Online shopping is addicting but the popular hobby is facing a big test amid changing trends and economic turmoil. How can brands meet consumer expectations and tackle supply chain complexity?
New data from Körber’s 2023 ‘State of Shipping and Returns’ report has revealed that 90 per cent of consumers are less likely to buy from a brand again after a poor online shopping experience.
The research also showed 70 per cent of consumers are having experienced a delayed online order in the last six months.
To address how to tackle supply chain complexity to help remedy these issues and meet consumer expectations – and drive future business success – more than 200 industry leaders from Australia, New Zealand, India, China and the United States met at Körber’s annual flagship conference Elevate APAC 2023 in Melbourne last week (2-3 May).
Anthony Beavis,Managing Director, ANZ. Image: Körber
The ‘State of Shipping and Returns’ survey announced at Elevate APAC 2023 gathered insights from 2,200 consumer across eight global regions (Australia, UK, Germany, France, US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil) on their post-purchase experience between the moment they click the ‘buy’ button and when the product reaches their doorstep.
Additional findings showed that over a third (35%) of respondents who experienced delays were not provided with a reason.
With speed and convenience driving online purchase decisions, the impact of these delays on customer satisfaction and subsequent brand loyalty is significant.
How can businesses best adapt to the post-pandemic supply chain world?
Körber leadership team, customers and other industry thought leaders, including McKinsey and Company, Accenture, Super Retail Group and Zebra gathered under the event theme of ‘Find Your Rhythm’ to tackle this very question.
Darren O’Connor, Körber’s Director of Solution Delivery says it all starts with the consumer and ensuring satisfaction across the online shopping experience is critical.
“Ensuring satisfaction across the online shopping experience is critical. The findings from our latest State of Shipping and Returns survey highlight these online consumer expectations and how necessary it is for organisations to build resilient and efficient supply chains – powered by technology and digitisation – to help meet these standards, allowing them to retain customers and scale their businesses.”
Darren O’Connor, Körber’s Director of Solution Delivery
A key insight discussed at the conference was new thinking and tools focused on gamification as a way to transform a disengaged warehouse operation workforce to an engaged workflow, positively impacting businesses.
Innovations include the launch of Körber’s ‘Robotics-as-a-Service (Raas) for e-fulfilment offering for APAC customers, providing simple access to a global network of robotics service partners for every business size and industry as well as Körber’s new warehouse Unified Control System (UCS). The UCS will orchestrate AMR, people-driven workflows and classic automation systems to boost throughput and productivity, and its Order Management System (OMS), enabling order visibility across channels and actionable data.
A vital keynote from John Laing, Senior Expert from McKinsey and Company on the role of Industry 4.0, and how actionable steps – including how prepositioning inventory close to the consumer to reduce delivery times, end-to-end supply chain transparency and advanced analytics to improve forecast accuracy through the supply chain – can help safeguard against economic challenges and future-proof supply chains.
Anthony Beavis,Managing Director, ANZ from Körber says the company were delighted to be able to come together in-person with customers and other industry leaders to learn from each other and “shine a light on some of the new solutions we can offer our customers”.
“As the first in-person flagship conference for Körber down under, the conference demonstrated how the APAC region will be a major focus for our future, and the investment we are making here to support that.”
A plane arrives in China. On board, one of the world’s richest men. He’s come to convince authorities that he should be allowed to set up a brand new factory.
He is Elon Musk.
And this is his first trip to China in three years.
Staff at warehousing giant Amazon have walked off the job to protest the company’s return-to-office program
Over 1,900 Amazon employees pledged to protest globally over proposed changes to the company’s climate policy, layoffs and a return-to-office mandate.
The activist group behind the rally is known as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), who are seeking a greater voice for employees.
“Our goal is to change Amazon’s cost/benefit analysis on making harmful, unilateral decisions that are having an outsized impact on people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable people,” organisers said.
Over 100 people gathered at the heart of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Wednesday. The company said it had not witnessed any other demonstrations.
AECJ said the walkout comes after Amazon made moves “in the wrong direction”.
The company recently has recently overturned a desire to make all Amazon shipments net zero for carbon emissions by 2030.
The company maintains a pledge on climate change.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Reuters the company is pursuing a strategy to cut carbon emissions.
“For companies like ours who consume a lot of power, and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish.”
AECJ protesters also sought support for the 27,000 staff, who had lost their jobs in recent months —around 9 per cent of Amazon’s global workforce.
The company has also mandated a return-to-office program.
As employees recover from the height of the pandemic, the Great Resignation has come to light
The pandemic saw the term ‘the great resignation’ coined as thousands of people resigned from their jobs across the U.S. in 2021 and 2022.
Karin Reed, the author of ‘Suddenly Hybrid said the great resignation was a period of employees taking control of their future.
“A lot of people realised in their current environment they were not happy with what they were doing with their job. They chose to vote with their feet and go elsewhere,
In other parts of the world, a spike in resignations was not reported.
However, a higher degree of workers began reporting post-Covid burnout, as they made a return to the office.
“There’s been a blurring of the lines. You have work that’s not confined by a physical space.
“Instead of closing the computer and walk away, our computer is in the next room.”