Do you sell on several sales platforms? In this article, we explain how to create and adapt a consistent transport strategy across all your distribution channels. A well-orchestrated transport strategy impacts two key aspects of your e-commerce business: customer satisfaction and cost control.
In e-commerce, omnichannel means more than just selling via several sales channels. It also raises crucial questions about the logistics and optimal transport strategy to be deployed across these various channels. Indeed, the exponential growth of e-commerce has transformed consumer expectations in terms of delivery speed, reliability and flexibility. Customers now expect not only to receive their orders quickly, but also to have a choice of delivery options, such as home delivery, in-store collection, relay points, or even same-day or next-day delivery. In this article, we explore in detail the importance of transport strategy in the context of omnichannel e-commerce.
Omnichannel: background
Omnichannel is at the heart of modern retailing. Indeed, the figures speak for themselves: in France, 40% of sales are made on marketplaces, a figure that rises to 60-65% internationally. These platforms have become must-haves for consumers, who embrace them for their convenience, security and guarantees, simplifying the shopping experience by centralizing products and services in a single location.
This phenomenon underlines an inescapable truth: sales strategy can no longer afford to be monolithic. The diversity of purchasing channels calls for a flexible, integrated approach, not only in terms of presence on marketplaces, but also in the management of logistics operations. Indeed, 36% of e-tailers are present on these platforms, indicating both a partial saturation of the market and a growth opportunity for those who have not yet invested.
In terms of logistics, most e-tailers traditionally work with a single main carrier, often Colissimo, but omnichannel requires a more nuanced approach. Depending on the sales channel, transport solutions need to be adapted to maximize efficiency and profitability. For example, omnichannel sales on platforms that offer relay point delivery options, such as Mondial Relay, can be less costly and therefore enable better margins or free delivery offers. Usually, to respond effectively to the diversity of customer expectations on each sales channel, an e-tailer who adopts an omnichannel approach collaborates with several carriers, usually between two and three, to ensure maximum adaptability.
The challenges of omnichannel
With 42 million buyers in France turning to marketplaces for their purchases, ignoring these platforms would be tantamount to neglecting a significant share of the market. This not only represents a missed opportunity to reach these consumers, but also a risk of leaving the field open to your competitors, who are actively exploiting these channels.
Omnichannelity enables you to test new markets with agility. For example, if you’re planning to sell your products in Germany, Spain or even the United States, marketplaces are an excellent way to test these markets. They enable you to do this without the risks associated with opening new physical stores or the high costs of marketing campaigns. What’s more, they facilitate rapid diversification of offerings. The flexibility to combine products in batches or packs exploits the potential to create up to 3.6 million distinct offers from just ten products.
One of the great advantages of omnichannelity is also its ability to reduce risk and diversify revenue sources. The recent pandemic underlined the importance of mutliplier sales platforms: those who had already integrated marketplaces into their sales strategy were able to continue generating sales even when physical outlets were closed.
In addition, being present on several platforms allows you to benefit from the visibility and marketing operations of the various marketplaces, which invest considerably to attract consumers. This gives you access to a new audience and commercial opportunities throughout the calendar year, which can be particularly valuable during periods of strikes or other disruptive events.
Finally, a presence on marketplaces allows you to control and protect your brand image. Rather than letting other sellers potentially damage your reputation by selling your products without authorization, taking control of your online presence allows you to guarantee the quality and consistency of the customer experience.
OMS: the essential tool for integrating an omnichannel strategy
In today’s e-commerce world, it’s no longer enough to multiply sales channels; it’s crucial to manage them efficiently. This is where the Order Management System (OMS) becomes essential. A robust OMS is much more than just a tool, it’s a key enabler that frees you from technical and logistical constraints, transforming logistics into a genuine marketing asset.
With OMS, you can centralize orders from multiple platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, and others, ensuring inventory synchronization and instant communication of tracking notifications. This integration enables you to deliver on the promise of sales with a promise of real-time delivery, an important aspect in meeting today’s consumer expectations.
Real-time management is crucial: as soon as an order is placed, whether on a marketplace or your e-commerce site, it must be processed without delay to maintain customer loyalty and satisfaction. An efficient OMS eliminates the need to develop specific connectors for each marketplace, which would be not only costly but also complex to manage. Instead, OMS acts as a central hub that seamlessly manages all these interactions.
OMS also plays a key role in managing transport contracts, adapting the delivery solution according to the sales channel. For example, if a sale is made on Cdiscount, OMS can automatically suggest a delivery option via a suitable relay point. If the order comes from La Redoute, OMS will suggest a specific alternative, adapted to the exclusive delivery services used by this platform.
Why use a commission agent?
As an e-tailer, you’re constantly on the lookout for ways to optimize your transport costs and improve your logistics efficiency. Using a freight forwarder can offer you many advantages, not least financial. Thanks to grouped purchasing volumes, a freight forwarder like Toopost, a long-standing partner of Shippingbo, can offer you significantly lower rates for your shipments, thus significantly reducing your costs.
Another crucial point is the flexibility with which you can manage your shipments. No matter how diverse your flows, whether you ship ten parcels a day with Colissimo or a thousand with Mondial Relay, you benefit from competitive rates without having to negotiate each contract separately. This approach frees you from the complexities of negotiations, allowing you to concentrate on what really matters: your growth and your customers’ satisfaction.
What’s more, by opting for a freight forwarder, you benefit from significant logistical simplification. Rather than coordinating the collection of your parcels by carriers, who can interrupt your operations several times a day, a single truck picks up all your shipments. This service not only facilitates the work of your teams, but also contributes to an ecological approach by reducing the number of vehicles needed for transport. Integration with solutions like the one offered by Toopost also provides greater visibility of your shipments.
It directs your flows and hands them over to the carriers on the same day, ensuring total transparency of lead times. This responsiveness enables you to respond more effectively to your customers’ expectations, improving their purchasing experience. Finally, using a freight forwarder means you have a single point of contact to manage your disputes and contracts, sparing you the often complex and time-consuming administrative procedures. This centralized contact simplifies problem resolution and ensures smoother management of your logistics operations.
Choosing a freight forwarder means choosing a partner who can offer a complete range of services tailored to your specific needs, while enabling you to benefit from advantageous conditions and optimized logistics management.
Boost your growth with Shippingbo
Adapting your shipping strategy consistently and harmoniously across all sales channels is therefore essential to maximizing sales in the competitive e-commerce landscape. Shippingbo equips you to implement an efficient omnichannel strategy. Toopost can help you implement a coherent, cost-effective transport strategy for all your distribution channels.
Find out how to implement an impeccable transport strategy to maximize your omnichannel e-commerce sales:
