November 2012
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications, Distribution & logistics, Consumer goods & FMCG , Retail
Market research finds online retailers at risk by getting deliveries wrong: An online survey of 2,107 UK adults by YouGov has shown that many Britons who use the Internet to shop are intolerant of retailers who supply incorrect or damaged goods.
A total of 25% at UK adults said they would be unlikely to buy from an online retailer a second time if their order was incorrectly fulfilled, while this figure rose to 28% if they received a damaged item.
The market research, conducted by logistics service provider Norbert Dentressangle, also looked into other key factors of online retail, such as the importance of late ordering cut-off times for next day deliveries and whether customer feedback influenced purchasing decisions.
In terms of late-ordering cut-off times, only 6% of the surveyants strongly agree that this issue is important, however customer feedback was found to be crucial with 69% agreeing that this influenced their online purchasing decisions, rising to 80% for those who frequently use Twitter.
Head of E-Commerce Development at Norbert Dentressangle, Mark Catley, commented: "Whilst the actual delivery of an online purchase represents an important part of the customer experience, that experience continues into the customer's home, where a retailer has a final, critical opportunity to either delight or disappoint… that retailer does not have the same opportunity to 'make right' at the back of store, at front of store, via a sales assistant or with an 'instant' replacement product as they would in-store, increasing the risk of permanently forfeiting that customer's business."
View more of our sector specific insights: IT & telecommunications, Distribution & logistics, Consumer goods & FMCG, Retail
