries were shown to be 22x more eco-friendly than next-day air and 5x more eco-friendly than 3-5 day ground.

Here’s how Ohi’s instant delivery platform is eco-friendly as well as business-friendly:

  • Ohi’s e-commerce fulfillment platform generates the least carbon emissions because products are shipped from micro-fulfillment centers that are located very close (often just a few city blocks) to your end customers. 
  • We use foot couriers and bike, e-bike, and scooter couriers in densely populated urban areas (instead of vans/trucks), which results in faster deliveries (due to the ability to avoid traffic) and less overall fuel consumption.
  • Ohi promotes the use of eco-friendly reusable totes for 2-hour and same-day deliveries whenever possible, as opposed to expensive/wasteful conventional packaging. Excess packaging is not needed for Ohi deliveries, because the risk of damage in transit has been virtually eliminated.
  • While Ohi’s model is sustainable, there is still a residual carbon footprint that remains from areas of the business that still require fuel or carbon consumption (e.g. middle mile line hauls).. So, we’ve partnered with EcoCart to calculate and offset the remaining carbon footprint, allowing us to offer our customers carbon-neutral e-commerce fulfillment. 

Ohi helped a leading kombucha brand, Health-Ade, increase its customer lifetime value (CLV) by 49% while greatly reducing their packaging waste and shipping damages.

Adopting a more sustainable approach to your e-commerce business doesn’t have to mean a loss of profits. By implementing sustainable solutions and strategies at each step of your post-purchase experience, you can provide a better customer experience, contribute to a circular economy, and even reduce your overall shipping costs. 

About Ohi

At Ohi, we’ve flipped the script for e-commerce fulfillment, transforming it from what is traditionally seen as a cost center into a growth engine. Brands join the Ohi platform to deliver powerfully fast, brand-focused, and memorable post-purchase experiences that enable them to grow. Want to learn more about how Ohi enables instant commerce? Get in touch today.

Oh, Hi Florida

Ohi Team
News

We’re excited to announce that two-hour, same-day, and next-day delivery are now live in Florida.

Ohi’s latest expansion initiative brings instant delivery (next-day or faster service) to the majority of residents in the Sunshine State!

If you have any questions or would like assistance enabling instant delivery for your Florida customers, please reach out to your assigned Ohi rep or contact us here.

Ohi Partners with Recharge to Offer Faster and More Flexible Subscription Delivery

Ohi Team
News

New York, NY, and Santa Monica, CA (June 9, 2022) – Ohi, the next-generation instant commerce platform that enables brands to meet their customers’ expectations of superfast delivery in under two hours, today announced that it has partnered with Recharge, the leader in subscription e-commerce, to offer faster and more flexible subscription deliveries. The integration will enable the more than 15,000 brands that use Recharge to partner with Ohi to offer an even better user experience to their customers in all 12 major metro areas Ohi serves.

Recharge and Ohi brand partners will now be able to reduce subscriber churn by positioning inventory closer to customers’ doorsteps across a nationwide network of micro-fulfillment centers, allowing subscribers to choose a four-hour delivery window, any day of the week, so they can get their subscription order exactly when they want it.

In addition to providing delivery scheduling flexibility and convenience to existing subscribers, brands will also be able to leverage Ohi’s hyperlocal fulfillment services to increase conversion among first-time subscribers by offering ultrafast, two-hour or same-day delivery to customers on their first order.

“Savvy brands know that subscription services can turn occasional and onetime purchasers into long-term, loyal customers and that pairing subscriptions with instant commerce options makes the customer experience even better,” said Ben Jones, Founder and CEO of Ohi. “We’re thrilled to partner with Recharge to fulfill their brand partners’ ultrafast local delivery needs and enhance their subscription offerings with our seamless and convenient post-purchase experience.”

“We’re committed to helping our merchants accelerate their growth through subscriptions, which turn transactions into deeper and more meaningful customer relationships,” said Leya Leydiker, Director of Technology Partnerships at Recharge. “With this integration, we’re helping brands cost-effectively elevate their subscription services by utilizing Ohi’s nationwide network of micro-fulfillment centers. Our merchants can now reduce their shipping costs and operate more sustainably by positioning inventory closer to their subscribers in major metro areas, so they can meet their customers’ scheduling needs, even last-minute.”

