Hermes UK home delivery survey – reliable and affordable wins the race
Generally, Hermes finds that if people are not at home, the best approach is to deliver items to a neighbour or leave them in a safe place. In doing so, with local couriers that supposedly know their routes so well they have a good idea where and when consumers want parcels dropped off, Hermes claims a 95% first-time delivery rate.
There is “mass acceptance” in particular for delivery to a neighbour according to Hermes, something Royal Mail has now just started to do. “People don’t want to be left a card telling them to pick it up at a cold depot outside town,” says Winters.
One delivery option that is on the way is parcel shops. Hermes launched a network of 500 convenience stores offering their parcel services this June, learning the lessons from its sister company’s 14,000-strong network in Germany. Through the second half of this year, the UK network has grown to 1,000 outlets. The network is mostly used for the sending of parcels and returns, but Hermes is set to begin allowing consumers to have their online purchases delivered to its parcel shops from the first quarter of next year, after a trial with two retailers.
“On some of our customer websites you will be able to choose to deliver to a parcel shop,” says Carole Woodhead, the Hermes UK chief executive. “I see it as being predominantly our (consumer-to-consumer web portal) myHermes delivery despatch and Hermes returns, but this is a good avenue for Click and Collect.”
Hermes has its eye on the prospect of more automated parcel terminals being used in the UK as an alternative collection point, though its chief executive says the company is unlikely to go down that route unless it has to, opting for parcel shops instead.
“We have chosen parcel shops because we are a people business, and we have chosen to go on being a people business,” she says, although she notes there have been “conversations” in the company about parcel lockers.
“We have chosen parcel shops because we are a people business”
Winters says parcel locker terminals require capital investment, and therefore would not be a free service. What about an independent, carrier-neutral network of parcel terminals in the UK?
“I’m not going to say we wouldn’t consider it as an add-on,” says Woodhead. “But having control of something with the Hermes brand is very important to us. And we have quite a high popularity for our parcel shops.”
Delivery times
The Hermes survey suggests that there’s no longer much variation in which times or days that consumers want to receive a parcel, though there is still a slight attraction to Saturdays and early evenings.
Woodhead says customers are not willing to pay for narrow delivery time-slots based on the mass-market goods that Hermes generally delivers. DPD has had success with its Predict service, which can estimate delivery time down to a one-hour time, but that tends to be higher value express delivery items, she says.
“We offer an am/pm option, but there’s a relatively low take-up,” she says, noting that her company is more of a mass-market carrier shipping lower value items.
Evening deliveries was an option that Hermes was trialling this year, but as Woodhead reveals, the company has not found there is enough demand from its retail clients to provide a permanent evening delivery service.
This year’s Hermes survey found a slight drop in the proportion of shoppers who would find evening deliveries appealing compared to last year’s poll. Winters suggests that British shoppers are growing more accustomed to when online purchases arrive.
There is still 78% of shoppers that find evening deliveries appealing, however, and 88% of those in full-time employment.
The trouble is, 75% of people would only pay a pound or less for the privilege of receiving their purchases when they are at home during the evening.
Woodhead says: “We have been talking to our retailers about evening delivery, and we’ve stepped back from it – we haven’t had much interest in it, and it’s not a cheap model to run.”
Hermes believes if consumers want to pick items up in the evening, they are usually happy to collect from a parcel shop. But the company also has an enviable 95% first time delivery rate for its parcels, which Woodhead puts down to the fact that Hermes couriers are locally-based, and know consumer habits on their routes so well they know the best times and places to drop off parcels.
Range of options
Overall, Winters suggests that from Hermes’ research, rather than individual delivery options proving to be the best, retailers are advised to offer a range of different delivery options if they are to keep consumers happy – priced at the right level.
