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Why M&S’s viral dessert sandwich highlights the value of crisis comms in restoring consumer trust
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UK retail has been under fire this year, with numerous major cyberattacks disrupting operations and exposing customer data across many high-profile brands. Marks & Spencer was no exception, struck by a significant ransomware attack over the Easter weekend that caused two months of fallout, disruption to online and payment lines and a £300m loss in market value – described as the most financially damaging cyberattack ever suffered by a UK retailer.

However, where M&S has grappled with the fallout in losing customer trust, the viral success of a limited-edition Red Diamond Strawberry & Creme Sandwich may just have turned the tide of customer opinion around. Pushing through a breach that has cost millions and shaken consumer confidence, the Wimbledon-inspired treat has captured public imagination, sparked a surprising VAT tax debate, and offered M&S a fresh burst of positive publicity amid ongoing challenges.

“When it comes to customer expectations, trust is hard won and easily lost, especially in the retail sector,” says Richard Merrin, CEO at Spreckley Partners and crisis communications expert. “For a brand in crisis management mode for a long time, a breakthrough in changing the narrative has done wonders in shifting focus and restoring trust.”

“No business is immune to a cyberattack, and recent activity has highlighted that everyone is a target,” adds Merrin. “For retailers, the operational disruption outweighs the damage from data loss. The attacks caused weeks of downtime, placing significant strain on customer loyalty. Understanding that reputation is a strategic asset to be managed and providing a proactive front with customer support and executive visibility has been key to mitigating the damages long-term.

“Lessons can be learnt from the level of communication and acknowledgement. M&S’s strong, visible leadership response was initially reassuring to affected customers, but an initial delay in acknowledgement meant shoppers were already suffering over the initial weekend of the attack. Communicating quickly in the event of a cyberattack is important when it comes to customer data.”

“Quirky food combinations have historically had PR success,” says Merrin. “For consumer retail, an unusual product can quickly pique interest, either being an exotic treat, a play on the expected or just a unique tasting experience – and this ticks all three. Any sense of controversy works in line with the premise of the product itself, and we can see extensive national coverage pushing down more negative stories in search results as the conversation moves on through the summer.

“The success of this PR campaign has helped shift the narrative surrounding the retailer. Most importantly, organic hype behind a quirky product has helped catapult it across social media lines for a quirky taste test. This lightning-in-a-bottle food craze cannot be expected for everything, but the rollout displays the value of a smart, targeted rollout to quickly get your customer base talking.

“For more luxury retail brands facing a customer fallout, the buyer base in itself is likely to be more forgiving if you’re able to quickly provide an exclusive product to appease them. Love or hate it, people are going to talk about it, and if they’re talking about this they’ve already moved on from your past mistakes.”

“Cybersecurity and brand resilience are now inseparable,” Merrin concludes. “If your cyber isn’t in place, your brand is sure to suffer in the event of an attack. However, creative approaches to consumer trends such as that demonstrated by M&S can mean the difference between bouncing back from a bad situation or letting it crumple your business completely. Keeping a thumb on the pulse of what your end buyer is going to remember is important to reestablishing and retaining trust. After all, the customer is always right.”

Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

‘Majority of major brands’ expect increased investment into customer loyalty
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A survey has found the majority (67%) of businesses expect investment in digital loyalty to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.
Apadmi’s second annual Digital Customer Loyalty report, also revealed that 81% of respondents consider loyalty to have always been important or is now more important than ever, with the number one business challenge being solved by digital loyalty programmes being frequency of purchase.
More than a third (36%) of businesses said they are currently developing a digital loyalty programme, while 35% stated they already have a live digital loyalty programme in place. 13% said they plan to create one in the future, while less than 1% admitted they no longer use a loyalty programme. This highlights the importance brands are placing on their digital loyalty strategy.
Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents believe apps are the most responsive CRM channel they use, with mobile apps becoming the preferred channel of choice for customer loyalty initiatives.
When considering the key functions mobile apps play in loyalty programmes, brands ranked the delivery of a more personalised experience (40%) and a cost-effective way to reach customers (40%) top.
Thinking about the tactics used, 81% of respondents said personalisation is a key part of their mobile customer engagement strategy. However, a quarter admitted they only have basic personalisation implemented, or have yet to implement it at all.
Mobile continues to make personalisation a more seamless and effective tool for brands looking to keep customers engaged, whilst also delivering value to customers who expect relevant, convenient content, services and products to be served up in the palm of their hand.
Clearly, appetite for personalisation remains high, with brands suggesting that there’s still room for more. In fact, compared to 2024, there’s been a 10% rise in businesses planning to increase personalisation efforts.
When it comes to the future of loyalty tactics, businesses are already considering where they may want to invest further in loyalty in the future. Topping the list was exclusive offers (49%), up from 40% in the 2024 report.  Future tactics perceived to be less popular included paid membership ( 19%) and scan-and-go (15%), both of which declined by nearly 10% year-on-year.
Compared to last year’s results, it appears that more brands want to start focusing on exclusive offers, loyalty points, instant wins and exclusive pricing; trends already being witnessed with Apadmi’s clients.
While the appetite for digital loyalty programmes is clear, the biggest barriers for respondents were budget restrictions, lack of clear strategy, other areas being given greater priority, and a lack of internal expertise.
Instead of letting these challenges hold back growth, brands should find ways to show value quickly. For example, creating proof of concepts, using fast follow features, conducting user research, and testing features with small groups of customers.
Jake Sargent, Group Marketing Director at Apadmi, said: “Businesses across all sectors are feeling increasing pressure to acquire, engage and retain customers in increasingly competitive markets. Rising living costs for customers and business costs for brands means retaining and engaging loyal customers is essential to safeguarding retention and revenue, with the need to create more efficient and effective loyalty programmes and experiences greater than ever. Our research has highlighted how digital is shaping the world of loyalty, providing a view on the impact these experiences, particularly mobile, are having on loyalty.  An increased focus on personalisation, product and programmes to drive customer and business value is what we’re likely to see more of in 2025.”
Emma Collins, Head of Loyalty and Engagement at Poundland, said: “We had to work really hard to lay the groundwork for our new programme, Poundland Perks. That meant getting buy-in from all internal departments, including our fantastic stores – championing the results of our invaluable testing and learning. Loyalty is about finding a way to create insight, increase personalisation, drive footfall and invite conversations. And the best channel to do all of that at scale is digital, which is why we went mobile-first.”

Brand trust issues among Gen Z impacting conversion rates
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A poll of over 1,500 consumers by Wunderkind in its latest Consumer Insights Report revealed that lack of trust in a brand was the top reason one in three (28%) Gen Z shoppers would abandon a purchase when shopping direct with a retailer online, indexing +9 percentage points higher than the average UK customer.  Trust issues were also a core driver for cart abandonment for over a quarter (26%) of the Millennial shoppers polled.

The role of reputation and trust continues to be a growing consideration within purchasing decisions, with Forter’s Consumer Trust Premium report suggesting UK consumers would spend +44% more, on average, with retailers they trust, while a further 73% said they were more loyal to brands they perceive to be authentic.

And this growing need for authentic brand experiences is also evolving channel choices and preferred customer engagement among younger Gen Z shoppers specifically, with a quarter (25%) saying they would choose to shop on a retailer’s DTC (Direct-To-Consumer) website as their top ‘trusted channel’.  Gen Z is also now almost twice as likely than other shopper demographics to value brand name recognition (16% vs 9%), emphasising the role of reputation and trust in their purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, when it came to content engagement, authentic brand storytelling indexed +5 percentage higher for Gen Z consumers (15%) compared to the average UK shopper (10%) when it came to encouraging them to visit a brand’s website frequently, with the role of reviews and User Generated Content (UGC) also ranking +9 percentage higher for Gen Zers (48% vs 39%), showcasing the role of social proof in building credibility in buying journeys.

“As Gen Z’s global spending power skyrockets, set to grow to $12trillion by 2030, this represents a significant opportunity for retailers to acquire, engage and retain younger cohorts of consumers who seek more meaningful and authentic interactions with the brands they buy from,” Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, General Manager International of Wunderkind, commented.  “Compelling content plays a pivotal role in driving repeat visits to brand websites and apps.  By helping consumers connect with products, trust brands and find value in their interactions, the right content fosters engagement and loyalty, allowing brands to deepen connections and maximise reach.”

