Almost three quarters (70 per cent) of consumers are willing to wait longer for the delivery of an online order if they have to pay less delivery costs in return.
Home delivery of food and drinks is an exception. In this case, consumers consider faster delivery more important (86 per cent) than low delivery costs (81 per cent), according to research among 1,032 Dutch people conducted on behalf of Descartes, provider of on-demand SaaS solutions for logistics.
Letting consumers choose
According to Descartes, companies can take advantage of this by giving consumers a choice in the ordering process. Do they want to use a route that is already scheduled (cheaper delivery) or do they want a product delivered quickly (more expensive delivery)? "By giving consumers the freedom of choice in the length of the delivery time and the level of delivery costs, retailers make 70 per cent of consumers more satisfied," says Albert van Roekel, Director Solutions Consultancy at Descartes.
Delivery costs more important than delivery time
The extent to which low delivery costs are important to consumers differs little by type of product ordered online. For product groups such as electronics, fashion or furniture, they prefer to wait a bit longer for their package, provided it is delivered at a lower cost. When consumers buy clothes and shoes online, a short delivery time is the least important.