Ohi enables brands to offer best-in-class post-purchase experiences while maintaining control of their brand story, data and customer relationships. The company’s inventory and order management platform provides item-level demand intelligence that lets brands optimally position inventory across Ohi’s network of micro-fulfillment centers, closer to their end customers’ doorsteps. Ohi supports more sustainable e-commerce operations by using reusable, environmentally friendly packaging and offering a carbon-neutral fulfillment option to its brand partners and their customers.

For more information, visit Ohi.com.

About Ohi

Ohi is the leading instant commerce solution for direct-to-consumer and enterprise brands looking to grow their business by enabling powerful post-purchase experiences. Leveraging its proprietary, data-driven inventory management technology and robust micro-warehousing platform to forward position inventory within city centers, Ohi enables brands to offer a premium, environmentally responsible, instant or scheduled delivery experience to their customers.

About Recharge

Recharge is the leading subscription management solution, helping ecommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge’s subscription billing and payment management solutions are designed to help merchants grow by increasing revenue and customer lifetime value while reducing operating costs and churn. Today, Recharge powers subscriptions for more than 50 million subscribers across 15,000 merchants, including fast-growing brands such as Verve Coffee, Bokksu, Who Gives A Crap, Keap Candles, Geologie and Bumpin Blends. Recharge is a remote-first company with more than 500 team members across 15 countries. For more information, visit https://rechargepayments.com/  

MEDIA CONTACTS:

For Ohi:

press@ohi.com

For Recharge:

press@rechargeapps.com

Ohi Accelerates Expansion with Launch of Ultrafast Delivery in Four New Markets

microfulfillment
Ohi Team
News

Company Grows Its Network of Micro-Fulfillment Centers to Serve Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas And Austin.

NEW YORK–Ohi, the next-generation instant commerce platform that enables brands to meet their customers’ expectations of superfast delivery in under two hours, today announced that it has expanded into four new markets: Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Austin. The company has identified significant demand for ultrafast, hyperlocal delivery of its brand partners’ products in these cities and has grown its network of micro-fulfillment centers to offer quick, convenient delivery options to customers in these areas.

“We’re committed to helping power our brand partners’ growth by providing an excellent, on-brand instant commerce experience that includes quick and convenient delivery options,” said Ben Jones, Founder and CEO of Ohi. “To help our partners reach and convert new customers, and drive loyalty and engagement among their existing customers, we’ve expanded our instant commerce platform into four new markets where our technology has identified exceptional demand for instant commerce.”

With its recent expansion, Ohi now offers instant commerce services in 12 major US metro areas. The company’s inventory and order management platform provides SKU-level demand intelligence that allows its brand partners to optimally position inventory closer to their end customers. Ohi is committed to providing carbon-neutral delivery and its micro-fulfillment centers ensure that e-commerce orders travel only a short distance to arrive at consumers’ doorsteps. Ohi further minimizes its carbon footprint by using reusable, sustainable packaging and bike, e-bike, scooter, and foot couriers whenever possible. The company also offers a carbon-neutral e-commerce fulfillment option to its merchant partners and their customers.

“Ohi’s asset-light platform enables us to expand into new markets with minimal overhead costs,” added Jones. “This is just the start of our aggressive expansion strategy that will enable us to provide an instant-commerce experience that covers close to 45% of an e-commerce company’s overall demand by the end of the second quarter.”

Ohi’s instant commerce platform allows brands to offer best-in-class post-purchase experiences while retaining complete control of their brand story, data, and customer relationships. For more information, visit Ohi.com.

About Ohi

Ohi is the leading instant commerce solution for direct-to-consumer and enterprise brands looking to grow their business by enabling powerful post-purchase experiences. Leveraging its proprietary, data-driven inventory management technology and robust micro-warehouse platform to forward position inventory within city centers, Ohi enables brands to offer a premium, environmentally responsible, instant, or scheduled delivery experience to their customers.

Contacts

MEDIA:
Michael McMullan/Danielle Poggi
Berns Communications Group
mmcmullan@bcg-pr.com/dpoggi@bcg-pr.com

How to Choose the Right E-commerce Fulfillment Partner

e-commerce fulfillment partner
Aiza Chaudry
Insights

Order fulfillment can make or break your e-commerce business. It sounds cliche, but a reliable e-commerce fulfillment partner will help your brand delight customers and grow your business. In contrast, a poor e-commerce fulfillment service will cause you to lose your customers and leave your brand reputation in tatters, no matter how awesome your product is. 

