How to incentivise loyalty in your ecommerce offering

Ecommerce has an untapped customer loyalty opportunity. In a ranking of 15 industries’ customer retention rates by Shopify, ecommerce came bottom with just 30% of shoppers buying repeatedly from their favourite online stores.[1]

This compares with 55% loyalty for the hospitality sector, 75% in banking and 84% for film and television platforms. But with a strong online presence and good customer service, ecommerce operators could more than double their retention rate.

In this article we will look at some of the ways ecommerce businesses can incentivise loyalty through improvements to your Pick, Pack and Despatch processes, with the potential to retain more than three fifths of first-time shoppers.

1. Pick: What’s in the box?

Before items even leave your warehouse, there are steps you can take to improve your customer experience. Picking orders efficiently, without making mistakes, is crucial to achieving high customer satisfaction rates and avoiding unnecessary returns.

Focus on ecommerce order accuracy

Picking and packing go hand in hand – from choosing the correct items to packaging them in a way that prevents them from becoming damaged during delivery.

Amazon Shipping found that receiving an incorrect or damaged item is the top complaint for nearly two fifths (38%) of ecommerce customers.[2]

“Behind the scenes, these issues often stem from outdated inventory systems or rushed packing processes. Retailers who leverage AI-driven order management and invest in sturdy, high-quality packaging can ensure that what customers order is exactly what they receive – intact and ready to use.”

– Amazon Shipping Blog, 2025

The statistic comes from a survey of 6,000 shoppers in the UK, Spain, Italy and France, with the research report’s title advising that ‘Customer loyalty begins at the doorstep’.[3]

Keep in-demand items in stock

Maintaining sufficient stock of in-demand items is critical to serving repeat customers. Research shows that ecommerce has the edge over bricks-and-mortar retailers in this regard,[4] making this an area where you can delight your online buyers.

A Retail Insight survey of over 1,000 UK shoppers found that 82% experienced their favourite products being out-of-stock in physical shops in 2023, but this figure fell to just 60% when shopping online.

That’s still 3 in 5 customers, and an increase of six percentage points from the previous year. A corresponding survey of US consumers found that 68% had the same issue, a nine percentage point increase year-on-year, compared with 78% in-store.

Ecommerce operators can benefit from excellent visibility of warehouse stock levels, as online orders can be connected directly to inventory management.

MRM’s warehouse management platform Newton can handle this along with calculating the most efficient packaging and shipping rates, all of which can influence customer retention as we will see below.

2. Pack: Wrapping it right

Packing (both the process and your choice of packaging materials) can play an important role in ensuring your customers do not look elsewhere, at a time when many UK consumers are addressing the environmental impact of their shopping habits.

Avoid excess and prioritise recycling

Excessive single-use ‘general waste’ packaging is a major turn-off for customer loyalty. A survey of UK ecommerce shoppers[5] found that unnecessary single-use plastic packaging will actually stop many from coming back:

21% will pay more for plastic-free packaging
22% will not order again if packaging is difficult to recycle
25% will pay more for easily recyclable packaging
26% will not order again if packaging is excessive
68% rate a brand's sustainability higher if packaging is plastic-free

An overwhelming majority of 4 in 5 online shoppers said they prefer packaging to be cardboard or paper, rather than plastic – making this one of the most crowd-pleasing changes ecommerce operators can make.

“At a time when consumers are keeping an eye on their spending and competition for customers is fierce, brands risk losing business if their packaging fails to meet online shoppers’ increased sustainability standards.”

– Anne Curtis, Ecommerce Business Unit Lead for UK Packaging, DS Smith[6]

Better sustainability in packing processes

Across the board, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability is a persuasive influence on customer loyalty. The Customer Loyalty Index 2025 by SAP Emarsys[7] found that 39% of Gen Z consumers have switched brands due to poor sustainability performance.

This is a clear generational trend – suggesting that it will only become more important in the years to come.

Generation	Years born	Age in 2025	Switched
Silent	1928-1945	80-97	9%
Boomers	1946-1964	61-79	13%
Gen X	1965-1980	45-60	22%
Millennials	1981-1996	29-44	35%
Gen Z	1997-2012	13-28	39%

Table 1: Likelihood to switch ecommerce brand loyalty due to sustainability practices by generation. Source: SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index 2025.[8]

With over 10,000 survey respondents across five countries including the UK, USA, Australia, Germany and Taiwan,[9] the results have implications whether you sell domestically or internationally.

3. Despatch: Getting it there

Getting goods to the customer is arguably the most important step in the ecommerce purchase process. Research consistently shows that shipping and returns policies are influential factors in deciding whether a first-time customer is satisfied with their order.

Better shipping and returns

With more than half of Black Friday Weekend spending now taking place online,[10] courier companies are struggling to cope. In November 2025, Citizens Advice found that 37% of consumers faced problems with their most recent delivery.[11]

Common problems include:

1. Driver leaving before they reached the door (29%)

2. Parcel left in secure location (24%)

3. Parcels arrived late (24%)

A focus on better ecommerce despatch is becoming a key differentiator for online retailers. A 2024 YouGov survey[12] found that 43% of consumers had abandoned an online purchase because they did not like the available delivery options.

The same survey revealed that three quarters (74%) of UK consumers are reluctant to shop from ecommerce sites that charge for returns – highlighting the added value of a customer-focused returns policy.

Optimise delivery and return timescales

Offering shoppers their preferred timescales of delivery and returns is an easy way to put customer service first, encouraging consumers to come back again in future.

Research from IMRG[13] shows that the majority of ecommerce shoppers do not expect same-day or next-day delivery – in fact, the largest group is willing to wait three days to get their items.

IMRG’s Consumer Home Delivery Review 2022-23[14] also found that very few consumers expect a returns policy to last for longer than 28 days:

Same day: 4%
Next day: 13%
Next working day: 11%
2 days: 24%
3 days: 34%
4 days: 8%
5+ days: 4%

By catering to these expectations, you can make a good impression on customers at a key moment in the fulfilment process – the exchange of items between their hands and yours – while avoiding negative experiences that can lead to a breakdown in loyalty.

Why does customer loyalty matter?

Customer loyalty is not just an altruistic ambition; it’s a necessary business decision. Research indicates that the typical online retailer has just a 27% chance to retain a first-time buyer following the Golden Quarter sales surge.[15]

“It’s a sad fact that many brands still struggle to convert customers from first-time to repeat buyers. 70-80% of a typical ecommerce business’s customers are single-order customers. Ensuring you optimise the post-purchase flow to understand the experience, build on the engagement, and drive to the second purchase is perhaps the biggest problem in marketing.”

– Alex Timlin, SVP Verticals, SAP Emarsys[16]

At the same time, improving customer retention does not cost money – it makes money. Acquiring a new customer on average costs five times as much as retaining one who has already made a purchase.[17]

Just a 5% uptick in retention rates can drive a profit increase in excess of 25%.[18] And in many cases, measures to improve customer satisfaction also optimise the efficiency of your business in areas like stock control, packaging costs and reliable first-time delivery.

Combined with our 6 Black Friday Lessons for Your 2026 eCommerce Calendar, these opportunities can transform your ecommerce business’s prospects for the coming year. To find out more about how MRM can help you with order handling, fulfilment and despatch, contact us today.