Consumers want Sunday deliveries – but don’t want to pay extra
Two thirds of consumers want Sunday delivery but they expect the convenience to come at a standard price, finds a report commissioned by Electio. Electio’s whitepaper, which compared research conducted with 100 retailers and 1,000 UK consumers, showed that consumers are increasingly influenced by the immediacy of social media and the Amazon “I want it now” phenomenon. And retailers are reacting fast, with 81% of them already offering or planning to implement a Sunday delivery strategy to keep up with demand.
The most popular reason for wanting a Sunday delivery is because people are likely to be at home. In terms of the types of products customers are most likely to be expecting, large white goods and high value items lead the way.
The whitepaper also revealed that while retailers can see the value in Sunday delivery to improve the customer experience, boost sales and gain a competitive advantage, they also face significant challenges. Arranging for staff to work weekends, navigating carrier service availability and updating websites to show Sunday options, were found to be some of the top challenges.
Retailers also stated that they are struggling to get customers to pay a premium for a service which costs more to provide.
Industry experts contributing to the whitepaper highlight a number of solutions, particularly urging carriers and retailers to work together to provide the convenience that shoppers demand. This includes:
- Changing operational patterns and staffing structures
- Pre-sorting on Friday to facilitate Saturday and Sunday delivery in the current system
- Marketing campaigns to generate the volume necessary to provide Sunday delivery at the cost customers are willing to pay, i.e. for free
- Considering Sunday delivery as a way to relieve the traditional delivery/operational bottlenecks on Mondays and Tuesday
“Delivery in 2016 is at a new place” said Andrew Hill, commercial director at Electio. “Customers are deciding when and how they want to pick up a parcel. They want the option of delivery within one hour slots every day of the week, including Sunday. We can’t bury our heads in the sand when it comes to Sundays. If retailers don’t address some of these challenges head on and find a solution, then Sunday delivery will become the preserve of an elite minority of retailers”.
