By Edward Gower-Isaac, Vice President, Corporate & Indirect, Ricoh Graphic Communications
How much of your shopping is currently done online?
In five years’ time global online shopping revenue is projected to reach 9.1 trillion USD from $6.09 trillion in 2024. This year, worldwide sales for retail e-commerce alone are estimated to exceed $4.3 trillion. And, by 2040, it is predicted that 95% of all purchases will be made online.
To meet this growing demand, logistics companies need to streamline their order fulfilment workflow and so reduce order processing time and increase throughput. In many cases printed materials are an important part of an order, ranging from order documentation to product related materials such as user manuals and safety instructions.
Embedding print production into existing fulfilment processes using near or inline printers and automated print workflows will reduce manual touchpoints and errors, save time and money, remove bottlenecks, and increase throughput.
It also opens the door to a greater use of personalisation.
This buoyant market is driving growth in parcels and packaging, providing an opportunity for brands to improve customer experience, build loyalty, and increase response and conversion rates with personalised, targeted communications.
With 81% of customers preferring companies that offer a personalised experience and
60% of customers recognising when they receive personalised recommendations and finding them more valuable than generic ones, there is exciting potential through delivering a customer centric experience.
But we also see that brands fear that a personalised, customised approach is too complicated, leading to them missing opportunities to create more meaningful customer touchpoints.
They send out parcels without any marketing materials and, if communications are included, they are often ‘one size fits all’ or affiliate marketing – neither of which helps generate repeat business.
At Ricoh, our data driven workflows simplify and streamline the process to deliver a strong return on investment for this valuable marketing activity.
There are three ways customer communications can be improved with intelligent logistics:
Changing from bulk print production to inhouse capabilities with near or inline printing that produces critical printed collateral at the point of need streamlines the fulfilment process. This can remove the need for warehousing, transportation, manual touchpoints, and waste related to pre-printing. It can improve speed, reliability, and productivity with fewer devices and reduce print interruptions and print related helpdesk calls. Applications include on demand printing of delivery notes and labels near order despatch. This also opens the door to delivering highly personalised marketing messaging using white space or separate targeted promotional assets.
Inline “Drop in the Box” document printing that automatically drops print into the box along the conveyor at the point of packaging. This touchless delivery reduces manual handling and labour. Applications include automated printing and insertion of delivery documents and other critical print. It offers greater automation of the inclusion of personalised marketing assets.
Integrated print automation delivers fully automated personalised print to each box using customised workflow to manage data, print, and delivery. A visual inspection system employs tracking barcodes to deliver full traceability. Applications include on demand, customer centric marketing and promotional materials and the inserting of product related materials such as instruction manuals and how to guides.
Not just elevating the customer experience, Ricoh value adding automated software workflow solutions and Ricoh digital sheetfed toner technology such as the RICOH Pro™ C9500 and RICOH Pro™ 8400 can:
Increase efficiency – reducing manual tasks, ensuring faster processing and seamless workflow integration.
Cut costs- by eliminating bottlenecks and improving asset management, Ricoh helps clients save significantly on operational costs.
Enable scalability and flexibility – Ricoh’s solutions are adaptable to seasonal demands, ensuring agility and resilience in fast moving supply chains.
Increase repeat business with customer centric point of delivery marketing.
Creating valuable and meaningful print based communications does not have to be complicated.
With the right logistics fulfilment capabilities, retail brands can move away from generic marketing. They can adopt customised communications that treat each recipient as an individual and deliver value added services. They can create engaging messaging that encourages brand loyalty and customer retention.
Talk to Ricoh to learn how to elevate your logistics capabilities and discover ways to maximise the opportunities e-commerce will deliver soon. We will show you how logistics companies are successfully harnessing our innovative solutions.
www.ricoh-europe.com