Are couriers failing to deliver?

Home deliveries have been in the news rather a lot recently for all the wrong reasons.

Many online purchases are being delivered late, to the wrong house or even worse, being lost completely. The problems have been made worse recently with retailers choosing to move their deliveries from the Royal Mail to an alternative parcel delivery service, only to discover that their newly chosen service provider is struggling to cope with increased deliveries with a driver shortage and inflated costs. 

These news stories have added anecdotal evidence to the consumer research Descartes conducted in 2022 into Consumer Buying Habits and Home Deliveries, where 54% of respondents said that buying online was all about convenience, even though around 75% of them had experienced delivery problems in a three-month period. A massive 44% of consumers who had experienced a poor delivery service then went on to say that they had lost trust in the retailer and were unlikely to order from that company again, with 16% of them telling friends and family to also avoid that retailer. 

Retailers should understand the impact that a poor delivery service can have on their future sales.

While many sellers are trying to impress and have their goods delivered on the same or the next day as the order is placed, there are in fact many consumers who are willing to wait for their deliveries and have their goods delivered on a day of their choosing, especially if this is the greener, more environmentally friendly option, and explained as such by the retailer.

Our research discovered that two thirds (64%) of customers would be happy to combine their orders into one delivery on a certain day and that 45% would actually pay more to have goods delivered at a certain time and date. This means that retailers could increase their revenue for deliveries simply by offering a choice of delivery days and times to their customers. 

Read the full research paper and discover new ways your delivery business could benefit from timed delivery slots. 

Or book a meeting with us to discuss.