Sorted research highlights online delivery experience gap

Many retailers’ delivery offers still fail to meet the demands of customers, according to a new report by Sorted.

This is based on research of 2,000 UK shoppers overlaid with a survey of 50 retail leaders. 70% of the former want retailers to provide more flexible fulfilment options and 46% agreed that convenience and personalisation were key factors. However, only 18% of retailers have the capabilities to allow shoppers to alter an order right up until the moment of dispatch, and just 4% could offer changes in the delivery requirements at any time after the customer had placed an order. 

With lack of convenience accounting for a quarter of failed deliveries, due to shoppers not being able to change an order or delivery options once an item has been shipped, inflexibility in fulfilment is also impacting returns; failed online deliveries cost retailers an estimated £2.29 million in returned goods on average each month, according to Sorted’s latest data.

David Grimes, founder and CEO at Sorted, comments: “When it comes to delivering positive fulfilment experience, built around the needs of the shopper, the true solution is less about prioritising shiny new novelties and more about relationship building – creating closer collaboration between the retailer, the carrier and the customer. Ultimately, all three parties want the same thing: to get the product to the customer as quickly, easily and cost-effectively as possible. Yet all too often, delivery is a series of disjointed processes, with so many points of failure and risk that it does not create value for any of these three parties."

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