Retailers ‘failing to meet delivery demands’

Written by Anthony Strzalek

12/09/2017

The majority of UK retailers are failing to meet consumer demands for greater levels of delivery personalisation and flexibility, a new survey has found.

The research, which polled 2,000 UK consumers and was conducted by delivery experience company Sorted, found that 70 per cent of consumers want more flexible delivery options to be made readily available and two-thirds (66 per cent) agreed that retailers and delivery companies should work more closely to make deliveries as smooth and successful as the rest of the shopping experience.

While almost half (46 per cent) of shoppers said convenience and personalisation of fulfilment were key factors in online buying decisions, a quarter (27 per cent) said they thought delivery was disconnected from the rest of the retail experience.

Indeed, lack of convenience accounted for 25 per cent of all failed online deliveries, due to shoppers not being able to change delivery options once an item had been shipped, underpinning the impact of not mirroring the fast and flexible fulfilment options that customers now expect.

The survey also revealed that almost a quarter (23 per cent) of respondents believe that more progressive, location-based delivery options would improve the delivery experience, through more convenient ‘to device deliveries’, where an order is delivered to a customer by geo-locating their smartphone, kerb side fulfilment using their car’s Bluetooth location or drone delivery.

David Grimes, CEO at Sorted, commented: “Retailers no longer govern industry progress or change – instead, it is now in the hands of the consumer. Despite recent focuses on improving the delivery and fulfilment side of customer buying journeys, these findings highlight the worrying reality that shoppers are simply not satisfied with current levels of service.”