‍Hello! Business is all about attracting as many customers as possible, but as we said in one of our previous episodes, . Some may negatively evaluate our product, waste our time, or use it in a way that may harm themselves or others.: Hello, in today's episode we continue the topic of patient experience. So if this is something that interests you, I invite you to listen to this episode. And our hospitality will be , which has been working for many years . I invite you.

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And I will talk about this and other challenges in logistics with a guest — Michał Wójcik from Alsendo. Michał is a co-author Report: Logistics in e-commerce, which was recently released. I invite you.

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Michal: Hi, my name is Michal Wojcik. I have been involved in e-commerce professionally, for many years. If we talk about e-commerce, we are talking about strategy, sales. I really like marketplaces. I worked on the retail side and on the big platforms side.

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This year I joined the Alsendo group — a company that Courier services integrator. It is such a large platform in our region and there I focus on the last mile and on a large cross border project.

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Challenges in e-commerce logistics

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Ilona: So this is a combination and e-commerce and logistics, that is...

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Michal: A very important part in this whole chain.

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Ilona: What the customer does not really like and does not see, because when shopping, what we want is to have this package at home in a moment to start enjoying shopping.

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That's why I'd like to start our discussion with a fairly general question, one to outline the context for viewers and listeners and ask you, what are the challenges today in e-commerce logistics.

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The influence of geopolitical location on e-commerce logistics

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Michal: I would ask another question, more perverse — what challenges are there not? It's quite complicated... If we talk about challenges, then looking at Our Geopolitical Situation This has had a huge impact over the last two years.

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I don't like going back to the pandemic and what was happening in covid, because it's been four years and everyone wants to forget about it. But indeed, the war in Ukraine has caused these consumer sentiment to drop very sharply and The last two years have been very complicated..

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Now we see it too — there is a lot of anxiety and these months that we compare to previous years... they totally do not coincide. It's big dynamics in terms of the volatility of what is happening. This is one thing: our geopolitical position.

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We may no longer have a problem with inflation per se, but we still have a problem with rising costs. These costs are visible at every stage of product creation, product sales, or service sales. This is another big challenge.

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Two e-commerce giants — Temu and Shein

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Michal: I think that what is now spending the dream from the eyelids is Temu and Shein, that is two global marketplaces, which have entered the Polish market and are simply sweeping. And they do it really in a very big and such an aggressive style.

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We used to have Shopee and now we have these two platforms that are already so called in VLOPs from what I remember, that is have a very large number of users. I was comparing the traffic recently like the previous year and this year — a year ago and Shein actually gained a lot.

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And this means that all other e-commerce in Poland They probably lose it. or they have to spend even more money and even more have to adhere to what is happening in this marketing market.

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Legal regulations in e-commerce

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Michal: So these are the first ones from the shore that you can say about, but of course there are still various kinds of regulations to add to this. Thankfully this year, I don't think there are any major rlegal regulations to be complied with.

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But it is always the case that it is e-commerce that they have to guard it quite strongly and diligently What is happening at the moment from a legal point of view. For example, the omnibus directive, where until the last moment it was not known what the legislator would expect from us. So this is quite an essential aspect.

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Automation and AI in e-commerce

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Michal: And I think the last one is, of course, broadly understood AI. Everyone has been talking about it for 2 years and indeed here this automation, this artificial intelligence appears in some areas. I think it will allow us to relieve people a little of these repetitive responsibilities, but I say release, not slow down. These are two different issues.

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Ilona: It's nice that you're pointing that out, because the headlines...

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Michal: There is a lot of scaring. Any technological advance causes those professions that until now were repetitive and that could be automated to fear losing their jobs. I, of course, look at it too. Everyone out there is so worried about what will happen to what I'm doing at any given time. Is it something, How Artificial Intelligence Will Replace Me?

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But I think it will be another year again. I did an interview there for a few years — marketing and business, and there I said with four more years. It turns out that there will probably be four more before we see real results.

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But there are already companies that benefit from the fact that, for example, they produce graphics faster or that these chatbots are actually more intelligent, that this machine learning is getting better and better. So AI is a challenge for everyone. I think that over a longer period of time, these companies that will have good AI will win the race.

