Contact centre tech helps logistics leap hurdles as e-commerce booms
Australia’s insatiable appetite for online shopping is creating a juggernaut. Runaway growth in online sales since the pandemic is pushing e-commerce to new heights, with the logistics sector alone expected to generate approximately US$10 billion by 2026.
It’s one of the last enduring trends of the pandemic, which forced people into online shopping out of necessity, with lockdowns shutting all but the most essential bricks and mortar stores.
Australia Post’s 2023 Inside Australian Online Shopping report showed more than one million more households are shopping online now as compared to 2019, while forecasting that one in every three dollars spent in Australia will be transacted online by 2033. Rapid growth isn’t always easy, and for a logistics sector already straining under the disruptions of the pandemic, the additional demand has created just as many challenges as it has opportunities.
Land, ocean, and air freight were all significantly impacted by Covid, with supply chains still yet to recover completely, but lessons learned over the last three years are encouraging companies to improve processes and invest in improving supply chain visibility through digitisation. The huge increase in online shopping has seen more people engage with delivery businesses — either to track and follow up parcels, update details or try to resolve challenges.
Meeting customer expectations
TSA Group is working with big players in the logistics sector, helping to streamline customer interaction as the number of packages sent around the country, and the world, continues to surge.
Operations Manager at TSA Group, Daniel Herold, says customer expectations in the e-commerce space are increasing at almost the same pace as online sales are. Mr Herold says customers expect shipping services to be fast, free and flexible, whether that’s a door-to-door delivery or a click and collect offering, and if those expectations aren’t met, it’s often the logistics companies bearing the brunt of the customer frustration.
Mr Herold says TSA Group’s support for the logistics sector includes helping them better understand and interact with their customers.
“We can provide our clients with a significant number of insights about their customers that they’ve never had before,” Mr Herold says. “Our solutions capture data around who their customers are, what industries they are in, and what their volume is.
“And our experience working with logistics businesses means we have a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities the industry is facing.”
Customer experience powered by technology
TSA Group’s offering isn’t only on the back end – Mr Herold says the company’s bespoke technology solutions also assist in front line customer communication.
“For one of our clients, we implemented a bespoke cloud-based contact centre solution that is supporting them contact their customers easier,” Mr Herold says.
“Having technology that can be tailored to the specific needs of a business is a significant advantage – we have the ability to roll out live chat immediately if needed.”
TSA Group’s professional customer service support comes at an opportune time, with 2023 expected to be the year the supply chain recovers from the Covid hangover. Mr Herold says his team has seen a spike in activity as industry activity picks up pace.
“We’re seeing that businesses are opening up and needing our support a lot more than they were previously, but this workflow isn’t always consistent, and we’ve noticed that as we get closer to the end of the financial year, some businesses are starting to ease off a little bit.”
The advantage of outsourcing customer experience is the ability to scale activity up and down in line with client needs, Mr Herold says.
“We can really customise the level of service we deliver to our logistics clients to match the demand,” he says. “The beauty of working with TSA Group is that we can stand up teams quickly, and when that demand dies down, we can redeploy our agents to other lines of the business.”
Logistics is an industry that will continue to evolve as the economy shifts. For those working in customer-facing positions, technology will play a significant role in ensuring the industry keeps up.
TSA are Australia’s market leading specialists in CX Consultancy and Contact Centre Services. We are passionate about revolutionising the way brands connect with Australians. How? By combining our local expertise with the most sophisticated customer experience technology on earth, and delivering with an expert team of customer service consultants who know exactly how to help brands care for their customers.