Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel has called on retailers to rethink their demands on carriers in the wake of severe criticism heaped on the Yodel carrier business for its inability to meet peak demand for delivery services from its clients. According to Stead it is not realistic for retailers to offer customers a next day delivery service during peak periods. He is instead suggesting that retailers stick to an offer of 3-5 day service and reserve next day for customers that really need it. Yodel has come under fire for its failures during the Black Friday & Christmas periods as well as over Mother’s Day when complaints were high due to late deliveries on the Sunday itself rather that promptly at 9am.
The DCA will respond to this many other key issues which impact upon customer satisfaction and retention during a focused day for both members and non-members on 25 June.
The issues raised by Dick Stead are indicative of a much wider problem with retailers’ marketing teams focused on offering the very fastest delivery as a point of difference but with carrier capacity and abilities at something of a disconnect. If a retailers sells a product with a two day delivery, clearly for most carriers that equates to two working days so the order placed in panic on a Friday may not be delivered until a Tuesday or a Wednesday – always assuming that the merchant picked, packed and passed the order to the carrier on the day the order was placed.
There are many processes which can help to alleviate customer disappointment including a clear explanation of how delivery works and how long it might realistically take. Most consumers are unaware of these processes or that by leaving the placing of an order until late afternoon or early evening may well add a full day to the quoted delivery time. Other problems caused include over-selling of products which leave customers disappointment, poor explanation of sizing or product limitations which results in high levels of returns or customers who simply will not ever trust the retailer again.
Now with little more than six months to go until Christmas this very timely Operations & Fulfiment Excellence event is being staged by the Direct Commerce Association at Leicester Tigers on Thursday 25th June to review, indepth, how merchants can thrive during this coming peak season, and beyond.
. A handful of extra tickets have just been released for last minute bookers and are priced at just £125 per person + vat – call 01271 855545 from Monday morning or go to www.direct-commerce-association.com – events to download the day’s programme
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