Why Home & Garden Operations Need Automated Courier Claims
November-December is the peak season for most e-commerce sectors. But for Home & Garden retailers, outdoor living sales bloom from spring to summer.
From patio furniture and gardening tools to outdoor play equipment and al fresco dining, consumer retail behaviour heads outside from April to September - even if the purchase method remains partially indoors with around one fifth of Home & Garden sales made online.
While seasonal sales spikes are great for homeware, DIY and outdoor retailers' bottom lines, they also dump additional pressure on logistics and operations teams. Automated courier claims help alleviate that pressure.
Why Home & Garden Ops teams need automated courier claims
Rise of online shopping in the Home & Garden sector
Physical garden centres and home goods stores offer consumers unique advantages - be it sitting on furniture, testing tools or asking knowledgeable staff for recommendations. That's why 33% of Home & Garden consumers still prefer to buy in-store.
However, since Covid-19, Home & Garden e-commerce sales have been on the march with around 20% now made online. For instance, online orders now make up 28% of IKEA purchases, while B&Q's e-commerce sales are rising 23.8% year-on-year.
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you need seamless online order fulfilment beyond just 'click and collect.'
Seasonal sales spikes
As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, more people spend time outside - and spend their money on outside spaces and home improvements. In the UK, for example, 78% of adults have access to a private garden, with plants (78%) and garden furniture (70%) the most commonly found items within them.
Unsurprisingly, spring and summer are the prime time for UK adults to buy these garden furnishings with sales rising 30-50% (then dropping off by almost 50% in September).
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you have to maximise delivery success during this six-month window.
More orders = more delivery issues
As Home & Garden e-commerce sales spike, so do delivery issues. In the UK, 6.5% of orders encounter a delivery issue. If your sales rise by 5000 items per month over the spring-summer period, that's thousands of lost items and thousands in lost revenue.
What's more, delivery issues have a wider knock-on effect on future custom. According to the Whistl Group, delivery reliability is almost as important as the product cost when Gen Z and Millennials make a buying decision, while damaged or lost items (53%) are the second most frustrating aspect of online shopping after high delivery fees.
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you have a crucial role in ensuring future revenue for the company.
The benefits of automated courier claims for Home & Garden Operations
Amidst a surge in lost and damaged online orders, automated courier claims help Home & Garden Ops teams to:
Optimise operations budgets
By automatically spotting, preparing and filing claims against couriers for lost and damaged shipments, automated courier claims can recoup up to 15% of your entire delivery budget.
What's more, delivery issues have a major impact on your Ops team's time - clogging up their in-tray with customer complaints and manual courier claims processing. But with AI agents filing claims on your behalf, automation can save up to 80% of your team's claims processing time and free up their day-to-day for more valuable tasks.
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you can make better use of your budget with automated courier claims.
Improve delivery insights
Garden sheds and garden shears require very different delivery processes. Paints, tools and fertilisers come with sending restrictions. It's illegal to send plants or organic-based material to many overseas countries.
In other words, Home & Garden Ops teams have to keep track of which couriers are best suited for their diverse range of products. But with automated claims platforms providing in-depth, real-time analytics on courier performance and relevant restrictions, you can maximise route efficiency and minimise delivery issues.
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you make better courier choices with automated courier claims platforms.
Enhance customer satisfaction
Operations play a crucial role in customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Although delivery issues are often outsourced to the likes of DHL, Royal Mail, Evri and UPS, 52% of buyers hold the retailer responsible for delivery issues (not the courier).
Automated courier claims help you get ahead of the problem. By spotting potential shipping errors in advance and requesting couriers perform manual checks, you can fix the issue before the customer realises. If the problem is unsolvable, you can warn customers in advance, send a replacement (and discount on future products) and turn what would be a negative experience into a positive one.
The bottom line for Home & Garden Ops teams: you play a key role in keeping future custom.
Before vs after: transforming last-mile delivery
Instead of wasting time with tedious, complex and time-consuming claims forms, automated claims platforms put Ops teams back in control.
That's why the likes of outdoor pizza-oven retailer Ooni, paint provider Coat and classic homeware provider Emma Bridgewater have embraced automated courier claims with Claimit. Find out how they're transforming last-mile delivery processes with AI-powered automation.
