THG delivery offer taps into late-night shopping activity

When consumers are online they could be shopping at any time of the day… or night. So THG Fulfil, the operations division of the digital retailer’s Ingenuity business, is heading into delivery hyper-drive with its new beauty offer.

How fast will it be? UK shoppers will be able to order from a host of leading beauty and nutrition brands including ESPA, Perricone MD, LookFantastic and Myprotein until 1am, seven days a week, and get their products the following day (or the same day for orders placed between midnight and 1am), it claims.

The guaranteed next-day delivery (NDD) also applies to UK orders for THG Ingenuity and THG Fulfil’s external clients.

It said the ability to allow customers to shop into the small hours for NDD follows advances in Fulfil’s capabilities, which allows it to “serve the growing trend for late-night shopping more effectively than rivals”.

According to THG Fulfil’s data, more than 82% of all NDD orders are placed after 2pm and more than a quarter – 27% — are placed after 10pm, “offering a clear incentive for both customers and retailers to extend NDD order periods as late as possible”.

Customers are increasingly shopping later, with a 7% rise in orders placed between 10pm and 1am compared to last year, according to its data. But they’re also increasingly opting for NDD, with an 8% rise in customers selecting this option over the same period.

Meanwhile, advances in batching algorithms via automation, inbound strategies, augmentation of bin compositions, adjustments in outbound processes, and more, have improved order processing efficiency, allowing THG Fulfil to take orders later and process and dispatch them more quickly from its highly automated warehouse in Manchester.

Tom Killeen, COO – THG Brands, said the service  “leans in to the ‘I want it now’ generation of consumers and allows us to drive high customer lifetime value for our brands, and those of our clients.

“There’s a clear business goal here. We strongly believe that fulfilment and courier services are an acquisition tool and should never be an afterthought given its importance to the end customer. As a result, we expect to see improvements in customer retention rates off the back of this service, in addition to improving loyalty and winning new customers.”