Study shows delivery problems still plague online retail experience

Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 15:16 by David Aiken

Plenty of Brits who carry out safe shopping online with the expectation of receiving the items they order quickly and without issue are still beset by snarl-ups in the delivery process, according to a new study commissioned by Citizens Advice.

Sixty nine per cent of respondents to the survey said that they have experienced some form of complication while waiting for a package to be delivered in the past 12 months, whether as a result of the products arriving later than expected or not turning up at all.

The report’s authors said that it was especially worrying to see that even in cases when customers have paid a premium for express delivery, it is still possible for problems to arise and complicate matters.

Those questioned pinpointed a variety of ways in which deliveries can be completed in a less than satisfactory way. One big bug bear is when delivered items are left somewhere on the premises if there is nobody home, especially if the place where the package is left is not secure.

One reason that delivery services may not be improving is that people are simply failing to make complaints if they suffer some setback. Fifty four per cent said that they did not bother to alert retailers if an item ordered via safe shopping online turns up later than scheduled, while 33 per cent of damaged goods are never reported.

In the event that a complaint is made, there is no guarantee of a satisfactory resolution. Forty per cent of those who had got in touch after a botched delivery said that the process was not simple to complete, especially as some retailers do not offer phone-based support services.

Even with such problems still prevalent, the rise of online shopping in the UK is continuing unabated. Perhaps even more people would be convinced to use e-commerce sites if delivery was streamlined.