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The main challenges of e-commerce in Poland

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IlonaI think I had five or six challenges. How is it in the context of our geographical location? Of course, the war is something that concerns 100% Poland and the change of purchasing moods of consumers. But thinking about those challenges you mentioned — which ones are most distinctive to us for our local market?

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Michal: Indeed, the geopolitical situation has the greatest impact. The political situation is pretty good for now. Looking at the indicators we have at all — they look pretty good when you look at Europe.

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Michal: I am very happy that recently Polish e-commerce has started to appear results after about a month, not after a year. So now we have data for April. And in April, for example, Polish e-commerce grew by 14%.

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I looked at such a list of the 5 largest countries in the European Union and there, in turn, March... it's hard to compare April to March, but actually there in March, for example, there was an increase of about 7% compared to the previous year.

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So we're still growing at two percent. Which is great, because in general, as if the predictions for Poland are such that growth this year is likely to be single digits. If it's double digits, that's great. We are talking about the growth of e-commerce.

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Looking at other markets — this growth will indeed be single digit, they are unlikely to assume it will be double digit. So looking at our location, our dynamics are a lot better after all. But of course the average basket in Poland is much lower from the one that is in Western countries, but these are already questions of how rich society is.

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Impact of returns on purchasing decisions

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Ilona: Yes, it's true. In the report on the state of e-commerce logistics, there is a very large area that is devoted to returns. People love phrases! In the report, you talk about such a statistic, where 72% of respondents of the report stated that the return policy in a given store, in a given e-commerce is An important factor in making a purchase decision.

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So such a good return process is something that is highly desirable. I even say that not only is it desirable, but It is a must-have. Without this, it is difficult to encourage users to make purchases.

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How this return process will be planned from the technological side, but also how it will be presented to customers, is super important. it It will affect what our customers think about our brand. But even a well-developed system of returns, at a time when there are a lot of these returns, is not beneficial for business.

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Michal: Totally not. But I invite you to read the report. There are some nice statistics — how to count returnshow they affect our business, what they eat with. That is, the whole envelope related to our e-commerce everyday life.

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Although I am happy, because the returns in my logistics industry are just another package that just needs to be transported somewhere. That's what we specialize in. So I wouldn't complain so much.

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How to reduce the number of returns in e-commerce

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Ilona: OK, but perverse as if I were to ask you: how to avoid such a high number of phrases — what would you say?

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Michal: I think that's for sure good communication of our products. If we talk about good communication, we are talking about what is on the homepage depending on where of course our user goes.

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If we have a very large marketing campaign in Google or another comparison engine, we probably end up on the product tab. then the product card probably has the most views, so that should be the information about the fact that we have refunds.

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But, of course, we need to check everything. Is the product that we show in other comparison engines, thanks to which we brought our user to us on the site... or This is the product he was looking for.?

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Does the product, size and color match? Because it may turn out that it is not and the User will not see it, because the color may be diametrically or slightly different. And suddenly it turns out that we promote Products we should not promotebecause we don't really have them.

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This is the first thing, that is product title and code — well, clearly marked, because if these are large brandies, then rather these product codes are similar. At least the beginning of this code is such that you can trace this product.

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We are also talking about details, that is, about the product card - how much we really show to the user who is looking for a product, that is, the entire specification. Of course, it looks ugly mostly on the product card. I speak ugly in terms of the amount of information.

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But they are very important and depending on what kind of industry it is - whether we are talking about DIY, fashion or toys here, people read it anyway.

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Ilona: They are looking for this information.

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Collect product information

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Michael: And I think that here, too, is the question of whether stores collect information on the product card about what people think about this product, because maybe there is already information that does not normally go there. Or come on a return basisthat someone does not like the product. We are really talking about the last step.

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Maybe as if they collected information a little earlier, that is, for example, there were some user research surveys, then maybe these The information would have come out a little earlier. But the product card, nicely shown tables, comparisons — if these are any packages. It's great if it's shown in such a clear way.

