With Shopify's acquisition of Deliverr, fulfillment has been on my mind and it definitely has me a bit concerned.
The last time I had an order problem from a Shopify store was when the Google address auto-filled in the wrong address and I didn't catch it.
I had to send the store one email and they got my package redirected in their fulfillment system. No hassle at all.
That was six months ago. Every other order has been shipped and delivered just fine.
Contrast that to a well-known gorilla-sized company who decided to build out their own network.
In the past week alone, 3 separate deliveries have gone missing. Two were never delivered and went missing, and with the third the driver gave us the wrong package while walking off with ours.
Cue four hours of fighting the gorilla this week to send replacements or refunds, ultimately resulting in filing a chargeback.
One email to correct a delivery mistake with a Shopify store VS four hours with the gorilla and their custom fulfillment network.
I really hope Shopify's acquisition and build out of their fulfillment network keeps a high standard of quality. If not and they copy the gorilla too much, it's going to fall to merchants to handle their upset customers.
Upsetting your customers about their deliveries is the fast track to losing them to a competitor or even the gorilla (hey, same crappy delivery service but for a lower price sounds like a deal right? Least horrible option).
How are your customers measuring up? Are they loyal or defecting? Measure them with Repeat Customer Insights and the behavior analyses. It uses various models to segment and grade your customers based on their behavior (and lack of behavior).
Eric Davis
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