Gurgaon, September 12, 2024: Delhivery Limited,
India’s leading integrated logistics service provider, has released
key insights from its latest analysis of 125 million+ shipments during
the 2023 festive season. Drawing on Redseer’s industry data
forecasting a 20% growth in e-commerce, Delhivery’s report,
#Direct2Celebrations, highlights crucial trends to help
direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands prepare for the upcoming peak demand
months.
Order Volume growth
With 20% growth expected in e-commerce this festive season,
Delhivery’s report says that while metro cities (like Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Mumbai etc) experience the highest orders, the largest
growth in orders will come from tier-II cities led by Gurgaon (36.8%),
Raipur (32.8%), Nagpur (20.9%), Jaipur (20.60%) and others. Online
shopping remains the preferred mode for 75% consumers and as much as
60% of online orders come from tier II cities and smaller towns. Among
other key highlights, 81% of consumers use their smartphones or mobile
devices to make purchases and recommendations from
promotions/influencers are a deciding factor for 84% consumers.
Shopping trends
Categories like accessories & apparel, home makeovers, technology
and electronics are shaping the latest shopping trends. Interestingly,
electronics are gradually replacing dry fruits as the favoured gift
during festivals whether for individuals or collective/corporate
gifting. Mobile phones and power banks see the highest spike in
electronics purchases at 44.5% and 43.6% respectively. Paint and pain
tools see a 178.5% surge in growth followed by cleaners and
disinfectants at 67.5%. Women’s accessories will see a 79.2% spike, as
will the purchase of jewellery online at 32.1%.
Returns management With high order volume
growth, there is also a surge in the rate of returns making a smooth
return management experience a key metric for the performance of an
online retailer.
Nearly four out of ten cash on delivery (CoD) RTOs (return to origin)
are from apparels & accessories (39.3%) followed by beauty
products and personal care (14.5%). These categories comprise over
half of total CoD RTOs and highlight the need for a targeted returns
reduction strategy for brands in this space. An efficient logistics
partner becomes the linchpin of e-commerce by addressing returns at
every stage of the delivery process. From the use of AI for
geolocation of bad addresses and an algorithm to forecast potential
returns, leading logistics companies like Delhivery help minimize the
occurrence of returns. In case of a return, streamlined processes for
such requests are handled by the logistics partner whose
customer-facing role becomes pivotal in the retail experience.
Additional insights
Marketing professionals are increasingly competing to make a headstart
in festive planning. The report says that 20% of them plan more than 3
months in advance of the peak season. A crucial starting point is
understanding the target audience for which Delhivery procured
insights from MoEngage, Infobip and Lyxel & Flamingo for their
combined expertise across customer engagement, omni-channel
communication and digital marketing.
Using proprietary data as well as secondary sources, the report also
includes tips for perfecting the customer experience and best
practices in packaging and other recommendations that D2C brands can
leverage for a successful festive season taken from September 2023 to
November 2023.
About Delhivery
Delhivery is India's largest fully-integrated logistics services
provider. With its nationwide network covering over 18,700 pin codes,
the company provides a wide range of logistics services such as
express parcel transportation, PTL freight, TL freight, cross-border,
supply chain, and technology services. Since its inception, Delhivery
has successfully fulfilled over 2.8 billion shipments and today works
with over 33,000 customers, including large and small e-commerce
participants, SMEs, and other enterprises and brands.
For more
information about Delhivery, please visit: www.delhivery.com