Once upon a time, there was a midsized e-commerce business with a steady stream of income and strong peak season sales. The business faced challenges, navigating the competitive landscape and figuring out how to adapt to changing consumer demands.
By prioritizing innovation and customer experience, this e-commerce retailer underwent a magical transformation. Fast, convenient online shopping, a seamless checkout process, and same-day delivery kept its customers coming back again and again.
Whether you own a growing e-commerce business or an established brand, there are plenty of ways to capture customer loyalty. Recent numbers from The Department of Commerce found a 1.3% increase in retail e-commerce sales between Q1 and the second quarter of 2024. This figure also represents a 6.6% bump year over year. All the while, the economy remains resilient despite the fact that consumers remain wary of high prices. So, as a retailer, how do you continue to expand your e-commerce business, positioning your operation for success in 2025?
You don’t have to wait for a fairy godmother to wave her magic wand. The formula is simple: A seamless shopping experience from cart to doorstep equals customers that will keep coming back for more, whether you’re selling boutique clothing or bespoke kitchen appliances.
Here are four ways any online seller — large, small or somewhere in between — can leverage capabilities with Roadie to both gain and retain customers.
Oversized goods simplified
Trying to get a made-to-order cabinet or a large piece of gym equipment delivered without incurring the outrageous costs typically charged for shipping oversized goods? Roadie allows you to offer affordable options at ultrafast speeds. Rather than calculating the dimensional weight of a bulky or oversized item, the Roadie platform offers simple, easy-to-understand rates — and you can even skip the packaging. Then, get matched with the right vehicle for the job. And, for extra peace of mind for both retailer and customer, every delivery comes with $100 of protection, with the option to purchase more through UPS Capital.
Sending a high volume of oversized goods? The new RoadieXD™ solution gives you even more flexibility with a nationwide network of cross-docks. Further expedite fulfillment and easily transfer items to a Roadie cross-dock facility, keeping your storage costs to a minimum in the process. Deliver big and bulky goods the same day, up to 100 miles from the cross-dock, with minimal cost and complexity.
The Roadie platform lets you deliver oversized goods as quickly and as efficiently as items that fit neatly in a mailbox.
Delivery timing is everything
Customers crave optionality — and delivery speed can make or break deliveries. But if the order process doesn’t provide the delivery options customers want at checkout, chances are good they’ll abandon their cart. The Baymard Institute, a UX research entity, estimates an average cart abandonment rate of 70.19%, which represents a massive portion of lost sales. The top reasons for abandonment in the research include the cost of shipping, taxes and fees; too-slow delivery; and complicated checkout processes.
While taxes may be out of your control, the delivery process doesn’t have to be. With a network of 200,000 independent drivers, Roadie gives you flexible fulfillment options to delight customers with preferred delivery windows and same-day options. Once a customer places an order, a driver using Roadie can pick up from your place of business or warehouse and deliver the item in the time window selected at checkout.
Convenience of returns
It’s a tale as old as time: A customer purchases a pair of sneakers off a retail site, but the shoes fit too snugly. Rather than returning them right away, the customer sets them aside and misses the returns window. Or, they take the too-small sneakers to the post office and wait in line.
This story can still have a happy ending. Roadie gives you the ability to offer more convenient returns thanks to an array of pickup options that provide efficiency. Whether it’s an oversized item like a mattress or that pair of sneakers that fits neatly in a box, you can leverage Roadie to get matched with a driver that can pick up right from your customer’s doorstep. They’ll come with the right vehicle for the return.
Ninety-two percent of customers say they plan to continue purchasing from retailers with an easy returns process. Once they see how painless your returns process is, you’ll win big in terms of customer retention.
Tracking in real-time
You may have trackers on your own keys and wallet, or you may keep tabs on your teens’ whereabouts via an app. Why not use the same approach when it comes to customer orders? Roadie takes the unpredictability of delivery times out of the equation with live tracking, giving you and your customers real-time visibility of that package or item’s whereabouts.
Not only does this mitigate package losses and thefts, but customer notifications and photographic proof of delivery offer both parties updates from the warehouse to the final destination. The transparency and real-time communication in the form of text updates and confirmation photos demonstrate that your business excels at the customer service game.
The continued rise of online shopping means retailers must differentiate themselves in the market. Let your retail operation stand out in 2025 with flexible, ultra-fast delivery, shipping visibility and returns options for any size item. Roadie can enable your e-commerce business to write its own fairytale ending.
