It should also be mentioned that there has been an increased awareness on the part of e-stores of the importance of the shipping process itself and how important it is in the seller-customer relationship. Therefore, the second key trend in the field of e-commerce is a well-optimised shipping process that is intuitive for the shop and seamless for the customer. Thanks to a correctly arranged delivery process that is satisfactory for the customer, his loyalty to the e-shop increases. A well optimised and executed shipping process naturally means an increase in the group of loyal, returning customers, so desirable in online sales. In the report "Perspectives for the development of the e-commerce market in Poland 2021-2026", PwC experts also indicated that 42% of Polish consumers are able to resign from a given brand after just one bad experience.
Another no less important trend is, of course, the absolute basis of online sales, i.e. an appropriately selected range of delivery methods in line with the needs of today's e-customers. This means not only parcel delivery to a specified address, but also distribution to parcel machines, vending machines and points of sale.
On the other hand, the biggest challenge facing the retail sector in the parcel market is working with multiple carriers. Those in the commercial sector have to deal directly with each carrier and handle multiple systems, separate billing (including collection payments), or separate customer service for each of the cooperating carriers. In this situation, "day-to-day" work is also a difficult task, i.e. based on data and topics that must be taken care of in order for the cooperation to be seamless - for example, constant monitoring of carrier compliance in order to control shipment costs. This is why logistics platforms such as apaczka.pl, which take over most of these processes and unburden their customers, are so popular.
The impact of the pandemic on the retail sector and the parcel market
The pandemic has had a visible impact on the retail sector and, by extension, the parcel market. Many businesses with stationary sales have decided to complete their sales channels with e-commerce or totally move to the online channel. This is confirmed by an analysis of our database of over 100,000 business customers who regularly send shipments on the apaczka.pl platform, which shows that most of them have permanently switched to e-commerce. However, it is worth noting that the growth rate of new online business in 2021 is lower than in 2020.
Publicly available market analyses, such as the Gemius report, say that although some customers who in pandemic switched to online shopping returned to stationary purchases after the lifting of restrictions, e-commerce penetration continues to grow. So, it is fairly reasonable to say that these are mostly sustainable changes that, along with the growth of e-commerce, will continue to evolve in the future, adding new opportunities and functionalities.
Certainly, the sudden, forced transition from stationary to online sales mode was difficult for many entrepreneurs and presented them with new challenges. Sellers moving their business online not only had to set up a dedicated e-shop and make changes to their warehouse systems, but also to create anew or streamline the entire shipping process, expand the range of entities they work with to include parcel companies or logistics platforms such as Apaczka.pl.
How to adapt the parcel market to changing consumer needs?
Nowadays, consumers expect above all convenience while using logistics services, their flexibility and time saving, as well as new technological functionalities adapted to their needs. In addition, business customers expect a reduction in the number of necessary formalities and support in running their business.
Parcel companies and logistics platforms are striving every day to make it easier for their customers to use delivery services - whether for private or business purposes. Certainly, the biggest innovation to meet the requirements of today's consumer is parcel machines and point-to-point delivery, which is why more and more carriers are evolving into this direction.
To meet the needs of customers, there are mobile applications that facilitate the management of the process of receiving or sending parcels. Further - intuitive shipping panels offered by technology platforms, support for sending multiple shipments at once, and finally the development of additional services that make the process of sending parcels more attractive to customers, such as same-day-delivery, Saturday delivery, or the ability to pay by card during the pick-up.
New technologies to support the parcel market
The continuous growth of the delivery sector means that both parcel companies and logistics platforms have to adapt their offers to the consumer. Also those offers that are involved with wearable technology. Therefore, we can now benefit from technological improvements that support the development of e-shops, enable sales in many channels at the same time and take unnecessary formalities or the problem of, for example, damage claims off customers' shoulders.
It is easy to find success stories demonstrating the savings generated by solutions that automate and optimise logistics processes. Thanks to them, e-commerce companies gain not only an efficient process of order logistics, but most of all - time to really take care of running their business. And, of course, the technological development of parcel services contributes to the reduction of their costs and, consequently, to the lower bills borne by the customers using these services.
Marcin Susmanek
Member of the Management Board of Wolante Investments Sp. z o. o.
Owner of the Apaczka.pl platform