RESEARCH: Only 30% of IT leaders at global brands involve marketing in UX decisions
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A survey of 200 IT leaders from global brands regarding how they plan website development projects shows that while 21% wouldn’t change anything about their planning process, 79% realise it could be better.

The data from Storyblok indicates that on the surface, website development planning seems to be working well for most companies because projects are planned months in advance. 29% plan projects 1-2 months in advance, 26% between 2-3 months ahead of time, and 18% are planning more than 3 months before development. The largest percentage typically develop a proof of concept in 1-2 weeks (31%), with 18% delivering one in less than a week.

Despite that, the fact that an overwhelming majority of IT leaders say they know their planning process could be better points to issues with how the time is spent and who’s involved in the collaboration. While 66% say they work closely with the marketing team on structural page and content changes for websites, only 30% involve them in making UX decisions. 34% acknowledge they need to do a better job of collaborating with the marketing team when planning projects.

To help developers and marketers plan digital projects together, Storyblok is introducing the Concept Room as part of Storyblok Labs, a place for users to test its latest features. The Concept Room is a digital whiteboard where you can visually map out your project structure. The concepts can be linked to components within Storyblok, which makes getting a project started fast and easy.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Storyblok, said: “Collaboration between developers and marketers continues to be a struggle for most companies. As this data shows, IT teams like to think they’re working well with their marketing colleagues, but their actions prove otherwise. We built the Concept Room to make planning digital projects in Storyblok as collaborative and joyful as building them.”

Gen Z and Alpha are redefining how UK brands see gaming
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By Glenn Gillis, CEO, Sea Monster

Brands have a long history of using games. In fact, the first branded game – a simple beer-pouring arcade game designed to promote Anheuser-Busch in bars – dates back to 1983. It didn’t take long before UK brands started hiring developers to build bespoke games for marketing purposes. In 1984, for example, Weetabix released “The Muncher” for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. The game required players to control a character called The Muncher, who had to eat Weetabix while avoiding obstacles.

Since then, things have evolved considerably. The rise of PC and mobile gaming, coupled with the development of the internet, has made it so much easier for brands to create games that people can repeatedly play in their homes, on their way to work and everywhere in between.

And things aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Gen Zs and Gen Alphas, many of whom have played some form of video game since they were toddlers, are fundamentally changing how we think about gaming and branded games in particular.

Ubiquitous gaming as a lifestyle

First, it’s worth looking at how ubiquitous gaming has become among Gen Zs and Alphas. According to research by Visual Capitalist, 90% of Gen Zs (those born between the mid-1990s and 2009) play games regularly. Among Gen Alphas (those born between 2010 and 2020), meanwhile, the number is even higher, at 93%. In the UK, Gen Alpha gamers are especially engaged, with 62% playing for over five hours a week, compared to only 17% of Gen Z gamers.

But games aren’t just another form of entertainment or bad-screen time for these young people. They’re part of a lifestyle and act as an avenue for learning, creating, socialising, and even taking part in events like virtual concerts. It should hardly be surprising therefore that, having been raised in a tech-centric environment, these two generations are also the most inclined to participate in gaming through alternative avenues. Some 72% of Gen Zs and Gen Alphas regularly watch gaming channels and indulge in game streamer content online, for instance.

How these younger generations approach games, and gaming, tells us a great deal about the sector’s future. But it also provides some insight into why brands and other organisations are looking to the gaming industry for a way to connect with a new audience.

Brands are tapping into the evolution of gaming as a lifestyle to foster a long-term affiliation with younger people who are natives to the world of games and gaming platforms. In doing so, we’ve seen brands launch marketing campaigns in existing game titles and even develop bespoke gaming experiences within platforms like Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite in order to engage with young people where they are already congregating and spending time. 

