We know all about the challenges with delivery fees. There’s no two ways about it, delivery can be really expensive! Customers have been conditioned by marketplaces to believe that delivery fees should be below £3.99, which just isn’t reflective of how much it actually costs. The fact is customers have little to no clue of the expense that delivery incurs for operators, and frankly they don’t care. What they care about is the convenience of having food delivered straight to their door.
Unfortunately for us operators, everyone has their limit and no matter how good it might taste, nobody wants to pay £10 delivery for a £2 croissant. In fact, 58% of people say they would be put off ordering because of high delivery charges, and with the cost of living soaring, customers are more conscious of how and when they spend their money. So how do you bring down the cost of delivery for your customers? We’re glad you asked. We’ve negotiated new delivery rates with the UK’s best courier partners so you can offer delivery at rates that are impossible for your customers to resist.
But before we get over excited with all of the benefits let’s give you a little more context.
Delivery rates have always been here. Essentially, they’re the prices set by courier partners to cover the cost of delivery. They vary based on vehicle type (bike, moped, car) and distance travelled. The challenge with delivery rates is that it can be hard to strike a balance between affordability and covering costs so having set rates that take this into account is key.
In true Slerp style, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you. We spent a lot of time looking at the cost of delivery across our partners, and the impact these have on sales. It’s clear high delivery fees are a huge cause of abandoned carts. So we set about trying to work out a delivery rate card that calculates fees that are both customer and operator friendly. It’s taken some number crunching to find the balance between what customers will pay, and what operators can absorb. But we think we might have done it!
What do you need to do? Nothing! This will automatically roll out across your online stores, much to the delight of your hungry customers.
So why are we doing this? Well we touched on it but we can’t sit by and watch our partners lose sales because of high delivery fees. 11% of our cart abandonments happen at the point that delivery fees are added on. Customers hate hidden costs! Fewer cart abandonments = more sales.
We’ve negotiated new, lower delivery costs with top UK couriers to give you the best last mile service. Now, by absorbing a small amount of the cost, you can hit delivery fees that are competitive with that of marketplaces.
This will help you grow your direct ordering platform. The more affordable your service is, the more likely your customers are to order directly from you and the more sales you will bring in. Your customers already love you, they love your product. By bringing down delivery fees they’ll also love your prices, and that makes all the difference.
58% of people are put off ordering because of high delivery charges
Most importantly, don’t let delivery be the reason you lose out to competitors. 26% of UK shoppers went on to purchase the same item with a different retailer after abandoning a cart. You’ve developed an amazing product, you’ve marketed it, you’ve built your brand and you’ve brought it online. Imagine how you’d feel if the reason you lost out on a sale was over something as small as a delivery fee! When customers are put off by a hidden cost, they don’t just think ‘ahh well’, they go elsewhere. Don’t give them a reason to.
Tell your customers! These new and competitive delivery fees make ordering from you hard to resist. Where some may have been previously put off by hidden added costs, you’ve now opened up online ordering to a bigger audience. So get on social media, add it to your newsletter, send an SMS. We don’t mind how you tell them, just tell them.
If you’re determined to make a success of online ordering, (and trust us you should be) affordable delivery is key. If you still need a little more information, we’ve got lots of resources available to help you out. Remember we’re here to support you at every step, with any questions or concerns.