More consumers are worried now than a year ago that a home delivery might fail because no one is at home to receive the goods; but fewer see delivery issues as a barrier to home shopping (down 13 per cent). These are among the key findings of the Consumer Delivery Survey 2010, a wide-ranging report from IMRG.

The report says three quarters of consumers have experienced a first-time delivery failure, and 17 per cent of deliveries don't match up to consumer expectations.

Forty-three per cent of regular home shoppers said the delivery experience and delivery offer could influence their choice of retailer, and nearly 40 per cent of those surveyed said poor delivery experience had stopped them shopping again with a particular retailer.

Significantly, the vast majority of shoppers (87 per cent) said they look for delivery information before checking out. Nearly half (45 per cent) look for headline delivery information before they even start to shop, and a further 33 per cent check their delivery options as they add goods to their shopping cart.

 

More than half of shoppers (55 per cent) run the risk of a failed delivery because no one will be at home to accept the goods, the report says. It found that in 17.5 per cent of households there is no one at home during normal delivery hours, and in a further 37.5 per cent there is only someone there on specific days.

Paradoxically, about half of consumers (49 per cent) always want to sign for 'non-letterbox' deliveries, and a further 44 per cent sometimes do – a finding that suggests many deliveries are almost bound to fail.

Indeed, the report suggests that 17 per cent of home deliveries do in fact fail at the first attempt, or require the goods to be picked up from a depot.

When it comes to solutions, 82 per cent of respondents favoured the ability to choose a specific delivery day, followed by 78 per cent opting for timed delivery, 67 per cent evening delivery, 63 per cent Saturday morning and 50 per cent Sunday.

But consumers were reluctant to pay a premium for a timed delivery; 70 per cent put a maximum of £2 on this, and a further 16 per cent said £4.

Awareness of alternative delivery options was still low, and the report concludes that stakeholders need to work hard to help consumers appreciate these alternatives, and retailers need to offer and promote them actively.

The report was produced for IMRG by Spiral4 and eDigital Research, and was supported by Postcode Anywhere.