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Ale trzeba uważać na jeszcze jedną rzecz, czyli nie przereklamować tego, nie zrobić tego banerozy. Ludzie nie patrzą na banery, nie patrzą na reklamę. Przynajmniej nie w takim zakresie, jakim byśmy wszyscy chcieli.

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Ilona: No i może dobrze, bo dzięki temu, że mamy zjawisko banner blindness staramy się ograniczyć informacje, które pokazujemy klientowi na karcie produktu czy gdzieś tam w tym procesie zakupowym, przez co on jest skupiony na tym, na czym powinien.

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Kody kreskowe, a pomylone produkty

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Mnie się przypomniała taka anegdotka z naszego podwórka UX-owego. Kiedyś mieliśmy taką sytuację, gdzie karta produktu była niekompletnie skonstruowana — tych informacji nie było. I klient naszego klienta zamówił ponad 100 kasków. Ale niestety bardzo szybko dokonał zwrotu, bo zamiast kasku na głowę, który był potrzebny na budowę, zamówił takie zabawki antystresowe, które wyglądały jak kaski.

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Michał: To właśnie ten case. Bardzo dobrze robi GS1 — organizacja, która nadaje kody kreskowe. Aktualizacja kodów kreskowych jest po stronie sklepu, po stronie właścicieli sklepów. Jeżeli nie pilnujemy tego, że ten kod kreskowy, który mamy dostosowany do naszego produktu — on po jakimś czasie może się zmienić. I może ktoś inny mieć ten produkt.

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Nagle się okazuje, że po pierwsze wydajemy bardzo dużo pieniędzy na reklamę, która jest nietrafiona. Do tego jeszcze robi się nam totalny bałagan jeżeli chodzi o nasz katalog produktów. Jeżeli jeszcze ktoś ma marketplace to ma jakby dwie platformy na backendzie, a to już jest totalny bałagan. Wiem, znam to z doświadczenia. Lalka Barbie i młotek na przykład, to były tego typu problemy.

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Ilona: Pomylone produkty?

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Michał: Był ten sam kod kreskowy. Okazało się, że nie było aktualizacji… To są detale, ale jeżeli te detale nie są dopilnowane no to później to oczywiście maj implikacje na to co się dalej dzieje z naszymi pieniędzmi po stronie biznesu.

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Trafne wyszukiwanie produktu

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Ilona: Bo to o czym mówisz, to jest wyszukiwanie np. w Google po jakimś kodzie kreskowym, kodzie produktu — jakkolwiek sobie to nazwiemy. Google shopping, czyli ta nasza karuzela, która jest na górze, pokaże nam produkty, które najtrafniej odpowiadają na wyszukiwanie słowne typu niebieska sukienka S, czy młotek albo lalka. I jeżeli w tej karuzeli zamiast sukienki pokażemy młotek, to tracimy pieniądze.

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Michał: Trzeba tutaj zwrócić uwagę na jeszcze jedną rzecz, o której wspomniałem na samym początku, czyli o globalnych marketplace’ach Temu i Shein. Oni też niekoniecznie pokazują to czego użytkownicy szukają, ale pokazują coś bardzo podobnego w bardzo niskiej cenie. Czyli mamy kolejny element, który może nas wrzucić gdzieś tam na dalekie wyniki wyszukiwania.

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To jest coś, na co trzeba uważać. Tam wygrywa oczywiście cena, a u nas jeżeli naprawdę już poświęcamy się tej pracy i chcemy, żeby ta karta produktu wyglądała po ludzku, czyli zrozumiale, zwięźle — to nie musi być super rozbudowane. To też jest istotne, że ludzie skanują wzrokiem. Oni zahaczą o te informacje, których najbardziej potrzebują.

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Później mamy oczywiście dalsze elementy. Skupiłem się bardzo mocno na karcie produktu, ale istotne jest to, jak wygląda proces zwrotu. Jak jest opisany, czy jest przedstawiony w prostych krokach, czy użytkownik dostaje jasne informacje na swoim mailu o dalszych krokach, gdyby okazało się, że produkt jest nietrafiony. No i czy ten brand jest później love brandem, czyli czy doświadczenia użytkownika zostały zaprojektowane tak, aby był zadowolony, nawet jeśli produkt nie spełniał jego oczekiwań.

