The back-to-school period offers retailers and ecommerce businesses an opportunity to get match fit for the 2023 peak season, according to nShift, the global leader in delivery management software.
In 2022, spending in the run up to the new school year shot up over 10% across multiple categories, including clothing, stationery, and electronics. A similar pattern is expected this year as families equip their children for a new year of learning.
nShift advises retailers to use the back-to-school period as an opportunity to thoroughly test their systems and processes in readiness for 2023’s peak season. In particular, it suggests focusing on:
- Getting ready for increased demand: families have even less tolerance for late or missed deliveries at this time of year. Meanwhile, warehouse teams can find themselves stretched by rapid increases in orders, leading to delays and packing errors
- A slick customer experience: the checkout marks the beginning of the customer relationship. Everything that happens after the customer clicks “buy” needs to be branded and personalised – right down to communicating via shoppers’ preferred channels. This is key to ensuring repeat purchase
- Rethinking returns – as retention opportunities: around 10-20% of items bought online are returned, leading to significant revenue shrinkage for retailers. Offering exchanges and incentives for returning in-store, and swiftly restocking returned items, can turn returns into a powerful driver of revenues and loyalty
Sean Sherwin-Smith, Product Director Post-purchase at nShift, said: “It’s right that retailers focus many of their resources to ensuring they perform at their best toward the end of the year. What they often overlook, however, is that the back-to-school rush in late summer presents a timely opportunity to road test their operations.
“A smooth delivery and returns experience is vital for delivering ecommerce success at the start of the new school year. Families will expect real choice over when and how they receive their deliveries. And with the first day of term set in stone, they won’t have time to wait. The returns process should be just as easy.”
nShift customers see order values increase by 20%, reductions in cost-to-serve of 30%, and improved revenues by diverting almost 30% of returns to exchanges.