An evolving landscape

According to figures from Statista, 81% of the Roblox community – comprising 70+ million daily players and 196 million monthly active users – are under the age of 25. Nearly two-thirds of Minecraft players (162 million monthly players), meanwhile, are under the age of 21. One reason why young people flock to these platforms is because it’s where their friends and peers are. In effect, they have become a virtual third place, where young people feel safe outside the bounds of school and home to play, socialise and develop their unique virtual identities.

Beyond a third place, brands must also understand what young players want from these platforms and games in general.  Research from GWI, for example, reveals that Gen Alpha primarily want games that have a sense of adventure and allow them to build things.

To use gaming platforms as yet another way to inundate people with meaningless ads and commercial content would be a missed opportunity. The real value in this space lies in creating gaming experiences that get young audiences to engage with your brand in a fun and meaningful way that feels authentic to your brand and suitable to the platform. Through this approach, gaming platforms can help brands effectively build a community, enhance customer loyalty and explore new revenue opportunities.

Games as part of the future marketing mix

With even young children spending an average of 38 minutes per day gaming, the case for using games as a means to reach young people should be clear. With nearly 400 branded activations on Roblox as of the beginning of this year, and hundreds more across other platforms, it is evident that brands across the world are recognising and capitalising on the immense potential of the gaming industry to capture the attention and loyalty of their next generation of consumers.

These days, it’s a given that every major brand has a presence across all major social platforms and, in the future, it could be a similar no-brainer for brands to establish and maintain a persistent presence in immersive virtual spaces and gaming worlds as part of the modern marketing mix.

Photo by Jose Gil on Unsplash

Cash-strapped Gen Z wants brands to recognise social issues
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Gen Z expect brands to demonstrate purpose beyond profit, even in the face of economic instability, as they report the highest concern (90%) of all generations about social issues, which has a clear impact on their purchase decisions.

That’s according to Dentsu’s 2024 Read the Room: Pursuing Happiness report, which finds that 75% of Gen Z are more likely to buy from brands that give a portion of their sales to charity and 70% say they prioritise brands that demonstrate emotional intelligence in their advertising – both findings are the highest of all generational cohorts.

The research also finds that Gen-Z donates the highest proportion of their salary (5%) to charity compared to other generations. That’s despite more than half (57%) of Gen Z reporting that they are extremely anxious about their finances in the immediate future. An additional 78% agreed they would be more likely to purchase from a brand that makes its products sustainably.

The research delves into the influences behind buying decisions across a wide range of generations and industries – from Boomers to Millennials to Gen Z – to give brands insights in consumer mindsets in 2024 and beyond.

It finds that Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, view charitable donations and social activism as a core pillar of their personalities, with brand identity linked to personal value systems. Gen Z want to buy from brands that are actively doing good for society, not just through words, but through authentic action.

Even among Boomers, more than a quarter now prefer to buy from a brand exhibiting a strong sense of purpose. Consumers will ultimately move away from brands that fail to back up sustainability and social initiatives with evidence. Brands must gain deep knowledge of their customers’ value systems, and then communicate clearly how they are delivering on those values. In doing so, brands can create new consumer demand, unlocking new value in new spaces.

Angela Tangas, UK&I CEO dentsu, said: “In another economically challenging year, a people-centered   focus must be a priority for brand strategy and business growth. Our insights reaffirm that understanding both consumer and customer behaviours, anticipating their needs and creating new ways to meaningfully and authentically connect is critical. We can clearly see that consumers, especially Gen Z, expect more from brands in terms of environmental sustainability and social impact, at a time when technology is enabling new experiences and cultivating new behaviours. The demand for purpose means authenticity is paramount, which will be key to unlocking wins today and preparing for tomorrow.”

Photo by Zana Latif on Unsplash

Could games be key to helping brands tackle social and environmental issues?
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By Glenn Gillis (pictured), CEO, Sea Monster

In 2023, the world saw record high summer temperatures in Europe and the US, deadly floods in locations across the globe, and catastrophic wildfires in Greece, Canada, Turkey, and many other locations. On their own, each of these incidents is a tragedy. Collectively, these indicators serve as a stark warning, highlighting the significant impact the climate crisis is already having on societies across the globe. Taken together, they represent a profound warning about how big an impact the climate crisis already has on societies worldwide.

