Informed Webmaster

As we move to the new normal after the pandemic there are going to be some issues ecommerce site owners are going to deal with regarding your customer experience. It came to light over the couple of months of closure that some ecommerce sites were not prepared for the sudden influx of online orders.

In the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, online grocery stores in the US were overloaded and often failed to meet the sudden demand. People were desperately filling in their carts only to discover that their order could not be delivered or there were no pickup windows available. Those lucky enough to place the order found that many of their items were missing upon delivery. Grocery stores were overwhelmed, the supply was low (as people were stocking up), and there were too few employees available to deliver the order or help with pickup...

Online Shopping for Food and Groceries During Covid-19: Workflow Issues Impact the Ecommerce Customer Experience

The above quote refers to the grocery industry specifically but there were/are lots of other industries that just were not ready for the surge of orders.

The article suggests that the customer should know the following before starting to shop:

• being up front about delivery times available and letting the customer book a time before they do their shopping
• minimum order required
• delivery fees
• low stock items
• option to pick an alternate if the item(s) they want are out of stock

These all seem like things that should have been stated upfront before the pandemic arrived.

What are you doing to keep your customers informed up front about the points above?