More than half of Australians (53%) have been left disappointed during the festive season after online orders failed to arrive on time, new research from location mapping company HERE Technologies has revealed. West Australians are the worst off with three in five left empty handed, while Tasmanian shoppers are the least likely to be left hanging during the festive season (41%).
With retailers and logistics companies struggling to meet booming digital shopping demands, late deliveries (47%) or inaccurate estimated delivery times (39%) topped the frustrations of online Christmas shoppers. The trauma of waiting for parcels to arrive before a festive event has caused stress and anxiety for 43% of buyers, and one in five has had to rush in-store for a last-minute gift when an online order failed to arrive on time.
“Order tracking in the last leg of the purchase is a crucial issue for retailers to address, as there is a clear mismatch between what customers expect and what is currently provided by retailers,” said head of Oceania at HERE Technologies Daniel Antonello.
“We know shoppers want to have more visibility and real-time information on their online orders, in fact 90% want to be able to track their parcel in the same way they can see where a Deliveroo or UberEats driver is with their dinner.”
“Given most of the frustrations faced by shoppers relate to shipping challenges, there is a huge opportunity to improve supply chain management and customer service with tracking technology, which our research shows customers would be willing to pay a premium for.”
Ensuring a seamless delivery could also boost sales for retailers, given three quarters (76%) highlighted punctual delivery as the most important consideration when shopping online during Christmas, and almost a fifth (19%) would pay more for an item from a store that they trust to deliver on time.
Despite the risk of late deliveries, many Australians still opt to do their festive shopping online. Over a third (36%) of Australians split their Christmas shopping list between online and instore, with almost twice as many men (21%) choosing to do their shopping exclusively online than women (12%). Some shoppers also opted to take things into their own hands by using ‘click and collect’ (38%), of which millennials were the most likely to decide to head instore to pick up their online purchase (18-35, 44%).
The research was based on a survey conducted by PureProfile of 1,004 participants between the ages of 18 to 65 across Australia.
Other key research findings include:
- Top shopper frustrations when doing Christmas shopping online include:
- Delivery is late (47%).
- Inaccurate delivery date/time (39%).
- Retailer does not provide regular updates on my order (34%).
- Inability to track my order like I can for a Deliveroo/UberEats order (29%).
- To avoid the frustration of a late festive delivery, shoppers have:
- Completed online shopping earlier (71.9%).
- Chosen to click and collect (37.9%).
- Paid more for an item from an online store they trusted would deliver on time (18.5%).
- When looking into the millennial shopper, findings revealed:
- 1 in 5 millennial shoppers would pay more for an item from an online store they knew would deliver on time.
- A quarter of 26-34 wanted to be updated when stocks were replenished.
- Younger millennials (18-24) most likely to pay for express shipping (31%).
- The younger the shopper, the more likely he/she would only do his/her festive shopping online.
- 27% (18-24)
- 24% (25-34)
- 15% (35-44)
- 8% (45-54)
- 8% (55-65)
- Older consumers (55-65) more likely to double check an item instore first before deciding to purchase online (48%).