At the same time, almost all of those societies are grappling with significant social issues. Whether it’s income and wealth inequality, gender, race, and class discrimination, crime, or education disparities. These are all issues that must be addressed for any society to flourish.

Addressing both climate change and the myriad of social issues listed above requires intervention from stakeholders across society, including brands. For many companies, that has meant incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards into their operations. Those integrations don’t always come easily, however. In fact, in a 2022 survey, 44% of UK businesses admitted that they were failing to deliver on their sustainability commitments.

Fortunately, there are strategies that brands of all sizes can adopt when it comes to simplifying ESG integrations and encouraging participation from their employees and customers alike to join their mission. Games, in particular, have an important role to play.

Building on brand purpose

To understand how games can help brands tackle social and environmental issues, it’s critical  to recognise  the importance of brand purpose. Beyond the “what” and “how,” brand purpose can broadly be defined as a company’s “why”. It’s also what customers look for and most easily latch onto when they choose which brands to support.

Increasingly, that means putting their environmental and social commitments  at the heart of their branding. A report released in October last year, for example, found that 70% of consumers want to know what brands are doing to address those kinds of issues, with 46% paying close attention to a brand’s social responsibility efforts when making a purchase.

While the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a ready-made framework that brands can work from, communicating brand purpose based on that is a different proposition. That’s where games and gaming can make a significant difference as a vehicle of communication, a place to build communities and as a means to inspire shifts in behaviour. In this way, games can be leveraged to help brands connect with their customers to drive this higher purpose while also driving their own marketing and brand goals. 

The power of impact games

In order to get those results, brands can’t just expect to build any game. Rather, brands need to adopt impact gaming strategies in order to maximise the power of the medium.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the term “impact games,” chances are you’ve encountered one at some point or another. If you or your child have ever used a game to supplement educational activities or have seen a game used as a workplace training tool, you’ve witnessed impact games in action.

These games can mirror the dynamic interactions, structural complexities, and feedback loops that characterise real-world situations and scenarios. In doing so, they can encourage and reward the kinds of outcomes and behaviours that organisations want to see from their customers and employees in a comparatively low-stakes environment. They work because, rather than simply trying to build an association between a specific brand and positive social and environmental impacts, they provide an authentic and relevant way for brands and consumers to exchange and share value around these issues.

An industry adept at driving change

When it comes to environmental and social issues, many brands have built up an extensive understanding of environmental and social issues and how to address them and talk about them through gaming.

A prime example of how games can not only target broad audiences but also produce valuable insights is UNDP’s Mission 1.5. This game served as a climate policy education tool and provided a platform for players to vote on the climate solutions they wanted to see happen. According to UNDP, they received 1.2 million respondents, making Mission 1.5’s “People’s Climate Vote” the largest survey of public opinion on climate change ever conducted. Using a new and unconventional approach to polling, results span 50 countries, covering 56% of the world’s population, showcasing the potential for how brands can use games as a dynamic tool for education and obtaining audience data and sentiment at scale.

As another example, 2023 saw leading coconut water brand, VitaCoco create an experience on Roblox called ‘Coconut Grove’. Through interactive experiences and games, Vita Coco was able to not only spread awareness about responsible farming practices with the online community they had built in their game but they also actively supported sustainability with a pledge to donate $1 to its charity partners in Brazil for every coconut seedling planted in the Roblox experience, up to $75,000.

Similarly, as part of their commitment to supporting the agroecological movement, Nestle France launched a Farmtopia experience in Minecraft in order to help raise awareness among young people about the world of regenerative agriculture. And other impact games with an environmental and social lens are also making a difference in the fashion and finance spaces, among others.

Big issues require big engagement

There is no doubt that brands have a significant responsibility when it comes to helping find solutions to environmental and social issues. Their ability to do so, however, depends heavily on keeping customers and employees as engaged as possible and promoting their values as a brand with their community.

When it comes to driving engagement and reaching their audiences in an effective way, there are few more powerful tools than impact games. So, by working with the right game development house, brands can drive their ESG and sustainability commitments forward and promote their brand purpose in ways that would previously have felt impossible.

