The Europe-wide e-commerce shipping platform Sendcloud from Munich, together with the data analytics company Nielsen, examined the logistics expectations of consumers and the reality of online retailers in Europe. Conclusion: From the return process to environmentally friendly shipping offers, there are still some areas where there are big differences between the expectations of the target group and what retailers are actually offering.
Free Shipping: Curse or Blessing?
Consumers have been quite spoiled when it comes to shipping costs in recent years. For a long time, free shipping was even the standard. But more and more e-commerce giants are saying goodbye to free shipping. Big names like Asos, Amazon, and Zalando have all introduced a free shipping threshold in recent years. What do consumers think about this and how are online retailers reacting?
Consumer expectations: 68 percent of consumers abandon their shopping cart when faced with excessive shipping costs at checkout, and 40 percent are unwilling to pay for shipping if the order value exceeds 150 euros.
Retail reality: Only 23 percent offer free shipping across the board, 7 percent only on certain products, and 46 percent offer free shipping over a certain amount. Introducing a mainstream threshold could be a long-term solution for online retailers, the study found. She also recommends working with several shipping service providers and offering dynamic delivery costs so that customers are not burdened with excessive shipping costs. It is also important that the shipping costs are already explained on the product pages.
Expected delivery times
Due to the surge in parcel volume, many consumers have faced delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the delivery companies could not cope with the volume of parcels, the delivery times were longer. How patient are consumers today and how are delivery times communicated by online retailers?
Consumer expectations: Almost every second, European consumers abandon their shopping cart when the estimated delivery time is unknown or too long. If standard delivery is chosen, consumers expect their order to be delivered in around three days, while the maximum number of days they are willing to wait is almost five.
The reality of retailers: Only 20 percent of retailers say they provide estimated delivery time information during the checkout process. They mostly communicate about it on the product pages (36 percent). Customers are patient about delivery times and value clear and transparent communication from retailers. Sendcloud recommends online merchants to be proactive and openly communicate delivery expectations.
Multi-carrier shipping and delivery flexibility
In the past, online retailers have often opted for a single delivery company. There are now more and more online shops that offer a mix of different shipping companies with different shipping methods. In addition to DHL and DPD, Zalando, for example, also works with Budbee for flexible delivery. A multicarrier strategy can help save costs, but most importantly, it’s a great way to increase conversion rates.
Consumer Expectations: One of the reasons European consumers prefer one online store to another is that they offer flexible delivery options (71 percent). The most preferred shipping options are standard home delivery (57 percent), same-day delivery (39 percent), and next-day delivery (35 percent).
The reality of retailers: The top three shipping methods offered by online retailers are standard home delivery (59 percent), service point delivery (36 percent), and next-day delivery (35 percent). The study concluded that online retailers still have a lot of room for improvement, especially in the area of flexible delivery options.
tracking shipments
Nobody likes to wait a long time for an order that ends up being delayed. Especially now that more consumers are ordering online than ever before, it is important to be informed about the shipping status of online orders so that customers do not have to wait in vain. But how important is tracking really for the consumer?
Consumer expectations: 20 percent would no longer order from an online shop at all if the option to track the shipment was not available or only available to a limited extent. The majority expect to receive tracking updates primarily via email (72 percent).
The reality of retailers: Only 16 percent of online retailers say that automatic tracking notifications and a dedicated tracking page are very important to them. Tracking is still an underutilized opportunity for online retailers to increase customer loyalty, according to the Sendcloud Nielsen study, considering that tracked emails have a higher open rate than any newsletter can ever achieve.
Handling Returns
How easy do consumers want to be able to return products? What is most important to them and how do online retailers currently handle the returns process?
Consumer expectations: 52 percent of European consumers return a product if they are not satisfied. More than half always find out about the return policy before deciding on a product in an online shop.
The reality of retailers: More and more online retailers are offering digital returns solutions, allowing consumers to organize returns themselves. Additionally, some merchants manually create return labels when they receive a return notification. And while this is one of the easiest consumer-friendly ways to offer returns, almost none of them add a returns label right when packaging an order. According to the study, this is exactly what customers would want and would reward this with more frequent purchases. Overall, three out of ten online retailers state that they hardly ever receive any returns.
Green delivery and environmental impact
In the Green Deal, the member states of the European Union agreed to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent by the end of 2030 compared to 1990 levels. This also affects logistics in e-commerce. Therefore, the question arises: How important is sustainable delivery to consumers, and do online retailers offer options for environmentally friendly delivery in their checkout process?
Consumer Expectations: More than half of online shoppers say they are concerned that the increase in e-commerce is an issue for the environment, and 52 percent say they want an online Favor shop over another if the environmental impact of delivery is lower. Nevertheless, the majority is not willing to pay more for a CO2-neutral delivery.
The reality of retailers: Less than one percent of retailers currently offer green delivery options at the checkout. Possible explanations for this could be that the environment does not (yet) play a major role for them or that the delivery companies do not offer any additional green delivery services. Another conclusion of the study, especially with regard to younger target groups: environmental awareness in the world of e-commerce logistics still has to make great progress.
In addition to this list, the study also provides insights into the expectations placed on online retailers in the individual European countries.