How Fastrr’s Checkout Solutions Are Helping D2C Brands Boost Customer Experience

Retail ecommerce evolved rapidly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, giving rise to a group of new-age brands who wanted to sell directly to consumers. But the direct-to-commerce (D2C) model is not just about cost-cutting or expediting the business process by doing away with traditional distribution partners. These brands have brought new value propositions like personalised interactions and seamless customer experience (CX).   

Clearly, these value additions have seeded the ground for long-term D2C growth. For instance, communicating directly with the target audience can accelerate sales and enable quick feedback, helping brands grow in sync with consumer requirements. More importantly, a positive CX throughout an end-to-end brand journey has emerged as the ‘business benchmark’ nowadays, leading to better customer satisfaction, enhanced retention and future growth.  

But one of the biggest glitches that can shake up a smooth CX is the all-too-crucial but none-too-exciting online payment procedure. In fact, many new users will leave without purchasing if the checkout process is long and takes much time to fill in the details. Overall, most shoppers try to avoid the information drill – typing out user details and creating an account with the business.  

According to India Marketers, the average cart abandonment rate in the country is about 51% but can go up to 70-75%, thus resulting in a massive revenue loss. Interestingly, about 55% of global shoppers abandon carts because they have to re-enter information.

The Fastrr Way To Boost CX, Fuel Growth

Ankur Sarawagi, senior vice-president of Fastrr (third-party logistics firm Pickrr’s checkout solution), is aware of this ground reality and the subsequent losses faced by D2C brands.

“Checkout is the most critical aspect of completing a sale. But due to long and multi-layered checkout forms, customers frequently abandon their shopping carts and exit the store without completing their transactions.”  

Help is at hand, though.

In April 2022, the logistics enabler developed Fastrr, an AI-powered one-click checkout that takes less than 30 seconds to complete a transaction. In simple terms, it uses data extraction, advanced analytics and data prefill to retrieve customer information from Pickrr’s/partner brand’s databases and automate data filling, thus eliminating manual entry. This allows brands to keep the entire procedure short and simple, ensuring that checkouts are 70% faster and completely hassle-free for the brands, in comparison with prior to leveraging Fastrr.

In addition, brands are leveraging Fastrr’s mobile-only OTP login to instil confidence in their customers about the safety of one-click checkouts. People can add their mobile numbers when buying for the first time on a D2C platform using Fastrr. The next time the shopper returns, he/she can log in quickly with the single sign-on feature.

Fastrr’s tech architecture has been integrated with more than 200+ D2C brands to enhance CX and boost prepaid conversions.

But there are more features on the B2B front to help partner brands. For instance, Fastrr can detect faulty addresses and flag high-risk COD orders to minimise return to origin (RTO), a major business threat for ecommerce companies. To stay ahead in the game, Fastrr has access to more than 1 Bn data points generated by ecommerce orders across the country and a strong algorithm for identifying fraud, enabling sellers to take necessary measures regarding such orders.    

According to Sarawagi, Fastrr can help D2C brands reduce the return to origin (RTO) by 30%, increase revenue upto 20% and boost customer conversion by 20%. 

He cited the example of a baby care brand without mentioning the name. It used to struggle with customer conversion rate, but after integrating Fastrr’s smart checkout, the conversion rate improved from 2.8% in August 2022 to 3.9% by the end of January 2023. Moreover, prepaid orders grew from 5.1% to 15.46% during this period. D2C clothing brands Sassafaras and LAYERS, decor brand Decorkart and mobile accessories brand Hatke are among the 200+ brands on its network.  

Tech-Driven CX Is The Way Forward For D2C Brands

As gadgets and technologies continue to rule day-to-day life, changing technology also impacts consumer behaviour. Therefore, D2C brands must keep up with the shift in consumer trends and the underlying tech tools. Otherwise, they will likely lose out to deep-pocketed competitors who go all out to convert prospects.

Talking about the impact of technology adoption, Sarawagi said, “when it comes to D2C commerce, a slight increase in conversion rate improves the profit margin significantly. Therefore, a modern-day checkout should be mobile-first, UPI-friendly and transparent to deliver customer satisfaction.” 

Incidentally, a transparent checkout system should reflect the total cost (including taxes, shipping charges and other fees) before a customer clicks the ‘pay’ option. But contrary to this practice, most ‘extras’ are usually hidden until a shopper is actually making the payment. According to a 2021 survey, 49% of people abandon their shopping carts due to ‘extra costs’ displayed at checkout. 

Implementing multiple tech tools like AI-powered data analytics for customer insights, intelligent chatbots to guide people throughout their brand journeys and fast and secure checkouts like Fastrr to expedite transactions with zero hassle is bound to accelerate D2C growth and help brands stay relevant in a fast-evolving market. Moreover, it may see widespread adoption of the D2C model across many industry sectors apart from consumer retail. The possibilities are infinite in a technology-driven market where change is the only constant.