What kind of service are Australian consumers getting from e-tailiers? To be frank, not much -- in fact, consumer return rates are reaching up to 30 percent and online shops are failing to handle the flood.
About 40 Australian online retailers were surveyed by APT Strategies. The findings were combined with APT's research on US e-tailers, revealing Australia is lagging behind in this crucial aspect of customer service.
Many online stores in Australia do not offer delivery outside of normal working hours, according to Anthony Rosenburg from APT Strategies. Most companies, in general, don't deliver or pick-up goods after hours, apart from those such as Greengrocer.com, handling perishable items.
Transport is a vital component for the success of "e-fullfilment", but its not taken seriously enough by e-tailers. "There are no after hour returns and no after hour deliveries," Roseburg said. "In order to keep customer retention you have to meet customer expectations of delivery time, association of costs with delivery and return handling."
Restricted delivery will be the downfall of at least some online shops, according to Rosenburg. Australian customers already hesitate when purchasing items online -- it's only natural: "Our behavior has never been to purchase from magazines, we like to try things on, touch and feel them," Rosenburg said.