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Case study — eobuwie

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Michał: Staram się nigdy nie porównywać siebie jako usera w kontekście e-commerce, ale uważam, że to, co eobuwie zrobiło dobrze, to esize.me. Osobiście nienawidzę zwracać rzeczy – dla mnie to jest jak pójście gdziekolwiek, żeby coś oddać albo wysłać, co mnie zniechęca.

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Obecnie pracuję w branży, gdzie zwracam uwagę na ekologię i uważam, że są sytuacje, gdzie można lepiej dopilnować pewnych rzeczy. Problem w modzie polega na tym, że rozmiarówka się zmienia…

Ilona: I różne marki mają też swoje rozmiary.

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Michał: Dlatego taki esize.me, dzięki któremu możemy szybko sprawdzić, czy ten produkt rzeczywiście jest dopasowany jest absolutnym must-have.

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Ilona: Tak myślę, że sam pomysł zaadresowania tego problemu był bardzo prostym pomysłem, ale wykonanie… bo eobuwie zrobiło to technicznie bardzo dobrze. Też biorąc pod uwagę to, że eobuwie się wywodzi z internetu. To nie jest jak np. CCC, które najpierw miało salony fizyczne, a potem weszło online. Eobuwie zrobiło ten krok odwrotny, czyli najpierw mieli skalę w internecie, a potem dopiero zaczęli zbierać informacje…

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Michał: I likwidować te bariery… Tak samo ze zwrotami. Tak jak powiedziałaś — ludzie kochają zwroty. Kochają zwroty dlatego, że dają im poczucie bezpieczeństwa, że te pieniądze, które gdzieś tam wysyłają w razie czego do nich wrócą jeżeli cokolwiek będzie się działo złego.

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I tutaj duże Marki tak naprawdę zrobiły tę dobrą robotę przed i po pandemii. Trochę teraz na tym tracą, ponieważ ludzie się przyzwyczaili do pewnego standardu i ten standard teraz trochę jest im odcinany. Zwroty to czasami 17% straconego w e-commerce.

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Ilona: Fajnie, że powiedziałeś, że jest to stracony obrót, ale z drugiej strony patrząc też na dane, chociażby z raportu w momencie kiedy tych zwrotów by nie było czy darmowych, czy w ogóle możliwości zwrotu to może ta marka nie zrobiłaby w ogóle takiego wyniku. Czyli te 17% może być albo naszym kosztem, albo tak naprawdę…

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Michał: Przychodzą odłożonym w czasie, bo to może też pójść w tę stronę jeżeli to jest dobrze zaprojektowane.

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Case study — e-commerce meblarski

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Ilona: Poruszyliśmy co najmniej 3 wątki, które chciałam poruszyć. Pierwsza rzecz to właśnie te pozytywne przykłady — my jakiś czas temu właśnie w Zimie projektowaliśmy kartę produktu dla sklepu e-commerce meblarskiego.

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Michał: Ciężka działka.

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Ilona: Podczas pierwszych badań eksploracyjnych, które robiliśmy z klientami, ludzie wymieniali informacje o wymiarach jako takie top 3 problemów, ale też informacji, których szukają. Między wierszami mówili też o tym, że oni na przykład they don't quite know how to measure itthat these dimensions are supposedly given, but how this piece of furniture will look...

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Michal: and here we do not see how the bed frame does not fit in the room, because it was measured as if by a centimeter, and it turns out that, however, the physics works a little differently there...

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Ilona: We came up with something that wasn't there and that also aroused some resistance at first. We moved such pattern from architecture, where you show an object — a table, chairs, a couch, next to a person so that you can more or less catch the proportion in a fraction of a second.

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Then we superimposed the dimensions on this image and did a usability study. And my favorite comment from the usability research at the moment when the client gets to this point is: wow, killer feature!

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Michal: That's what you create for, it's super important. I remember this from my previous job at the DIY company. For example, the height of a floor lamp - people do not have such an idea. They need to get some a picture, a picture, a reference to be able to evaluate it. In the case of furniture, even a good video is cool, because it shows whether it is soft or hard, etc.

