How Australian businesses can overcome ecommerce shipping and returns challenges
Vaishali Ravi
·August 2, 2024
The Australian continent is similar in size to the continental US—but a fraction of the population. While the US has 37 people per square kilometre (and many more in densely populated areas), Australia has just 3.6 people per square kilometre.
For ecommerce businesses like yours, that creates a massive geographic challenge when it comes to last-mile delivery and reverse logistics for your brand.
Both domestic and cross-border deliveries and returns require careful management, but with the right brand strategy and commitment to the customer experience, Australian ecommerce brands can thrive. In this article, we’ll cover best practises for building a sustainable strategy for scaling your brand internationally.
Optimise your supply chain
First, look at your supply chain as a whole—everything from your manufacturing and sourcing, to warehousing, to distribution and returns. What are the areas where you may be able to consolidate savings?
- Manufacturing and suppliers
The Australian market has an advantage over US suppliers when it comes to importing goods, being much closer to Asia, a leading manufacturing hub. China alone accounts for 20% of the world’s manufacturing. As such, you can quickly and affordably import products from Asian markets if they fit your brand’s needs. Australia also has a free trade agreement with China (ChAFTA), eliminating tariffs on 85% of imported Chinese goods to Australia.
- Warehousing
As Australia has such a widely spread population, it’s important to set up multiple warehouse hubs in different regions of the country, so you’ll be able to expedite delivery times and provide a great customer experience. This can easily be done by partnering with a 3PL, which will enable you to send inventory to multiple regional hubs, where orders can be fulfilled to customers in those regions. If you’ve expanded internationally, it’s also wise to set up overseas warehouse hubs, working with an international 3PL that can help you navigate customs and other cross-border shipping issues. - Distribution
Whether you’re operating your own warehouses or using a 3PL, it’s important to choose logistics carriers that offer the right combination of speed, price, and quality. Using route optimisation tools can help you dynamically choose the best carrier and route that meets all of your goals, automatically calculating the best possible path for each delivery and return. - Returns
You can consolidate time and labour by automating your returns, both domestic and international, with a robust returns management solution like Loop. Loop offers customers self-service returns, reducing reliance on your CX team. The solution’s automated dynamic routing will help you find the most cost-efficient way to get items back to your warehouse.
Focus on building customer loyalty
One of your largest expenses, alongside logistics, is the cost of customer acquisition. Our recent Future of Commerce Report found that businesses drive just 35% of revenue from new customers, while 65% comes from existing customers. Nearly half of customers that left a brand in the prior year did so because of a disappointing customer experience.
With that in mind, it’s imperative to focus on delivering a great customer experience that will help you retain your current customer base, so you can reduce your acquisition costs and build a strong pipeline of recurring revenue. To do that:
- Streamline the customer’s interactions with your brand
Ease of use should be central to the customer experience. That includes learning about your products, placing an order, tracking the order, and making a return.- Choosing products
When it comes to evaluating your products, customers should have easy access to a wealth of product photography showcasing the product in different settings, or for apparel, on different body types. You should also provide user-generated content, including customer-submitted reviews and photos, to give your customers a more accurate idea of whether the item is a fit for them. - Placing an order
Shoppers shouldn’t find it challenging to place an order. You should optimise your checkout process to eliminate as many forms as possible, including the need to sign up to an account. You should also provide up-front details about the total cost, including tax and shipping, before the customer has filled out their details. By streamlining this process, you’ll be able to reduce the number of shopping cart abandonments. - Order tracking
Order tracking should be a smooth and transparent process. As soon as the order is confirmed, customers should be given access to an order tracking number, which enables them to follow their package on its journey. They should receive a notification when the package is about to be delivered, so that they can prepare to accept it. - Returns
Your brand should have a clear and generous return policy that enables customers to return items for any reason for a set period of time. Overcome Australian returns challenges by providing your customers with a returns portal like Loop, where they can initiate and track their returns through a self-service dashboard. You can also use Loop’s technology to optimise for exchanges over refunds, increasing the likelihood that the shopper will select a new product.
- Choosing products
- Build a loyalty programme
By providing your best customers with rewards, perks, and discounts for their continued loyalty, you’ll be able to maximise your lifetime revenue and build brand allegiance from these customers. Consider offering perks such as special promotions only for loyalty programme members, free gifts with purchase, or free shipping and free return shipping. By providing shoppers with incentives for continually shopping with your brand, you’ll be able to reduce your acquisition costs and increase customer satisfaction among your existing shoppers.
By optimising for cost-efficiency and developing a superior customer experience, you’ll be primed for strong business growth in Australia and abroad.
Learn how Loop can help you optimise your reverse logistics.
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