Gone are the days when ordering a book from your sofa and having it arrive on your doorstep in five days was cause for awe.
Online shoppers expect 2-day delivery from products as small as a pin badge and as large as a freezer. With 2020 accelerating the move from physical retail to online retail by roughly five years, these expectations are becoming faster and more demanding.
But, is 2-day delivery essential for eCommerce growth? Or is it just another eCommerce standard set by Amazon that’s difficult to achieve independently? Let’s find out!
What is 2-day delivery?
2-day delivery is an eCommerce shipping standard where online shoppers receive their orders within two business days of placement.
The exact date of delivery depends on the order cut-off time and order date. For example, some sellers offer 2-day delivery for orders received before 11 a.m. Monday to Friday, and others provide 2-day deliveries for orders received by 3 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Regardless of the technicalities, 2-day delivery beats the speed of standard delivery and is fast becoming the speed consumers expect.
(Source: Deliverr)
Why provide 2-day delivery on your eCommerce store?
Online and mobile retail is growing at a phenomenal rate. Experts predict e-sales to account for 22% of all retail sales by 2023, which means more people are shopping online, and more businesses are selling online.
The eCommerce market is increasingly saturated, making it challenging to stand out and engage, gain, and retain customers. This is where the benefits of 2-day shipping come in.
Enhancing Google and Facebook ads
The promise of 2-day delivery increases the visibility and “clickability” of Google Shopping and Facebook ads.
(Source: Deliverr)
Free and fast shipping tags differentiate ads from other sellers by providing essential information up-front and making them more compelling. This increases CTR and decreases CPA by more than 50%.
Even better, if you use dynamic fast shipping ad tags, your delivery speeds update automatically based on the viewer’s location and your real-time inventory. This means shoppers always have access to the advertised shipping speeds, giving them no surprises or reason to abandon at the checkout stage.
Average basket sizes
Fast delivery increases average order value, getting customers to spend more than intended to meet minimum spend requirements.
If you provide free 2-day deliveries, you also trigger the reciprocity effect, where shoppers feel compelled to spend more with your brand in thanks for the free “gift.”
Customer conversions
Sellers see conversions boom by as high as 300% upon activating 2-day shipping speeds. This is because:
- Fast shipping helps customers rationalize buying online rather than in-store – encouraging them to convert.
- Fast shipping satisfies the speed requirements for last-minute shoppers, urgent items, and impatient customers – increasing your audience reach.
- Fast shipping shows you care about customer experience – overcoming purchase blockers such as trust and security.
- Fast shipping proves you’re reliable – generating repeat business.
Business expansion
When you achieve 2-day deliveries on your eCommerce website, you can expand your online business to marketplace fast shipping programs such as Walmart TwoDay, Wish 2-day delivery, and eBay Fast ‘N Free. These programs further boost your visibility and reach, increasing the profits and size of your business.
How to provide 2-day deliveries on your eCommerce website
Achieving 2-day deliveries for your eCommerce store is no mean feat, especially if you ship across the U.S. You have three main options:
1. In-house fulfillment
You can optimize your internal processes and work with a fast shipping carrier or courier to ship orders within 2-days in-house.
In-house 2-day fulfillment comes with the primary benefits of control and cost. You control the methods of fulfillment and where you spend and save money.
However, delivering orders within 2-days in-house is challenging during the holidays and growth spurts, which is why many sellers switch from in-house to outsourced fulfillment.
2. Multi-channel FBA
If you sell on Amazon via FBA, you can use Multi-channel FBA to fulfill orders from your BigCommerce or Shopify store.
Multi-channel FBA is useful for sellers generating most sales via Amazon and want to offer Prime-like speeds to their direct customers. However, Amazon has different pricing and service levels for non-Amazon orders, and they use Amazon-branded boxes, which limit your ability to grow beyond Amazon.
3. Multi-channel outsourced fulfillment
A multi-channel outsourced fulfillment partner, such as Deliverr, provides a Prime-like service across your sales channels by using a network of warehouses to deliver orders within 2-days and 1-day depending on your real-time inventory levels and locations. You benefit from scalable resources and fast shipping expertise while getting more time back to concentrate on business growth.
Deliverr also provides transparent and all-inclusive fulfillment costs, making fast deliveries more affordable.
Providing 2-day deliveries on your eCommerce website
Deciding between in-house and outsourced fulfillment is tricky. Here are some considerations to help.
Speed
You must ship products quickly enough to meet 2-day delivery expectations. If your customers live on the other side of the country from your in-house warehouse, you will struggle to ship in 2-days. Use multiple warehouse locations to reduce the distance orders travel and enhance speed by expanding your network or using a fulfillment service’s network.
Capacity
Customers expect the same service level from you all year round, which means you must deliver orders within 2-days during peak retail periods such as cyber weekend and the holidays. This requires additional and temporary resources in-house or an outsourced fulfillment partner with adaptive solutions.
Cost
Shipping costs are one of the top reasons for cart abandonment, so it’s vital to reduce your 2-day shipping costs as much as possible. Take time exploring the most efficient and cost-effective fulfillment methods for your store, using fulfillment cost calculators and all-inclusive fulfillment pricing to compare services.
Promotion
Finally, your fast shipping speeds won’t promote themselves. Once you’ve attained 2-day delivery speeds, shout about them using Facebook ads, website banners, fast shipping countdown timers, and listing tags.
(Source: Deliverr)
Final thoughts
Fast shipping speeds of 2-days bring tons of benefits to your eCommerce business, but that’s not entirely what we want this blog to teach you.
We hope we’ve shown not just the benefits of 2-day delivery but that no matter how big or small your eCommerce store is, you can provide and advertise fast shipping speeds to your customers in a scalable and cost-effective way.