Manhattan Associates has released a range of new solutions aimed at improving post-purchase activity. 

The company says the new developments come at a time when customers' expectations of post-purchase experiences continue to change, creating new challenges for retailers who need to offer more flexibility, communication and support. There is said to be growing pressure for retailers to meet new and heightened customer demands.

"For retailers, the post-purchase customer experience has traditionally been underserviced given the degree of difficulty in offering the flexibility shoppers desire," says Raghav Sibal, Managing Director, ANZ, Manhattan Associates.

"Today, with new solutions coming onto the market that evolve eCommerce post-purchase activity, retailers have greater visibility and access to change customer orders after purchase to improve the overall shopping experience."

New late-stage order modification features are included in the developments as part of the Manhattan Active Omni solution, which allows shoppers to change their delivery address even after purchases have been completed using Digital Self-Service screens.

This feature allows order changes long after the fulfilment starts, which can help reduce the return rate. A new notification is also shared to let the customer know that the address has been changed along with the updated ETA due to the address change. This enhancement also helps to reduce the cost per contact within the retailer's contact centre.

"Shoppers today want the flexibility to make changes to orders that they just placed. This could be because they forgot to update an old address, or they want a delivery to an office rather than at home if it is a delivery that they know they will need to sign for," says Sibal. 

"Being able to offer customers the ability to modify order details that they placed delivers desired flexibility from a post-purchase perspective and drives in more customer loyalty and retention when they feel empowered to make some of these changes themselves."

Manhattan Associates has also initiated the enhanced 'extend pickup window' functionality for retailers in order to provide greater flexibility around the number of extensions the customer can make. This limit is configurable, and if customers need to add to the number of extensions (or retailers need to the limit of extensions), this extended flexibility is now offered.

There is also a focus on enhanced customer notification around delivery delays. Typically, a customer will receive a shipment confirmation notification with the delivery ETA, carrier information, and tracking URL. Once the items have been shipped, Manhattan Active Omni constantly checks with the carrier via the relevant API for events like delivery delays and shipment delivery.

Now end customers can receive timely notifications to indicate if there are delivery delays that will occur due to reasons like weather situations and driver shortages etc. 

These new notifications can be sent to customers once the system receives a delivery delay or exception, including a change in the delivery ETA. The customer can also be notified if there has been a delivery attempt.

"Customers experience post-purchase order delivery anxiety if they don't receive timely notifications about their shipment and subsequent carrier delivery delays after the items have been shipped," remarks Sibal

"Sending a personalised, timely alert about a delivery delay or an exception helps customers to plan ahead – and, most importantly, feel valued. This timely communication directly impacts customer satisfaction and increases customer loyalty and retention."