Two thirds of online retailers will continue to pour cash into e-commerce this year, CouriersPlease data finds.
A survey of 145 Australian online businesses found that the majority have decided to increase their eCommerce budget for 2021 after the boom in sales during the pandemic.
The results showed 66 per cent of retailers will devote more resources and money into enhancing, growing and maintaining their online platforms.
Of those, 44 per cent will increase their eCommerce budget by more than 20 per cent – and 18 per cent of businesses by more than 40 per cent.
Couriers Please Chief Commercial Officer Paul Roper said consumers were becoming more comfortable shopping online as the retail sector continued to grow.
“Online competition will grow alongside customer expectations, and retailers are best to refine their eCommerce strategies ongoing to ensure they are performing,” he said.
“I believe key areas for improvement within e-tailer online strategies are the customer experience, from product search on the site right through to the last mile delivery.”
Paul said retailers could also enhance their returns process to streamline eCommerce growth – including choosing the right delivery partner.
“Last year at CouriersPlease, we continued to support our retailer customers and rapidly increasing delivery volumes by expanding our facilities and franchisee network, and improving our technology,” he said.
“We grew our franchisee network by 50 per cent, hired hundreds of additional drivers and opened six new depots to increase efficiencies throughout the business, which helped retailers get parcels to their customers faster.”
Written by Emilie Baxter