Positive customer service now ‘crucial’ to brand success
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British customers are more likely to vote with their wallet when they are unhappy with a brand, with 1 in 2 (51%) said they will only give brands two chances after a bad brand interaction before choosing not to buy from them again.

64% said a good customer call experience would make them brand advocates, making the short call centre interaction even more crucial to brand loyalty, according to new online research from Infobip.

The research polled 2,000 UK Adults aged 18 and above, and aimed to find out the motivations and avenues which British consumers are complaining. The findings revealed the following about customer complaints in the UK:

  • Per my last email: Almost half (45%) of Brits say they prefer using email to lodge complaints; with almost half (48%) saying they preferred to because of convenience.
  • Please leave a message after the tone: Of the 17% who said they preferred call centres, unsurprisingly, Gen Zs (18 to 24-year-olds) came in last at only 10%, and it’s those aged 25-34 and above 65 that came in tops at 20% and 21% respectively. A finding that suggests that while millennials are commonly known to steer clear from making phone calls, younger customers will do so to get their problems fixed.
  • Poor service, product and delivery delays the biggest gripes: 33% say poor service was the main complaint motivator, followed by poor product (27%) and delivery delays (28%).
  • Retailers are repeat offenders: 2 in 5 (44%) said they complained about the retail sector, ahead of food delivery companies (19%) and utilities (16%).

Despite the motivations behind and methods of the complaints, the findings also showed that brands still have the chance to turn an unpleasant experience into a positive one, and even convert customers into brand advocates with a positive customer service experience.

  • Don’t show me the money: 1 in 3 said speaking to an agent who empathises with their problems (33%) help improve the overall complaint experience, more so than receiving monetary compensation (17%) – in a finding that suggests that people do not want money thrown at the problem.
  • There is no time to waste: 4 in 5 say that call centre workers who can address their issues (44%) and quickly answer their queries (40%) make the unpleasant complaint experience better.

James Stokes, Country Manager, UK & Ireland at Infobip said: “Regardless of the preferred method of complaining, brands only have a short timeframe to turn irate customers into brand advocates. Making customers happy is no longer a ‘good to have’. With customers showing willingness to vote with their feet, good customer service is crucial to businesses’ overall bottom-line. With an omnichannel customer service platform solution, we hope to empower call centre workers with the right tools to perform at their best, and ultimately allow customers to reap the benefits on their preferred communications platform.”

Digital engagement ‘key to driving luxury purchases’
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The outlook for luxury shopping in 2023 is positive, according to a poll of 500 shoppers that found nearly half (45%) of respondents purchased 3-5 luxury goods in 2022; while just under a quarter (24%) purchased 6-10 items, and 11% purchased luxury goods more than eleven times.

In good news for the 2023 outlook, the same research conducted by Wunderkind reveals that 70% of consumers are confident about their personal economic prospects and 89% expect to maintain or increase their level of online purchases this year.

However, success for luxury brands will be contingent on delivering consistently personalised digital engagement across multiple channels – as the same proportion of respondents (89%) said that, when considering whether to purchase from a new brand, personalisation of messaging and content has a significant influence on their decision-making.

While luxury consumers are often fiercely loyal to their chosen brands, with a tendency toward repeat purchases, Wunderkind’s research showed that 45% are open to broadening their horizons and trying new brands.  Social media channels were considered the most influential for staying engaged with luxury brands, the favoured option of more than half (53%) of respondents, followed by a brand’s app (46%) and email (45%).

Reflecting on their journey to purchase, 50% of consumers stated that they research a product 3-5 times before they buy. For millennials in particular, this journey is often fragmented and ‘omnichannel’ – spanning 3-5 channels or platforms before ultimately closing the purchase.

Cian Agnew, Executive Director of Client Partnerships at Wunderkind, said: “There are valuable lessons in the research for brand marketers in the face of economic uncertainty.  While 70% of luxury consumers are confident about their personal economic outlook for 2023 – indicating a broadly undiminished appetite for shopping – the consideration phase is still relatively elongated, with consumers researching products across multiple brand channels, and in multiple sessions, before ultimately adding to basket.

