Duncan Brett
As we know, there were winners and losers in retail during Covid-19. The winners rode the retail revolution, with consumer demand for home delivery being a catalyst for savvy retailers to adapt their business models and invest more in online marketing to position themselves for what they expected.
From Sherpa CEO Duncan Brett.
The losers are the others who had to crawl while waiting for customers to come through their doors and watch the downturn through to the bottom line. Forced to change their business model in the middle of the pandemic, they faced a dilemma of how to serve online customers.
Instead of investing in software upgrades and adjusting their processing, they have taken shortcuts and let their customers down.
Ironically, both winners and losers faced a similar problem. Your customers wanted to get their goods into their hands on the same day or within hours.
It was a wake up call for everyone, the retail revolution is on. Consumers are demanding faster delivery and Sherpa meets these expectations to a large extent in many categories. And over 60% are willing to pay more for it.
Retailers have been forced to make the switch and it has been a real challenge for traditional delivery providers to meet customer expectations. These customers can be anywhere in Australia – in the suburbs of major cities, Newcastle, Geelong or the Sunshine Coast.
The fact is that same-day delivery is booming and is now being achieved on a large scale.
Last year, Sherpa enabled same day delivery for over 3,500 retailers in Australia including Apple, Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s, Roses Only and Chemist Warehouse.
The risks and challenges are high as there is no error rate with same day delivery. You have to keep the promise and get to the customer on the same day. It's unforgiving. Unexpected delays due to heavy traffic, a lack of parking spaces, inaccessible places and pick-up locations pose a real challenge for the deliverer, but the customer doesn't want to know about it.
Retailers looking to join the revolution and build their brand's customer service reputation need to make sure their software is updated and their back-end process in place. An order purchased online an hour ago must be ready when the driver arrives at the store for pickup.
In KPMG's Annual Retail Outlook 2021, 80% of retail CEOs said they think customer expectations for delivery would rise the most in the next 12 months, based on more delivery options (35%) and online delivery speed (45%).
Sherpa plays in both areas and has proven to be a faster option and solution. We deliver quickly and offer multiple delivery options on the same day. In just 18 months we've seen a change in customer sentiment. Now retailers come up to us and ask Sherpa how they can climb this mountain and solve their delivery problems. We have the tools. We have the experience and can offer a win-win situation for dealers and customers.
About Duncan Brett
Duncan Brett is the Chief Executive Officer at Sherpa. Duncan is a well-known leader in e-commerce and digital, with two decades of experience in pureplay and brick-and-click retailers. Duncan is particularly proficient at integrating retail and online environments to improve the overall customer experience.
About Sherpa
Sherpa is an Australian tech disruptor who changed the way retailers run their last mile – powered by industry leading technology and a customer-centric approach. Sherpa's intuitive delivery and fleet management tools, easy-to-use booking platform, and huge fleet of crowdsourced drivers offer unparalleled flexibility for businesses large and small. Visit sherpa.net.au for more information.
