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Delivery trends revealed in 2010 online retail delivery report, including continued improvement in customer service levels  

Delivery trends revealed in 2010 online retail delivery report, including continued improvement in customer service levels

 

UK online retailers are continuing to improve their delivery services, according to the fifth annual Snow Valley Online Retail Delivery Report, this year sponsored by delivery specialists, MetaPack.

 

Snow Valley evaluated 166 UK retailers for this year’s report, placing orders on 137 sites and monitoring 27 aspects of the delivery process, from charges to speed of delivery.

 

The research discovered that 64% of the retailers provided a choice of delivery times and charges in 2009, up from just 54% in 2005.

 

The most pronounced improvement from the past five years, however, was in communication and customer service – 84% of the retailers can now provide online order tracking, allowing the customer to check the status of their delivery, compared to just 59% in 2005.

 

Could do better on options, choice

 

But the report also found that there is room for improvement. Many premium services have remained proportionally static over the past five years – Saturday delivery was available on 26% of sites compared with 23% in 2005. Nominated day and time-of-day delivery had increased from 14% in 2005 to 15% in 2009.

 

Interestingly, larger retailers were much more likely to support these services – 53% of those on the IMRG Hitwise Top 50 Shops List had a Saturday service – which suggests that the demand for such services is there.

 

And although 94% of retailers sent an email to confirm the order had arrived, only five retailers used any text messaging during the delivery process. While 15% of retailers offered some sort of collect from store option, up from 12% in 2007.

 

Over a third (39%) of retailers now offer free delivery over a certain order value threshold, compared to just 24% in 2005. And, while standard delivery charges have crept up very slightly over the past five years, charges for premium services, such as nominated day delivery, appeared to be decreasing.

 

Despite the weakness of sterling, only 43% of retailers could deliver to the US. And delivery cut-off times were getting later – one retailer could accept orders until 11pm for next-day delivery.

 

Trend towards offering better value

 

“These are exciting times for online retail delivery and there are many trends that we’re going to be watching closely in future,” said Carlo Rimini, chief executive of Snow Valley, commenting on the trends for 2010 identified also identified in the report. “The rise of delivery loyalty schemes like Amazon Prime and ASOS Premier, where you pay an annual fee and then every order is delivered for free, is very interesting for example.

 

“The use of super-saver delivery is also going to be very important. For years, retailers had a standard delivery charge and then they scaled upwards with premium services that cost more. ASOS are now offering a low cost super-saver service where you pay just £1.95, but it could take up to seven days. We expect to see more of this.

 

“Many of our other top ten trends are continuations of what we’ve seen over the past five years. We expect to see more growth of nominated day and time of day options, as they’re still relatively uncommon and there’s a lot of room for improvement. Text messaging is still in its infancy and we expect international delivery to increase.”

 

MetaPack chief executive, Patrick Wall commented: “We are really pleased to be sponsoring the Online Retail Delivery in the UK Report. MetaPack works hard to play a positive role in the home delivery industry; working alongside retailers of all sizes, e-commerce companies and the carrier industry, bringing them together in a seamless solution that benefits them all. But most importantly; also raising the standards of home delivery so that it no longer becomes a deterrent for those looking to shop online.

 

“We have used these findings to support the push to best practise in delivery as set out in standards such as the IDIS Gold, and have explained how to achieve these in our supporting white paper,” Wall added.