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Collect, but also show feedback

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Ilona: Yes, you mentioned collecting feedback earlier. This is also something that happened at the launch of the report on logistics in e-commerce, where you said something like that it is worth collecting feedback, but also show it on the product card in the form of a review. And that, too, is something that can level out the returns.

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Michael: I am a huge fan of social proof. I always read what other users write. Already centuries ago, AliExpress taught me that sometimes I also look for a photo.

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If there is an opportunity to add a photo, then for me this is in plus, especially when it comes to the size of the product, its quality. Maybe less when it comes to fashion, but more when it comes to home furnishings. What it really looks likehow the color looks, whether it is a board or plastic. It's that kind of thing.

I think that the comments should be visible, but they should also be moderated somewhere, because here you also have to be careful that... I did not say one thing about the issues of challenges, which is cyber security.

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All kinds of attacks, but also hacking of e-commerce, of accounts — all this can cause big problems in the reception by customers of the entire store, the entire environment.

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The process of returning goods in e-commerce

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Ilona: The second thing you said, which I would like to explore, is the moment the customer makes a return. A product comes to me, for some reason I want to return it. And this whole logistic process takes place, where I go to this parcel locker, another point of sending/receiving, I order a courier.

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There is still everything that happens between when I return the product, when it appears at the seller or is back in circulation. What does this process look like? What are the challenges?

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Michal: There are a lot of challenges there, because if we talk about the return first, then someone has to accept it, that is, they have to get the information that the return will take place. The whole process comes out here, and if it is automated, then everything goes quite smoothly, for example, by ordering a courier. After that, the goods must be accepted and organoleptically testedto assess whether it is suitable for resale, whether it does not bear signs of use and if its value remains at 100% or if it needs to be reduced. Users often forget that the product must not bear traces of use.

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There are a lot of aspects that need to be taken into account — someone has to do it, so it's a human task. Then, if the product bears signs of use, but we still want to sell it, it must undergo professional cleaning, especially if we are talking about fashion. If the product is damaged, you need to decide whether it will go to the outlet or revalue it, or sell it at a discount Someone has to agree to this discount.

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The whole process from receiving a product to putting it up for sale again can take a day, two, a week, or even two weeks. If we talk about seasonality, the product may lose value during this time.

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This is a complex sequence of activities that involve many people. In large companies there are specialized units dealing with this process. In small businesses, a return means a new obligation that needs to be done to check if the product still has any value or if it should be disposed of — which also happens.

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Communication with the user during the return

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Ilona: And these are big challenges precisely in the context of e-commerce owners, and we have on the other side another user who made this phrase and he too waiting for information.

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Michal: Exactly. And now — will this refund go to the gift card or to the account? You have to inform him about it, change the status of course so a nice format must be prepared and of course it would be good Encourage you to buy anyway. And that's not what everyone thinks - they make turns and close the case. There are a lot of processes.

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Ilona: You say a nice thing in the report. I don't have my own data to compare, but you claim that the return policy somehow makes The customer becomes more loyal. This is what you are saying, that we can use this return to show something to the customer: see, when you buy something with us, you can feel safe, because you can easily make such a return, so come back to us again.

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Michal: Exactly, if this communication is aligned with the current marketing plan. Is Father's Day or Mother's Day coming up? Give information about some special promotion, for them as a regular customer. Or that for the second purchase you have a 5% discount.

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I didn't like to give discounts, because it's real money, but on the other hand, we know what works. Possibly some Loyalty points, because it can also go in that direction.

You have to think about such things. Only again it is a question of how many people are working on the whole process. One person is not able to do this, even if he really wants to. I think five or ten would even have a problem to Make sure every step is done perfectly. But you have to try.

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Delivery to parcel lockers and pick-up points

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Ilona: Now let's take a little look at the form of delivery. Why Customers Choose Delivery out of home Is it an ecological or economical solution?

