Sendcloud research: Millennials drive online delivery agenda

Millennials are becoming a driving force behind changes to how retailers deliver goods, according to research by Sendcloud.

A survey was conducted by Nielsen among 7,873 participants from eight European countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom).

Four out of five Millennials in the UK considered flexibility as a key element of delivery compared to 53% of Boomers.

This trend is expected to continue in the future as the buying power of Generation Y grows, with the study showing Millennials spend an average of £139 per order online as opposed to Boomers paying around £61.

63% of Millennials want to be able to change the delivery time of a parcel even if it’s already on its way, with 58% also wanting to change the delivery address while en route.

These preferences drop significantly in the Boomer generation, with just 27% wanting to change the delivery time and only a quarter believing that changing the address is necessary.

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“It’s especially interesting to see that Millennials are setting the standard for online orders and flexible delivery services,” says Rob van den Heuvel, CEO and Co-founder at Sendcloud.

“The challenge now for shipping and logistics providers is to meet the demand from consumers and provide more choice on where, when and how they receive online orders.”

Millennial shoppers were found to be significantly more likely to choose premium shipping options at a time that is convenient for them. Three quarters of Boomers simply choose the most standard delivery option - just half (53%) of Millennials do the same.

Next day (52%) and same day (31%) deliveries were far more popular with Millennials compared to Boomers, for which next day (36%) and same day (14%) are considered less of a priority.

Other premium options such as weekend delivery, CO2 neutral delivery and delivery in a parcel locker are also significantly more popular among Millennials.

And although these premium delivery options often come with a price tag, Millennials are willing to splash out up to £5.10 in shipping costs for an order of just £15.

Boomers, meanwhile, only want to spend £3.60 on average for the same priced item.