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Editorial: Why you can’t afford to ignore the delivery experience

DeliveryX

The importance of the customer experience when it comes to delivery is once again highlighted in a number of our news stories on eDelivery.net this week. The IMRG’s latest Valuing Home Delivery 2016 review puts a new spotlight on the need to get deliveries right first time in order to give the customers the best experience possible.
Whilst there have been improvements in this year’s review the IMRG warns retailers not to get complacent, and says that those retailers who are failing to keep up with, or adopt the latest innovations in the sector, risk losing customers.

The report uses various suggested values, figures and scenarios to work out the impact of failed deliveries but the IMRG is urging retailers to use their own figures, and an online calculator available from its partner Blackbay, to better understand how failed deliveries are affecting their business specifically.

In congested cities the delivery experience can get spoilt simply by drivers getting caught up in traffic. Sainsbury’s extended trial of grocery deliveries by bike this week therefore makes interesting reading. The company is returning to a concept first introduced more than 100 years ago, delivering groceries to homes in central London by the good old-fashioned bicycle. It’s an interesting concept but given the success of the likes of Deliveroo already is likely to be popular.

Consumers want it all – but don’t want to pay a premium

One of the more modern innovations we have seen in terms of delivery is the introduction of Sunday delivery. Sounds ideal doesn’t it? Your parcel turning up just as you are relaxing over brunch and the Sunday morning papers rather than stressing about getting home from work in time.

But a new report from Electio shows that whilst consumers may love the ideal they don’t really love the idea of paying for it – suggesting that retailers need to change how they manage Sunday deliveries if they are to improve their viability as a delivery option. Fail to do so and Sunday delivery will become the preserve of an elite minority of retailers, the report says.

Another thing that consumers hate paying for is delivery. And it seems the vast majority don’t. Consumer research from JDA and Centiro suggests that 80% of European online shoppers exceed minimum order thresholds in order to qualify for free delivery or collection.

Like the IMRG study, the research also highlights the impact of a poor delivery on customer satisfaction and found that 1 in 2 European shoppers had experienced a problem with an online order home delivery in the last 12 months alone.

More than half had also encountered problems with click and collect services too. One person who is confident in the click and collect process however is DPD CEO Dwain McDonald. He believes his company’s recent partnership with Sainsbury’s to allow customers to pick up DPD parcels from 200 collection points will be a further boost for the alternative delivery solution as we hit Christmas peak.

And talking of boosts the share price of UK Mail Group enjoyed a welcomed surge last week on the news that Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group had made a £243 million bid for the firm.

And finally this week we have a piece from Cybertill explaining more about the opportunities of email receipts. Are you embracing them within your business?

If you haven’t subscribed to eDelivery yet, why not do so now? You’ll get a weekly newsletter summarising the main stories we’ve covered, and we’ll keep you informed of other big announcements. You’ll find details on subscribing here. And if you’re not receiving a copy of the magazine find details here on that too.

Don’t forget the eDelivery conference next week too, on Tuesday 11 October. You will get the chance to hear from a range of keynote speakers that include representatives from John Lewis, Amazon, Royal Mail, M&S and Alibaba, to name just a few!


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