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Michal: Again, we return to a topic that I do not like, which is the pandemic. She taught us that delivery by courier It wasn't always comfortable for usbecause we didn't feel completely safe at the time. Parcel vending machines and pick-up points were seen as more sanitary safe.

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Over time, we got used to them, because they are Increasingly available — are located at virtually every step, whether in the Żabka chain or in other, less popular pick-up points, such as local shops. This is one issue — reception points are open for a long time, so you can use them before work, during the day or after returning from work.

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In addition, we have more and more parcel machines. Not counting InPost parcel lockers, there are also DPD, DHL, Orlen Paczka vending machines. This offer is constantly growing, not only in Poland, but also abroad.

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Pick up points — after

Poland's life against the background of Europe

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Ilona: Poland is the leader in terms of reception points or not?

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Michal: As for parcel machines, yes. In terms of pickup points, we are in the top 5, but Looking at it as a whole, we can say that we are the leader. This segment is growing really well.

Anyway There was a new report from Last Mile Experts, which just talks about it, but I haven't had time to go through it thoroughly yet, so it's hard for me to say more about the data. In e-commerce logistics, I think this is well shown in the tables, so again I invite you to read the report.

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Ilona: For me, the big surprise, and maybe not so big, was that pick-up points are very popular in Germany. It turns out that Germany is in first place in terms of the number of such points. Looking at Poland, where we have parcel lockers at every turn, I wondered how this is possible, where they place these pick-up points.

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Michael: I was surprised too. It seemed to me that Poland is the leader in terms of logistics, but it turns out that this segment has also developed significantly there. Perhaps this thanks to Amazon, which is quite present there.

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As I mentioned, parcel machines give us more flexibility in receiving products that wait two or three days. I had a situation when a courier came to me, even though the package was supposed to go to the vending machine - it turned out small misunderstanding when packing.

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When the courier arrived, I was not at home, and they do not accept parcels in my building. Fortunately, you can redirect the parcel to the parcel machine, which adds me an extra two days for collection, which is very convenient.

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Coming back to your question about ecology — I think pickup in parcel machines is more environmentally friendly. You can see how InPost tries to make it clear in the application what benefits the reception at the vending machine brings. Now it looks much better than at the beginning. Ecologically it is better, because the courier does not go to every house or block, but goes to the vending machine and delivers all the packages there. This definitely reduces exhaust emissions.

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When it comes to economics, costs are rising, including the cost of logistics services, which makes them more and more expensive for the customer. We see that parcel machines, which used to be cheaper, are now more expensive. Sometimes pickup points may be a better option.

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You also need to check where the barrier to entry is. Is this parcel machine or this collection point that we offer customers on the product card with this price that is there — whether he is acceptable to him? Because that might be one of the reasons why he won't want to shop with us.

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One map that connects all the points

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Ilona: Yes, this is another UX area that needs to be taken care of. Either we get it right or we can discourage the customer from shopping with us.

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This is about recommendations and remembering the last selected pickup point, especially with marketplaces, where we have an account and shop quite often. Even if we do not do them often, but we are returning customers, it is important that the system remembers and prompts the same pickup point.

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The second thing is that not to propose a point that the customer constantly rejects, changing, for example, from a flower shop open until seventeenth to Żabka open until twenty-two. I myself notoriously do it in one store, but I will not give the name. These are the UX mechanisms that make us shop faster and more willingly.

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Michal: We mentioned that the network of reception points is growing, and from the user's point of view, it is important that each courier offers its solution with a map. We, in turn, give one solution, one map, on which there are all collection services.

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Now I have so many points in the area that sometimes the difference between them is literally five meters. Then I wonder which one to choose. Using a single map where I can see all the points — DPD, DHL, InPost, Orlen Package — it is convenient for me, because I can mark what will be easier and faster for me to pick up when returning from work.

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Ilona: From a UX perspective, I had the opportunity to design such a map a few years ago and I remember that the big challenge was, how this map looks on a small phone screen. How to choose a point that is close to each other, as you said, on a small screen? The owners of stores and marketplaces must pay attention not to disturb the customer in choosing a pick-up point, but to encourage them to do so, using solutions where these points are close to each other.

