Consumer demand is driving online and omnichannel retailers to iron out a major bugbear of shopping online; missing deliveries and as a result, spending Saturday morning lining up at an Australia Post outlet to collect it.
Earlier this year, online fashion retailer The Iconic launched the Collection Bar in partnership with Parcel Point, to allow orders to be picked up and tried on at a permanent kiosk inside the Broadway Shopping Centre in Sydney.
This week Australia Post announced its partnership with omnichannel commerce software provider NetSuite to create a suite of cloud-based operating programs to improve parcel delivery and collection processes for retailers and consumers.
The Australia Post SuiteApp improves processes ranging from parcel rates, label printing, parcel dispatching and track and trace, to parcel lockers and parcel collect across multiple touch points—web, brick-and-mortar stores, mobile— all in real-time.
Kitchenware Direct — which retails cookware and homeware as well as small appliances from KitchenAid, Breville, Cusinart — will be the first retailer to trial the NetSuite and Australia Post 24/7 Parcel Lockers as part of the new system.
During the purchasing process online, the Australia Post Parcel Locker Widget will give Kitchen Direct customers the option to collect their purchase from the network of Australia Post lockers.
Based in Perth, Kitchenware Direct has been a NetSuite customer since 2008, using NetSuite SuiteCommerce to power 10 B2C and B2B ecommerce storefronts, with back-end support for financials, inventory management, order management, distribution, marketing, customer relationship management and other core processes.
“As an online business with 10 branded ecommerce sites under our umbrella, we are always looking for new ways to provide convenience to our customers and we jumped at the opportunity to leverage Australia Post’s parcel lockers through our NetSuite platform,” said Peter Macaulay, managing director of Kitchenware Direct.
“Many of our customers are not home during the week when their goodies arrive and there’s nothing more inconvenient than trying to get to the post office to collect it, especially when you work full time. This new service takes that pain away for our customers and gives them the guarantee to receive goods purchased at a time and place convenient to them.”
Currently around 80 per cent of ecommerce orders are delivered via Australia Post, however for larger, heavier items logistical challenges will continue to throw up obstacles for omnichannel retailers.
“Australia Post has invested in systems, tools and partnerships to ensure that our digital capabilities grow our customers’ businesses now and in the future,” said Andrew Walduck, CIO and executive general manager, information, digital and technology, Australia Post.
“Our change is reliant on our ability to adapt to our customers changing wants and needs. Connectivity is therefore very important and NetSuite provides us with a great partnership which will deliver on our commitment to provide the services and products our customers and community want.”