GFS unveils free delivery options software to beat cart abandonment
Shoppers are being offered the chance to personalise e-commerce deliveries in an effort to reduce the proportion of consumers who ditch possible purchases at the online checkout.
The UK parcel and carrier manager, Global Freight Solutions (GFS), claims its new system will overcome one of the key concerns voiced by people buying online by giving them even greater choice in how and when they receive items.
The company has stated that in allowing consumers more involvement in the shipping process, the system – named GFS Checkout – will also dramatically improve the prospects of purchases being delivered first time.
One recent piece of research suggested that more than two-thirds of consumers did not complete intended transactions while another study estimated that delivery costs were the cause of over half of all shopping cart abandonment.
Managing Director Neil Cotty said GFS Checkout could be tailored to suit those delivery options which individual retailers wanted to present customers with.
He added that it would even be made available to retailers of every size for free as a ‘plug-in’ so to avoid the need for an extensive reworking of their e-commerce sites and to eliminate the high cost and long leads times that have previously been a barrier to integration of individual suppliers into the checkout.
“We are convinced that what we have created genuinely offers a broad range of retailers the facility to tackle the issue of sales lost late in the online transaction process and increases the choice of delivery options available to consumers.
“There is a large body of research showing how transparency around the choice and the cost of delivery is a critical factor in whether shoppers actually go through with purchases. GFS Checkout enables shoppers to make an informed decision by setting out a menu of options and prices which is easy to understand and letting them choose which one is right for them – even down to the time of delivery.
“Until now, retailers wanting to do so have often had to struggle with the complexities of incorporating different providers and services into their e-commerce sites and presenting it in a fashion which consumers can instantly make sense of.
“Providing delivery choice has also been a particular problem for smaller retailers who might struggle to offer premium services because the cost of integration is too high.
“What we have been able to create is a free, carrier-agnostic package which has everything in one place for retailers of all sizes, including delivery options and rules management. Simply by giving customers the power to choose the date of their delivery helps improve the prospect of getting purchases to the people at the first time of asking. This is good for the retailer, the carrier and the consumer.
“GFS Checkout promotes the transparency of costs for outlying regions by ensuring the consumers are fully aware of the cost to get a parcel to them with no hidden surcharges.”
Mr Cotty’s comments bear out retail concerns about the increasingly high rate of shopping cart abandonment. In March, the independent e-commerce analyst The Baymard Institute published a paper examining 27 different studies on the topic. It concluded that an average of almost 70 per cent of shoppers ditched prospective purchases.
The results of a survey of 2,000 consumers by eDigital Research late last year revealed that 65 per cent of consumers blamed “unreasonable” shipping costs for not completing a purchase. The paper also reckoned that cart abandonment had cost UK online retailers £6 billion during 2013.
Mr Cotty described how the advantages of GFS Checkout would not be limited to retailers either based in or shipping to customers in the UK but would support all the major delivery firms globally.
“Many carriers now offer a large range of services, not just the typical next day or deferred services most consumers are aware of.
Carriers are now offering Saturday and even Sunday delivery services, and of course have always offered premium services, such as pre-10 o’clock and pre-midday delivery.
Typically, it has been difficult for online retailers to offer these premium services in the checkout as no option is given and the services are not available to all postcodes.
GFS Checkout opens up this vast array of carrier services to the home user and in many cases will simplify the dispatch profile of retailers who can get all of their required services from a single supplier. It also creates the opportunity for the retailer to improve their brand perception and cater to consumers with specific requirements.
“In addition, Click & Collect and drop point providers are growing at a massive rate and GFS Checkout supports the major vendors in the UK providing unique access to over 12,000 locations throughout the UK.”
Mr Cotty stated that GFS Checkout was not tied to any of its other products and was designed to be open source in nature supporting multiple ecommerce platforms, such as Magento, without significant development resource being required to implement it.
“As an example, you can go to our website today, register for the software and have it installed on your standard Magento website in minutes. We really do feel this initiative will not only drive customer engagement in the online retail environment, but it will also drive first time delivery success which can only be good news for retailers, carriers and consumers alike.”
