FenixCommerce

  Thanks to the economic impact of COVID-19, businesses and consumers across the globe increasingly went online – according to UNCTAD global review report – raising the eCommerce share of global retail trade from 14% in 2019 to about 17% in 2020. Even the 2021 data released by IBM highlighted that the pandemic has accelerated the shift toward eCommerce by roughly five years. With the acceleration of eCommerce, direct-to-consumer (DTC) business models are also gaining mainstream momentum.  As Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner, it’s a great opportunity for DTC brands to acquire new customers, which is vital for their growth. However, for brands to grow sustainably, it’s just not enough to acquire new customers through marketplaces. According to Business Insider, 48% of eCommerce sales come from repeat customers who are twice as likely to make a purchase as first time buyers. Therefore brands need to have access to customer data to target repeat customers and mainta...

For the past few years, the common wisdom when it comes to eCommerce delivery has been “customers want fast and free”. While you’re unlikely to find a lot of customers who prefer to pay for shipping and receive their packages later rather than sooner, there’s certainly a gap between “fast and free” and what most shoppers find to be acceptable in terms of shipping cost and timing. The million (or more) dollar question is: how does an eCommerce seller strike the right balance between shipping cost, timing, customer requirements, and shipping budget? While we can’t provide a formula for achieving that balance, the available research does indicate four areas you can focus on in order to provide a better customer experience, improve conversion, and stick to your shipping budget--even if you can’t give every shopper “fast and free”. Let's take a closer look. Upfront Costs :  Looking at the graph above,  Baymard  found that the first deterrent to customers were costs that weren’...

  Undeniably, eCommerce has grown in size and popularity steadily during the past decade. Nevertheless, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, its growth has exploded dramatically. According to Digital Commerce 360, US consumers spent $861.12 billion online in 2020, up 44% year over year, the highest annual U.S. eCommerce growth in at least the last two decades. This exponential growth is showing no signs of slowing down even in 2021.  Although this sudden uptick in demand is seemingly great news for the eCommerce merchants, recent increases in carrier shipping surcharges are either eating into their margins or hurting sales.  Source: Digital Commerce 360, U.S. Department of Commerce  Skyrocketing Surcharges Inundated with elevated eCommerce volumes, container crisis, capacity constraints, labor shortage and shipping delays, major carriers have been increasing surcharges throughout the pandemic.  The trend continued in 2021 as well. Effective from January 2021, F...