Summer 2008

Retailers are underestimating the importance online shoppers attach to delivery, and their need to have information about it. The findings of a wide-ranging survey seem unequivocal

Nearly half of home shoppers scan web sites for delivery information before they even start shopping, according to the results of a wide-ranging consumer survey conducted for IMRG.

This implies that some web sites not showing good delivery information on their home page risk losing nearly half of all potential business merely by failing to offer adequate delivery information.

Worse, the survey reveals that difficulty in finding delivery information easily could be discouraging something like a quarter of would-be online shoppers from buying at all.

 

The way this finding breaks down is that 28.4 per cent of respondents were put off buying online through concerns about delivery, and the single most-cited reason, with a score of 86.73 per cent, was difficulty of finding delivery information.

Combine that with the next-highest figure of 77 per cent, which was for worries that the delivery might fail, and you see a very clear pattern emerging. In a word, delivery is a big issue with online shoppers.

There were plenty of practical worries about delivery alongside lack of information. Seventy-four per cent of shoppers felt that delivery would be too slow, and 68 per cent feared their goods would not arrive on time.

Easy to miss among these functional worries, but ranking third-highest among specific concerns with a rating of 71.5 per cent, was unhappiness with retailers who limit delivery to the credit cardholder's address.

When the survey asked whether respondents generally had good experience with home shopping, the findings seem on the surface to paint a rosier picture. The overall figure for those feeling positive about internet shopping was 89.5 per cent. At a glance this looks respectable, though it is in fact poorer than the figure quoted by many individual retailers. What it fails to address, however, is the large number of potential shoppers who never even pass the 'go' sign and order anything.

Another ongoing issue with home delivery was the requirement imposed by many retailers for someone to sign for receipt of goods. Interestingly, two thirds of the IMRG survey respondents (67 per cent) said they would sometimes be willing to have relatively valuable goods left somewhere convenient without signing for them.

This finding seems a strong indication that many retailers are getting it wrong when they insist on a POD for what they deem high-value goods, and this is underlined by the response to a related but simpler question. Did consumers think signing for goods was important? Respondents were divided almost exactly 50-50 on this, suggesting perhaps that signing should be offered as a beneficial option rather than an obligation.

Forty per cent of respondents in the survey of over 1,000 consumers by eDigital Research said they would welcome the opportunity to have goods left somewhere for collection. Thirty one per cent favoured a news agent's shop, 15 per cent a convenience store, 18 per cent a secure box near where they lived, and 10 per cent a petrol station.

Significantly, 20 per cent said they would not order anything unless it would fit through a letterbox. This implies that large numbers of potential sales of larger items are being lost through lack of awareness or acceptance of the unattended delivery solutions already out in the market.

The survey didn't just seek complaints; it also asked consumers what would make internet shopping more satisfactory. Surprise surprise, the favourite request was to be allowed to choose a specific delivery day, which came top with a rating of 54 per cent. This was followed closely, at 53 per cent, by the chance to choose a specific delivery time slot.

The next most frequently-mentioned request, with a perhaps unexpectedly high score of 43.6 per cent, was to be sent an advance email of a delivery problem. After this came the familiar plea for better delivery information prior to ordering, gaining a score of 42 per cent. Signs of a repeating pattern here.

Saturday morning deliveries (42 per cent), weekday evening deliveries (40 per cent) and Sunday deliveries (35 per cent) were also popular – the latter apparently contradicting other research suggesting that shoppers dislike Sunday deliveries.

You might think a lot of respondents would expect all this for nothing, but in fact a fair number said they would pay for better delivery options. Forty per cent said they would be prepared to pay for a timed delivery, and of these, nearly half (48 per cent) said they would pay up to £4, while over a third would pay £6.

Whilst people responding to surveys are known overstate their willingness to pay for things, these figures are high enough to provide some real food for thought.

It is to address many of these issues that Royal Mail has commissioned its Delivery Promise Tool (News Update, page 5). This is a web-based questionnaire that its marketing team can use to walk retailers through the features of their current web site. It highlights good and bad practice, and shows where the retailer falls down in its ability to convert web site visitors into buyers.

Statistics can be cut many ways, of course, and the IMRG survey doesn't claim to be definitive. Where it seems significant, though, is in giving at least some statistical expression to the generalised concerns often voiced about shortcomings in the delivery element of home shopping.

And in many areas, the findings are surely striking enough to represent a wake-up call to the many online retailers who still seem to be getting so much wrong.