Brits ditch e-commerce baskets over delivery issues

Thursday, August 9, 2012 - 09:34 by Paul Tissington

A new study shows that the majority of UK consumers will turn their back on a session of safe shopping online when they get to the checkout stage, if they encounter delivery options which are limited, costly or overly complicated.

Delivery service, DPD, conducted a survey, in which 73 per cent of those questioned said that they had abandoned their e-commerce baskets when faced with concerns over the expense or limits imposed on delivery.

Forty per cent of respondents said that they did not regularly encounter free delivery when conducting safe shopping online, while about the same number said that they disliked retailers that set the most expensive delivery options as default, rather than giving them an unbiased choice at the checkout.

Seventy five per cent of people said that they would prefer to see free delivery available on all online purchases. Just over a quarter said that they would be happy to pay for delivery, provided they were able to identify a conveniently timed slot within which this could occur.

Forty one per cent of people said that they would simply like to be given the option to choose from a large number of delivery types, rather than being restricted either to only free or only paid-for setups.

Of course, this study slightly contradicts a recent survey published by OnePoll, which found that the £3.5 billion annual cost of online delivery in the UK is something that customers are actually happy to pay.

The reason for the discrepancy between these two studies will probably be difficult to track down, although the ultimate message to take away from this is that consumers accept the need to deal with delivery when shopping online. It just requires that retailers are open and honest about their options and do not pressure consumers at the checkout stage.