We've fetch-ified the latest eCommerce data during Covid-19

We’ve been carefully keeping track of changes in our client’s usage and analysing the data we’ve collected since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

Check out some of our top insights:

1. A massive increase in address lookups

During the lockdown, with a rush in online shopping, our software experienced a monumental 800% plus increase in address lookups for some customers. This huge increase was based on the total number of lookups from January 2020 to June 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. The increase in spend was not just from those essential services, but also in stationery and office supplies, DIY, hobbies and indoor activities, gifting, homewares, and online gaming. It’s no surprise that new home office and home-schooling set ups demanded large online orders for stationery and office supplies. Likewise, the extended time spent at home lead to a spike in home renovations and improvements as people suddenly had more time to paint the kitchen or give the garden a makeover. One of our clients, Moonpig, experienced such a huge increase in growth that it expanded its range to include digital cards when supply of its traditional paper products sold out. Gardening retailers were happy as the sun beat down throughout April and June and Britain turned to buying seeds online and growing their own vegetables.

2. The need to improve delivery services

There are plenty of articles and guides on the web for new startups, website managers and eCommerce professionals talking about the essential tools needed for a good online shop. Common suggestions revolve around having analytics set up, good data management and the importance of user experience. Some of the more specific tools, however, are often left out of the tool kits. The need for a smart addressing solution, such as Fetchify’s, is often identified by frustrated warehousing or delivery managers drowning in undelivered goods or proactively suggested by a new website agency appointment, a motivated eCommerce manager or project manager.

Many consumers are already familiar with address auto-fill tools, and notice when sites don’t have one, making them go to the trouble of typing their address by hand. But these often don’t verify that the address actually exists or that it’s correctly formatted for couriers, shipping or banking records. Our products work to eliminate the address form altogether and replace it with a simple, intelligent little box that works from as little as a partial street name, or post code. This not only speeds up the customer journey regardless of where the order is going but ensures the address you receive is going to be compatible with delivery systems. We’re proud to say our customers see a 50% reduction in the number of failed deliveries due to addressing errors.

3. Making a good first impression

We get told by our clients that following up inaccurate email addresses and phone number entry can waste the time and resources of their CRM and digital marketing teams. The common goal in marketing is to achieve 95% or higher email deliverability to customers, but the average rate remains around 75%. There are more potential new customers than every before, and businesses should be focused on engaging effectively and delivering a quality experience so they can retain these customers beyond Covid-19. If customers experience a problem with their first delivery or their data has not been accurately captured during the process, it is a lot harder to build loyalty and it’s unlikely they’ll stick around. Whilst some might view data verification products as a snazzy tool that is hard to justify the budget for against the per-lookup cost, it is important to think beyond the initial price and more broadly at customer experience and retention to see their true value.