e-commerce

Protecting customer relationships for home and garden brands

Widespread consumer adoption of e-commerce has seen a growing number of non-store retailers enter the home and garden market in recent years, encouraging traditional bricks and mortar retailers to adapt towards omnichannel strategies.

This expansion has transformed simple supply chains into challenging supply cycles, and completely reframed the consumer shopping experience.

From ceramic ornaments to lighting, flowers to garden furniture, retailers are increasingly becoming braver and more ambitious with their home delivery product ranges. Yet e-commerce is not without its challenges. Research by DS Smith has revealed that: 

Around 8% of all products shipped via e-commerce in 2018 arrived in a damaged state.

Leading to three quarters of consumers receiving a damaged product in the last year.

In the same survey,

two thirds of shoppers (70%) said they feel disappointed when they receive damaged products.

A third (30%) are frustrated, and around a quarter report being either angry (24%) or upset (23%) respectively. These are not emotions that anyone wants associated with their brand, and in the age of social media, consumers no longer have to suffer in silence. They can take to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to vent their frustration. So that’s reputational damage, in addition to the cost of a refund and redelivery.

Bloom-and-wild-unbox-content

Conversely, how do consumers feel when they receive their order in pristine condition, presented in attractive, easy to open packaging? With unboxing videos now one of the most popular formats on YouTube, and interior design one of the most Instagrammable subjects, for e-commerce brands that get this right, it’s an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Read on, by downloading Putting Packaging to the Test, to find out how our market-leading testing, extensive product experience and pioneering design innovation is helping brands from Ted Baker to Bloom & Wild to protect both their products and reputations: