parcelLab research highlights online festive flops
Although 49% of people now do at least half their Christmas shopping online, 44% say the experience is worse during the festive period compared to the rest of the year. That’s according to a survey by YouGov of 2,024 British shoppers, commissioned by parcelLab.
62% of 25 to 34 year-olds do at least half of their festive buying over the internet, with more than a third purchasing at least 75%. And 11% of respondents in this group believe their experience is better at Christmas than during the rest of the year, compared with 8% of all online shoppers
Some 34% of respondents cited length of delivery time as a key problem, with 56% of Brits saying delivery takes at least one day longer at Christmas, and 28% reporting it takes at least three days longer. Out-of-stock items (31%), late delivery (28%) and poor post-purchase communication (14%) and tracking (11%) were also reported as problems.
“The proportion of Christmas shopping that people are doing online in the UK is great news for retailers; not so much the experience they are delivering, particularly post-purchase,” says Julian Krenge, CTO at parcelLab.
“These days consumers have so much choice that retailers who disappoint during the shipping period are likely to lose customers to those that offer a better experience. We’ve also found that delivering a good post purchase experience in terms of keeping shoppers well informed and providing useful information results in between 75% and 80% returning to a retailer’s website, with at least 1% buying again immediately.”