“These findings support the need for brands to have strategies in place to effectively capture visitors via their owned channels – and to then re-engage and bring them back on-site if they don’t convert on their first visit.  Communicating in a way that’s highly relevant, personal and tailored to the individual is key bringing consumers back – and turning casual browsers into loyal, repeat purchasers.”

Image by justinedgecreative from Pixabay

How can marketeers address ‘loyalty destroying’ home delivery experiences
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By Kitty Poole (pictured, above), Chief Marketing Officer at Doddle

Home delivery hit the headlines in the UK last December when a perfect storm of Royal Mail strikes and extreme weather resulted in huge backlogs and many people not getting their parcels in time for Christmas. Doddle found that 62% of shoppers had experienced at least one delivery issue in the month, and 39% of consumers were considering switching retailers to avoid problematic carriers, their reputations damaged by the peak delivery failures.

For marketeers, this has once again highlighted the delivery experience as an important vulnerability in the supply chain with a material brand impact. Putting safeguards in place to ensure consumers avoid the annoying and loyalty-destroying experiences of delivery failure will be crucial at a time when retaining customers is more important than ever, given the challenging economic background and drop in consumer spending.

Since the Covid pandemic consumers have become accustomed to online shopping and increased their expectations of retailers.  A poor delivery experience can be extremely damaging to long-term customer loyalty and generate bad reviews or other negative brand impressions. This is a major challenge for marketeers who are increasingly aware that what were traditionally viewed as operational issues, are now at the heart of any reputational marketing.

For marketeers the Out-of-home (OOH) delivery offer is a win in many ways. It gives shoppers the ability to select convenient local pickup and drop-off points for their online shopping and returns, providing them with choice and greater flexibility.  In addition, the increased security helps address other concerns.

One of the most potent benefits of OOH delivery is that it escapes the familiar unpleasantries of a bad home delivery experience. There can be challenges (queueing at a post office or shop counter for a parcel isn’t always ideal) but in working with customers, we’ve repeatedly seen OOH delivery achieving the highest Net Promoter Score of any delivery type. In addition, the psychological benefit of controlling when to pick up a parcel encourages customers to feel positive about the merchant.

We recently conducted research into European Out-of-Home Delivery Options, surveying retailers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy to learn which merchants are offering OOH delivery; how they’re making it happen; whether it’s working for them; and what carrier partners need to provide to merchants to make their ecommerce checkouts more effective at converting and retaining customers.

Our survey showed that 77% of European merchants offer OOH delivery and are reaping the benefits, including increased conversion rates, average order value and net promoter score.  50% of our merchant respondents said that they saw an increase in conversion rates since adding the out-of-home delivery options, with 20% saying they saw a significant increase.

OOH deliveries cater to an important demographic of shoppers who cannot guarantee they’ll be at home to accept deliveries, particularly during the working day. Giving them the confidence that they won’t miss their delivery should make them more likely to purchase in the first place and 55% of merchants surveyed saw an increase in average order value since adding out-of-home delivery options to their checkouts. In simple terms, customers who are confident that their delivery will be available at a convenient time and place are liable to spend more.

In addition to enabling the reduction of delivery costs OOH deliveries can also be marketed as the sustainable delivery option.  With fewer deliveries being sent to individual homes, and consumers trip-chaining their errands and parcel pick-ups or drop-offs into local collection points, emissions are reduced as fewer kilometres are driven per parcel. 80% of our survey respondents indicated that they believed it was important to offer consumers a sustainable delivery option – a role OOH delivery should absolutely qualify for and can be promoted to fill.

As the world continues to ‘open up’ and the consumer becomes increasingly busier, implementing integrated OOH delivery options in 2023 will be crucial for retailers to stay ahead of the curve and meet the demands and preferences of the ever-evolving online shopper.  Delivery is often an underrated aspect of customer experience. However, thinking of it as the culmination of the shopping experience requires us to understand the impacts of a negative delivery experience on the retailer’s brand.  In contrast to this, OOH delivery offers huge opportunities for everyone involved in the delivery journey – the customer, carrier and retailer.  For the marketing team it means they are no longer fighting brand damaging issues and can focus on the positives.