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Michal: What we've been talking about returns — what's challenging in the context of economics and ecology is where and How can I make a refund and whether I need a label.

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I don't have a printer, so this is a problem And I think a lot of people don't have it. Nowadays, when we work remotely, we don't have to print a ton of documents. It's a challenge, but it's nice that companies are coming forward and all you need is a phone number, for example. This is great.

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It is also important, so that the returns are not too expensive for the customer. We are moving towards partial participation in costs, but it must not be too expensive, because customers can pay attention to it.

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Consumer education on environmental issues

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Ilona: Well, we mentioned a little bit about ecology. The fact that I choose a pickup point rather than door-to-door delivery is also in a way Pro-ecological attitude. I now wonder if it should be the responsibility of customers to choose greener delivery or packaging?

Or maybe they should be regulations imposed from above? Or should the responsibility for green delivery and packaging lie with marketplaces or e-commerce? What does it look like from your perspective?

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Michal: So much is happening... A matter of regulation. I think that before regulation comes, education should come first. Rather, users should be encouraged to choose greener delivery methods. But again, education is on the side of the store or platform. We should explain why we do this, what we want to achieve and why you have such delivery or packaging options to choose from at this point.

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It is very difficult, however, because this is also evident from the reports — Users don't want to pay for it. There is so much information, and looking at the times when we have very high inflation and it seems that we pay five times more for everything, and now we still have to pay for the packaging...

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If I have literally 15 minutes to go to the store, then I would rather drive those 15 minutes, buy a ticket, or take a car and drive up, than pay for extra garbage, which I will throw away in a moment.

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Ilona: Possible return, because I may not buy anything. I will try it and it will turn out to be bad

e, that is, I don't even have that moment when I spend money.

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Responsibility for ecological packaging

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Michal: And that's the challenge. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. I believe that education should go, I think it is possible to communicate that, for example, a given product, packaging or delivery method is more ecological. But it has to have a dimension — a number or a message. A customer who wants to know more must be able to explore the topic, and not just see a bubble with the information: “Pay 5 PLN for the service”. I don't think it's working.

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The direction, however, is that people want to be greener and pay attention to how their behavior affects the environment, both near and far. I think we will come to a point where everyone will be satisfied — both from the level of education and from the fact that organic packaging and supplies will be included in a certain percentage of the price of the product, but in a way that will not be felt financially.

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Ilona: So our consumers, people who buy products online, are not yet at the level of airline passengers, who can pay 5 or 10 PLN extra with one click to make their trip greener and compensate for the carbon footprint in some way. We want to shop online, we want fast, easy delivery to the door or to the point, but we don't want to pay for carbon footprint compensation yet.

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Michal: Especially when as consumers we hear how much companies earn, how much profit and turnover they have. And then you think to yourself:”What happens to the money I paid extra“Want to be greener?”

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Because it turns out that, for example Ecology is not a priority, or we do not see planted forests or subsidized environmental organizations. I think that communication in this matter will be more and more important for companies, because they have an obligation to issue reports.

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summary

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Ilona: To summarize our discussion, both information on consumer habits in the context of returns and ecological attitudes, preferred delivery methods and reasons for their choice are found in the report “Logistics in e-commerce”which you co-authored.

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Michal: Yes, we are a partner as an Alsendo group, so I highly encourage you to read, because there is a very condensed knowledge there. I think our team did a great job and this is one of the better reports available on the market.

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The role of UX in e-commerce logistics

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Ilona: The report itself will be linked under the episode, on our website and on the platforms where you can find this episode. And before we finish, I wanted to ask you a question that connects your plot, i.e. logistics and e-commerce, with ours, that is, user experience and user interface design. Tell me, what is UX for you?

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Michal: UX is really the whole user experience — from the first impression, i.e. when entering the online store or the website of the service, until the end of the process after purchase, possible complaint or return.

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This is a holistic approach, including the logistics part. Was the customer satisfied with the logistics process? Did the courier or parcel machine meet his expectations? UX is the whole experience — you can not select only some elements, it is about the whole process.

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Ilona: Great. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for the conversation and I encourage you to download the report.

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Michal: Thank you very much.