Online retailers with extensive experience have proclaimed that it is the delivery system and not the fanciest new technology or the flashiest website that will lure Australian customers to shop at Australian online businesses.

Paul Greenberg, a pioneer in Australia’s online retail sector as co-founder of the DealsDirect Group in 2004, has said that customers want their orders delivered in a timely manner and if Australian businesses can that, they will likely prosper.

“The battleground has shifted to the supply chain,” he says.

This seems to be the philosophy of online fashion retail giant The Iconic, which placed a tremendous amount of importance on getting people their orders as quickly as possible, regardless of the cost. The Iconic has recently been in the spotlight for having to jettison a number of jobs and also for taking big losses in its first two years of operations. But all that is now said to have been a planned growth strategy. Investors ploughed a further $28 million into the business late last week.

As it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep fickle online shoppers happy, fast and reliable delivery is where many online retailers are hoping to set their businesses apart. However, Greenburg notes, that is not easily done, as a distribution network that hums like a well-oiled machine also tends to drive up costs and online retailers will have to make sure that they generate enough revenue to cover those costs.

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