BOXcast by Pitney Bowes

Vijay, Pierce and Julia brag about four Pitney Bowes clients that are hitting homers with each of the core pillars of the online order experience—and how we used our secret shopping data to identify them. Digressions include the 19th-century origins of mystery shopping, order tracking maps that really only “track” the buyer's home address, and the many trials and tribulations of printing return labels.

In 2020 and 2021, carriers were in the driver's seat when it came to ecommerce logistics, thanks to limited capacity and astronomical online demand. In 2022, demand has shifted and the tables have turned, giving shippers more control. Vijay and Nate Skiver — BOXcast's first outside guest — dig into shifting market dynamics, the state of multicarrier strategy, and where we're headed as the nature of online demand changes.

Americans are less sensitive to international shipping costs than Canadians. The Canadian definition of “three-day shipping” is more generous than that of most Americans. And the number one reason Canadian shoppers abandon carts from the U.S… is completely within retailers' power to fix. Vijay, Sam and Stacy dig into the latest BOXpoll data revealing consumer mindsets on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border and share actionable insights for online retailers in both countries to win more conversions from the other side. In typical BOXcast fashion, Sam's dad makes an appearance as the voice of the people, and the expertise of our in-house brain trust completely steamrolls the 30-minute target episode length.

In part two of our blast-from-the-past holiday peak recap, Vijay, Jon and Lindsey share strategies to help improve forecasting accuracy, best practices for delay notifications and simple fixes to prevent unnecessarily delayed packages in the upcoming peak season. Also a story about why Sam's parents' cat is eating like il capo amid supply chain challenges.  

With peak season around the corner, we roll back the tape on 2021 peak for lessons shippers can apply this year. In part one, Vijay, Sam and Lindsey recap the good, the bad and the ugly—namely, difficulty forecasting (brought on by supply & demand uncertainty), multicarrier strategies and disruptions showing up in the most unlikely places. We discuss why products sold online will likely need to be designed smaller and the catalog's continued relevance (but sometimes not in a good way).  

We cover the most effective ways retailers can use sustainability incentives to reduce return rates, how much consumers are willing to pay to offset the carbon footprint of their online orders and steps we've taken here at Pitney Bowes to take care of the planet. Also, Jon's daughter pours cold water on his dream car (in the name of environment). Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Go-To-Market Enablement and Experience In this episode: Jon Kapplow, SVP Marketing & Communications Michael McComb, SVP Sales North America Sylvain Combet, Director - Sustainability and EHS

This month on BOXcast, we delve into the challenges the great dispersion has presented retailers with distribution and delivery, BOXpoll stats on the kinds of sustainability efforts that resonate best with consumers while shopping online and some of our favorite earth-friendly initiatives we've seen from our clients. Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Go-To-Market Enablement and Experience In this episode: Jon Kapplow, SVP Marketing & Communications Michael McComb, SVP Sales North America Sylvain Combet, Director, Sustainability and EHS

In part two of our mystery shopping episode, Vijay, Susan and Cody share retailer success stories that set the bar for rolling with supply chain challenges, an unboxing of all the packages you heard delivered during part one and their worst returns experiences. If you haven't already, check out part one of our conversation where we dive into our crowdsourced secret shopping program and some recent order and tracking experiences. Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Go-To-Market Enablement and Experience In this episode: Cody Callaghan, Demand Generation Susan Mitchell, Sales

We love shopping online. Our crowdsourced mystery shopping program, BOXscore, has amassed analysis on over 3,500 online brands using shopping data submitted by Pitney Bowes employees. In part one of our BOXscore deep dive, Vijay talks to two of our most prolific shoppers, Susan and Cody, to pull back the curtain on our order experience benchmarking methodology and share highlights from their own purchases, along with insights from our BOXpoll consumer data. We cover changing expectations, nonsensical shipping pricing, and why updated EDDs are the heroes of supply chain disruption. Check out part two of the episode, where we ask whether thinking of returns and tracking as “post-purchase” may be holding retailers back from happier customers. Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Go-To-Market Enablement and Experience In this episode: Cody Callaghan, Demand Generation Susan Mitchell, Sales

In part two of our holiday peak recap, Vijay, Jon and Lindsey share strategies to help improve forecasting accuracy, best practices for delay notifications, and simple fixes to prevent unnecessarily delayed packages. Also a story about why Sam's parents' cat is eating like il capo amid supply chain challenges.   Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Marketing Strategy + Planning In this episode: Sam Coiro, SVP Client Engagement Lindsey Millikan, VP, Client Engagement

In part one of our holiday peak recap, Vijay, Sam and Lindsey recap the good, the bad and the ugly—namely, difficulty forecasting (brought on by supply & demand uncertainty), new multicarrier strategies and disruptions showing up in the most unlikely places. We discuss why products sold online will likely need to be designed smaller and the catalog's continued relevance (but sometimes not in a good way). Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Marketing Strategy + Planning In this episode: Sam Coiro, SVP Client Engagement Lindsey Millikan, VP, Client Engagement

Vijay, Jon and Sam share the online brands and order experiences they've been most excited about shopping recently, including: cereal that has no business being good for you, healthy wireless earbuds and ordering delivery for Bostonian Boston Cream Pies and Miamian Cuban sandwiches. We close with a heartwarming story about DNA.   Brands mentioned: • Magic Spoon • Cutting Edge Firewood • BambuWerx • Loop Earplugs  • Goldbelly • 23 and Me

Stacy shares her more-than-a-decade of expertise on international ecommerce and how much of the industry has continued to learn and evolve over that time. Vijay and Stacy walk through the new Cross-Border Maturity Model at Pitney Bowes, discussing the mindsets and challenges retailers experience at each stage of international growth.

Stacy shares her expertise on international ecommerce, including market trends and new regulations. Vijay, Jon and Sam weigh in on Brexit's implications for retailers and new strategies for retailers to combat supply chain issues so customers can get everything on their wish lists—even smoked salmon.  Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Marketing Strategy + Planning In this episode: Stacy Schaefer, Director, Global Presales Solution Consulting Jon Kapplow, SVP Marketing + Communications Sam Coiro, SVP Client Engagement

Vijay, Jon and Sam discuss what vaccine distribution will mean for ecommerce, how fast is fast, what Canadians are keeping in their socks…and what they really think about US brands (while they're not thinking about the plaza). In the conversation: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Marketing Strategy + Planning Jon Kapplow, SVP Marketing + Communications Sam Coiro, SVP Client Engagement Host: Vijay Ramachandran, VP Marketing Strategy + Planning Pitney Bowes Global eCommerce