16 May Order Picking in the UK: Catering to Europe’s Ecommerce Shoppers

Around the world, ecommerce markets are at various stages of development. Eastern European countries including Russia and Poland contribute a small portion to worldwide ecommerce volume while some western European countries including France and Germany have robust ecommerce development. Ranking third worldwide behind only the US and China is the UK, which accounts for 30% of all European ecommerce with a market cap of €127.1bn.

The size of the UK market makes it attractive for retailers—and more competitive. Shoppers in the UK have high expectations for on-time and accurate delivery, which means that online retailers must have the distribution operations infrastructure in place to meet those expectations.

Fortunately, voice automation technology can help companies meet those expectations for fast shipping. While Russian consumers may be willing to wait as long as 12 days for a product ordered online to arrive, UK shoppers expect their items in 3 days. Companies that deploy voice automation technology for item selection regularly experience a 30% increase in productivity, which makes it easier for companies to ship products quickly and meet UK shoppers’ high demands for fast shipping. Voxware customer Hi-Spec Lenses ships products out of their warehouse the day they receive them with our flagship VMS product enabling even faster item selection.

Another area where voice can help companies serve UK customers is by gathering data from multiple points throughout the distribution process. UK shoppers like to know when their products will arrive, and a UPS ComScore study found that receiving email alerts is important to 60% of UK customers. Companies that have deployed advanced distribution technologies can collect data on the exact moment when an item leaves the warehouse and use that data to send an automatic shipping notification to customers.

Companies that implement technology to improve distribution operations will be able to better serve their UK customers as well as customers abroad. Recent research points to an increasein cross-border shopping throughout the EU. While other ecommerce markets may lag behind the UK for now, it’s only a matter of time before their expectations are as high as in the UK.