Online retailers in the UK have to offer customers a wider choice of home delivery options to meetrising expectations and thus gain competitive edge, an in-depth review of 70 leading British online
shopping websites has found.Only 9.7% of online retailers currently offer a choice of morning or afternoon delivery andjust 6.9% offer the option of evening deliveries, the Delivery Options survey by leading outsourcemultichannel logistic specialist iForce showed.
“The class-leading companies will be those who can grow organically and attract new sales aswell as protecting existing sales by grasping the opportunity revealed in this survey and offeringwider consumer choice,” commented Geoff Taylor, Director of Client Services at iForce. “Thestandard seems to be set by online grocery retailers whose customers enjoy excellent delivery timewindow options including evening deliveries.”
According to the survey, over 90% of online retailers analysed offer standard deliverythrough Royal Mail or a carrier, with the remaining sample instead offering only next day servicebut no standard provision. There are 18 variations of ‘standard delivery’, the most common beingdefined as 3-5 days, followed by 2-4 days and then 2-3 days.
The average charge for standard delivery was £3.83 per order. This fell in a range from£1.99 to £10. Just over 11% offer free standard delivery with an additional 10% providing freedelivery based on minimum order value. Next day delivery is offered by 66.7% of those surveyed withthe average charge equating to £5.89 per order.
“Consumers are becoming accustomed to shopping online at anytime of day, expecting a widerrange of products and, crucially, expecting it to be delivered to them in the way they prefer at atime that is convenient for them. In the past they would have been content simply by having theirorder delivered to them within the retailer’s proposition; frustration would occur only if it waslate. Today the growing demands of customers means frustration is generated even if parcel isearly; it needs to arrive as promised within the desired time slot to fit in with their busylives,” Taylor added.
“Traditionally the obstacle had been finding carriers that could provide this service.However as the carriers have adapted and expanded their services to cater for the growth in homedelivery, this is no longer the case. The onus now rests with retailers to grasp the opportunity togain competitive edge by offering a broader range of delivery options.”
An opportunity lies in the cut-off times for next-day delivery. The survey found that 41.7%offered a cut off time of before 1 pm, 27% between 1pm-3pm and the remainder offering it between3pm and 6pm. No retailer offered a post 6pm cut off time. “Working with e-fulfilment specialistswill provide online retailers with an ability to push back cut-off times in order to give theircustomers more opportunity to purchase” says Geoff Taylor.
iForce also found a wide variance in the clarity of delivery costs on retailers’ websites ascosts are often displayed only during the final stages of the online experience. Furthermore, Terms& Conditions relating to delivery were often found to be difficult to understand while keyinformation on cut-off times for next day deliveries was frequently hidden in the detail orcompletely missing from the websites.
iForce suggests that wherever possible the ‘Checkout’ section of the website should offerdelivery options and charges at the early stages of the payment process to make it as unambiguousand customer friendly as possible. Delivery information needs to be presented with greatervisibility, showing precise delivery options, the associated charges and, where relevant, cut offtimes.
iForce, founded in 1998, is one of the UK’s leading e-fulfilment and returns logisticsbusinesses, offering end-to-end solutions. Clients include John Lewis Direct, Sainsbury’s,Boots.com, Fortnum & Mason and Great Little Trading Company for e-fulfilment, Tesco, Screwfixand House of Fraser for Reverse Logistics and Greene King and Bentley for Direct Marketing.
