The upward trajectory in the D2C ecosystem has been possible because various technological advancements bridge the gap between sellers and buyers. As consumers have made the most significant shift to online shopping owing to the pandemic, D2C brands quickly adopted disruptive tech solutions to drive business growth. Technology enables brands to ensure smooth last-mile delivery, make data-driven decisions, and reach the right audience at the right time, thereby accelerating revenue.
Tapping into untapped markets
Unlike retail shopping experiences, the role of an online seller extends beyond just selling the product. Tech advancements are helping brands tap into untapped trajectories of marketplaces and build a personalised connection with consumers. Post-purchase experience is also of utmost significance, as convenience of tracking orders, on-time delivery, and ease of customer service influence customer loyalty, which in turn helps in customer retention.
From marketing to making data-driven decisions, engaging with customers, and facilitating scalable growth, technology has been assisting brands in growing revenues. Consumers prefer a more personalised experience and direct brand engagement, and D2C is about doing that. AI-enabled e-commerce customer experience platforms help to offer a faster checkout experience, reduce RTO orders, and make deliveries smoother.
Shiprocket is at the forefront of providing state-of-the-art tech solutions to help D2C brands automate their end-to-end processes. Serving over 2.5 lakh sellers, the startup is on a mission to democratise e-commerce for brands across the country.
Leveraging technology to automate marketing
Shiprocket’s marketing automation platform helps sellers send personalised messages to customers to stay in touch with them throughout their shopping process and maximise conversions through the combined power of email, SMS, WhatsApp, onsite, and messenger in a single interface.
Facilitating communication and tracking
Shiprocket’s customer communication engine – Shiprocket Engage – sends automated WhatsApp triggers to customers for order confirmation, address verification, and converting COD orders to prepaid with offers. Also, sellers can identify high-risk RTO orders with an RTO prediction engine to reduce failed deliveries. Moreover, Shiprocket offers white-labelled tracking pages where sellers can add logos, support details, social media links, marketing banners, and outbound links to increase sales.
Al/ML to enhance consumer experience
Industry 4.0 technologies are used at Shiprocket to become an efficient logistics platform and Machine Learning is being used to select courier partners, enrich customer addresses, and predict potential fraud. The core objective of every machine learning and data science project within the company is to improve the customer experience.
While it is important to offer a great pre-purchase experience to drive sales, companies often forget that a real relationship between a brand and a consumer is formed once a customer clicks on the buy button.
“The post-purchase experience is as important as the pre-purchase experience, and it plays a pivotal role in building a robust and sustainable business. Brands are focusing on investing in technology for an effective post-purchase experience with technology to manage orders and inventory, streamline warehouse operations, expedite last mile delivery, and easy return processing,” says Saahil Goel, Co-founder and CEO, Shiprocket.