So, how do you choose the right e-commerce fulfillment partners? What are the best criteria? 

Before we delve into the essentials to help you make the right choice, here’s a brief introduction to help you understand e-commerce order fulfillment services a bit better. 

What are e-commerce fulfillment services?

Think of an e-commerce fulfillment service as a command center for your e-commerce business that deals with the post-checkout process of delivering online orders to the customer.

However, e-commerce fulfillment is much more than placing a parcel on a customer’s welcome mat. Fulfillment includes receiving and storing inventory, processing orders, picking items, packing boxes, and shipping the items to the customer’s destination, along with the requisite communication to both internal parties and the end customer.

Who would need e-commerce fulfillment partners? 

  • Businesses that run on a direct-to-consumer model and have no high street store or storage facilities
  • Companies that have simply outgrown in-house fulfillment capabilities to the point they can no longer dispatch orders at scale
  • Omni-channel businesses that are looking to add an e-commerce channel 

Typically, most fulfillment services run on large warehouses on the outskirts of cities, but modern-day fulfillment solutions make use of multiple small-scale warehouses called micro-fulfillment centers. These micro-fulfillment centers are set up in metro areas and rely on automation to cater to customers’ needs and fulfill the goals of faster and more sustainable delivery across different geographic locations. 

Difference between e-commerce fulfillment services and traditional 3PLs

Although traditional 3PLs share some overlap with e-commerce fulfillment services, most 3PL companies focus on just providing basic functions of logistics, i.e., pick and pack, warehousing, distribution, etc.) whereas full-service fulfillment centers offer more comprehensive services, including customer support and returns. 

  • Delivery speed – given their model, traditional 3PLs lack the means to enable instant delivery for brands; they can cut down the wait time to two days or one day (next-day delivery), at best. However, cutting down on delivery time is costly for them. But this is where modern e-commerce fulfillment services like Ohi shine; Ohi, for example, is able to provide deliveries same-day and often in under two hours.
  • Cost – 3PLs often charge based on weight, time, and distance, whereas modern e-commerce solutions like Ohi charge a flat fee. Instant commerce solutions often forward-position inventory in micro-fulfillment centers around the country, significantly reducing the transportation and delivery required on a per-order basis, even if the number of dedicated deliveries increases significantly. 
  • Sustainability – another key difference is proximity to end customers, which allows these modern e-commerce fulfillment services to use eco-friendly transportation (walkers, bicycle messengers, and electric vehicles) and reduce the need for wasteful cardboard packaging. In contrast, this is far from possible with a traditional 3PL.

While there are a few patent differences, 3PLs and instant commerce providers like Ohi tend to serve different needs. Because providing two-hour or same-day delivery coverage throughout the nation (including in rural areas) is impractical and unrealistic for any fulfillment service, many merchants leverage modern e-commerce fulfillment providers like Ohi alongside their 3PL in synergy, to offer an incredible instant commerce experience (where available) and reasonably fast delivery elsewhere in the country.

How to choose the right e-commerce fulfillment partner?

According to an eMarketer report:

“The biggest challenges facing retailers today include transportation, scalability, inventory management, order processing speed and accuracy, and profitability.”

You need a fulfillment partner that can reliably provide services to reach and exceed KPIs in all five of the areas above. This guide will walk you through key factors to keep in mind as you go fulfillment hunting for the right e-commerce fulfillment service.

1. Delivery speed

If your customers are like most shoppers today, they expect fast delivery (and will expect it to get faster and faster).

According to PWC’s recent global consumer insights survey, fast delivery is shoppers’ #1 overall consideration when buying online (ranked top three by 41% of respondents).

With the emergence of same-day and two-hours or less delivery options, the benefit or strength of two-day delivery as a competitive advantage has started to wane. This is because these options are no longer considered fast enough by modern shoppers. Therefore, growth-mindset e-commerce retailers are increasingly pivoting to instant delivery, as this is a proven strategy to improve their customer experience and help enhance customer acquisition and retention.

With instant delivery fast becoming the expectation, longer delivery times may propel your customers to shop from your competitors, hurting your business.

