Adapting is key

Online marketplace eBay became even more popular for consumers and businesses at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, and its growth is only set to continue.

As one of eBay’s key delivery partners, Royal Mail has the chance to progress alongside them, according to Neil McLauchlan (pictured), eBay’s shipping and logistics director.

‘We expect to be heavily reliant on Royal Mail to enhance capacity and volume to meet that demand and do it in a way that’s trusted and reliable for our sellers,’ said Neil.

‘We look forward to seeing Royal Mail step up its innovations and increase the services it offers to sellers, as well as develop the increasingly important options available to buyers, such as redirections.’

Neil says that as customer demands change, so too must businesses keep up with their expectations. ‘It’s not just retailers’ customer research, they also look at the carrier partner, which has an impact on whether the customer continues to buy from that retailer,’ he added.

‘Staying relevant, keeping up-to-date with trends and continuing to innovate and evolve means you’re meeting the needs of those buyers, and therefore retailers are more likely to keep that carrier partner.’

Neil is pleased to see the increase we’ve made in being able to track items, saying this is now a pre-requisite for some customers, and this kind of additional service must continue.

‘As a carrier partner, we expect Royal Mail to keep us informed of how the network is performing and what services they’re offering to make sure we meet the needs of those customers as they start to change in the future,’ he said.