Etailers lose billions through delivery issues: survey
Online retailers lost £2.7bn in revenue in 2009 when customers abandoned their shopping carts in response to delivery issues, suggests new research.
The Royal Mail’s Delivery Matters research also found that 52% of online retailers were failing to meet shoppers’ needs in five key areas. They included giving a choice of delivery days, a good range of delivery options, parcel tracking, delivery speeds, and delivery costs. More than half (52%) of those who abandon their carts told the Royal Mail’s researchers that they do so because they were not happy with the delivery charge.
Gary Winter, Royal Mail’s head of goods fulfilment, said: “Customer needs continue to evolve and in a massively competitive online marketplace retailers that operate in a bubble and fail to take these needs into account risk losing business.’
The Royal Mail has developed, in partnership with IMRG, five Golden Rules to guide retailers.
Be flexible: give customers the option to choose the delivery dates that they want so that they can receive their order at the first attempt
Help customers to help you: accept delivery instructions and requests, as it will improve the chances of meeting your customers’ needs
Keep customers informed: let customers know when items are dispatched and when to expect delivery, allowing them to track progress where possible.
Don’t be late: make sure customers’ goods are always delivered on time, and ensure you offer fast delivery options
No surprises: explain your delivery service right at the start and be transparent with your delivery costs and returns policy as the customer shops.
IMRG managing director David Smith said: “In order to support the continued growth of our industry it’s vital that online retailers regularly evaluate the scope of their delivery offerings and look for new ways to satisfy customer expectations – particularly given that the evidence points to a real opportunity for increased sales and customer loyalty.”
Our view: Retailers could be forgiven for thinking that a delivery firm would say that delivery options on websites need to be better. But increasingly the view of multichannel experts is that it all comes down to delivery. Robin Terrell of House of Fraser told us last week, discussing international delivery, that this is the most important area to work on.
So while we might take the Royal Mail’s advice with a pinch of salt, it’s certainly advice that’s worth taking. Because if a website doesn’t deliver to the customer’s satisfaction, what, ultimately was the point of their shopping online, rather than going to a shop?
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2 Comments »
Well, how about people abandoning the Royal Mail because their terms of postage are about as transparent as a brick wall. It is OK if you use stamps, but try to understand the ins and outs of trade postage, using one line business account or despatch express, and then the different types of registered and recorded – sorry, special delivery and “signed for” – and you soon get frustrated.
Despatch Express does not update after the first 10 attempts, so its post code information is quickly out of date. It has an option of Recorded, but prints “Signed For” on the address label. It does not have space for US post codes so it is impossible to put them in the right place.
Pot, kettle, black.
Some interesting insights from the Royal Mail, and unsurprising that they reveal a need for faster, more convenient and more reliable delivery options. I recently posted a blog on our corporate site comparing same day delivery services currently being offered by UK retailers:
http://shutl.co.uk/blog/retailers-offering-same-day-delivery
The list is by no means exhaustive but does give an overview of those retailers leading the charge in this field. Feel free to have a look and let us know if we’ve overlooked your service or indeed if you’d like to have it featured.
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