The delivery service that retailers offer can help them to stand out from the competition – but what are the elements that make that difference? The new MetaPack 2018 State of Ecommerce Delivery Consumer Research Report suggests free delivery and collection options are particularly important for them – but that issues such as the environment are also important. The study questioned 3,597 consumers from seven countries including the UK, France, Germany and the US.
The appetite for free delivery
Free delivery is a top consideration for 62% of shoppers, the report founds, with 49% saying they no longer expect to pay for standard delivery. Three in four (75%) consumers say they’ve bought products in order to to qualify for free delivery.
Prepared to pay
Shoppers are prepared to pay for extra speed and convenience that goes beyond standard delivery: 70% of online shoppers said they were prepared to pay for services such as one-hour, same day or Sunday delivery.
Convenient collections
44% say they’re tempted to try out new delivery options to take advantage of collection from a local pick-up point.
The rise in environmental concern
There’s a relatively small but growing interest in eco-friendly delivery options such as consolidated delivery. More than a quarter (26%) – rising to 41% in the US said they cared about how their online deliveries contributed to increased carbon emissions and traffic congestion. More than half (51%, up from 47% in 2017) said they were aware of the environment as an issue, notably in France (62%), the Netherlands (60%) and Germany (56%). Of those that said they’d prefer to have their deliveries consolidated, 35% said it was because of environmental concerns.
Cross-border issues
Almost half of respondents (49%) had made between one and five overseas purchases. Expensive delivery (45%), slow delivery (28%) and paying for delivery (25%) were among the barriers to doing so. Some 83% of US and 80% of Canadian shoppers check to see if extra charges will be applied to their order, while French (43%), German (38%) and Dutch (38%) shoppers are most likely to abandon their basket in the face of unexpected charges.
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