UPS survey finds shipping critical to online buying experience

Internet shoppers say the successful delivery of goods purchased online is critical to their overall satisfaction and loyalty to online retailers, according to a new survey commissioned by UPS (NYSE: UPS).
The survey, conducted for UPS by the national opinion research firm Synovate, found online consumers were overwhelming in their demand for high-quality delivery services. Among the findings:

Online consumers' top three delivery priorities, in order, are reliability, convenience and speed of shipping.
80 percent of online shoppers said a positive delivery experience would cause them to likely purchase from that online retailer again.
69 percent of the respondents said they were more likely to patronize those online retailers that offered package tracking, rates and service selection online.
"The UPS survey confirms what we hear from our customers, that reliable and on-time shipping is just as important as the ability to easily browse products via our Web site and confidently and securely pay for them," said Patrick M. Byrne, president of Overstock.com., which recently began using UPS as its primary carrier. "We view UPS as an extension of our overall relationship with our own customers."

UPS now is delivering orders fulfilled out of Overstock.com's distribution centers in Salt Lake City and Indianapolis, based on a comprehensive operations plan that will help the online retailer manage its flurry of orders during the holidays.

"As a supply chain provider to some of the world's leading retailers, it's important for UPS to understand what consumers think about the shipping of goods they purchase online," said Kurt Kuehn, senior vice president, UPS worldwide sales and marketing. "This survey tells us there's more to online ordering than just clicking the mouse to 'buy.' The successful fulfillment and delivery of the order has a significant impact on consumer loyalty to online retailers."

UPS long has played a key role in supporting online retailers, serving as the primary delivery arm for many of the nation's largest Web merchants. The new survey was commissioned to study whether the delivery options offered by a retailer are really that critical to building repeat business. While UPS does not attempt to estimate its online retail volume each year, its total holiday season surge will build from roughly 14 million deliveries a day to a peak day of more than 20 million on Dec. 20.

Over the past decade, UPS has deployed a host of technology tools that help the world's top multi-channel and online retailers respond to new customer demands driven by the Internet. As a result, more than 18,000 UPS retail customers have integrated shipping technology to tap into UPS's global IT infrastructure, increasing efficiency while improving customer service. Lands' End, for example, provides its customers 24-hour access to their order status by providing UPS tracking directly on LandsEnd.com.

The survey was conducted by Synovate for UPS in September 2005 as part of its eNation, a weekly survey of 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 or older. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent.

UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information, and funds. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (UPS) and the company can be found on the Web at UPS.com.