2. Warehouse locations

Nowadays, consumers increasingly are not satisfied with two-day delivery. And it’s near impossible to meet the delivery speed needs of today’s customers with outdated fulfillment models that solely rely on gigantic warehouses based in the middle of nowhere, where land is cheap. While this may seem attractive on the surface, consider what that fulfillment approach means for your last mile delivery experience and delivery speed.

If speed is what you’re after, you need to look for a micro-fulfillment-based solution that utilizes small warehouses (or micro-fulfillment centers) in densely populated urban areas, to shorten the time/distance to the end customer. By keeping your inventory hyperlocal to customers, the last mile delivery experience can be extra quick, since a delivery courier can then deliver one order at a time (point-to-point) instead of hundreds of orders by the truckload.

3. Scalability

A good potential partner should be just as focused on your company’s continued growth as you are. Furthermore, they should be flexible and prepared to acclimate and grow with you as your business grows. You should see evidence that they have the capacity (or are actively adding the capacity) to meet your growing order volume in a way that maintains a high standard of operational excellence and your all-important customer experience.

In summary, make sure you team up with an e-commerce fulfillment provider who is flexible, adaptive, scalable, and capable of tackling unprecedented situations and volume spikes.

4. Data tracking

The only way to scale your business is to have complete visibility into your metrics to maximize your efforts on areas of growth and create solutions for bottlenecks discovered. In addition, as a critical component of brand differentiation, e-commerce businesses must be able to provide excellent customer service, which is dependent on having accurate and timely data at their fingertips.

Choose a fulfillment provider that provides these critical data tracking capabilities in as near real-time as possible:

  • Inventory levels for your products (as well as forecasted ordering schedules)
  • Real-time customer order tracking for all your deliveries
  • Real-time inventory order tracking so you know your products are available
  • Analytics for better insights into product purchase trends

5. Order fulfillment technology and integrations

Technology is critical when it comes to selecting the best e-commerce fulfillment provider. The two most important aspects of this are how your online store communicates with the fulfillment services and how they help you with data leveraging.

With the right technology, you can send product orders from your e-commerce platform to your fulfillment provider for distribution without needing additional insight from you or your team. Furthermore, the software automatically updates order statuses and inventory levels in the warehouse and your company’s website. These should be simple, automated processes designed to streamline your operations and ensure that your online store functions reliably.

Look for a fulfillment service that offers these features:

  • State-of-the-art software
  • Automated fulfillment processes and accurate reporting
  • Integrations with the top e-commerce platforms on the market, i.e., Shopify, Magento, etc. 

6. Returns management

92% of consumers in a survey said they would buy again if the product return process was easy, whereas 79% of consumers expect free return shipping. (source)

E-commerce fulfillment entails more than just delivering packages to customers. Many providers also help merchants with receiving returns and processing refunds, referred to as reverse logistics. An experienced third-party logistics provider understands how to manage returned products efficiently. They can assist a retailer in developing a return policy that keeps profit margins way above the red line.

7. Costs

It is reasonable to expect some initial costs associated with offloading your order fulfillment needs to an e-commerce fulfillment service provider. However, when you do so, you will most likely later save a considerable amount on labor, overhead, packing supplies, and other variable expenses down the road. Furthermore, if you choose a modern e-commerce fulfillment solution, such as one that practices micro-fulfillment with fewer overhead costs, like Ohi, you can often benefit from transparent and low flat-rate pricing, as inventory is forward-positioned and last mile delivery is greatly simplified.

It’s important to understand that cost is often overemphasized as a criterion when looking at e-commerce fulfillment providers. By enabling fast delivery, retailers often see outsized ROI via gains in conversion rates and customer loyalty metrics like repeat purchase rates and customer lifetime value, which more than justify the initial cost of enabling these fulfillment services.

‘Modern problems require modern solutions.’ 

Outdated traditional e-commerce fulfillment solutions might still dominate the e-commerce landscape today but will increasingly fail to meet the needs of modern customers who want instant delivery. Look beyond a single 3PL partner approach and consider using a mix of fulfillment partners that together address your customers’ needs.

At Ohi, we’ve flipped the script for e-commerce fulfillment, transforming it from what is traditionally seen as a cost center into a growth engine. Brands join the Ohi platform to deliver powerfully fast, brand-focused, and memorable post-purchase experiences that enable them to grow. Want to learn more about how Ohi enables instant commerce? Get in touch today.