We’ve just launched a new BearingPoint report which found that UK shoppers (63%) are almost twice as likely as their German counterparts (38%) to either abandon their online shopping basket or switch retailer if delivery options are too slow or don’t meet their needs.

The report’s findings have already been featured in Fashion United, Retail Times, The Retail Technology Innovation Hub, and Handling & Storage Solutions. With the retail sector being a key focus for BearingPoint, we also placed this viewpoint in Internet Retailing on knowledge management this month, and reacted to Primark sales figures in Retail Gazette.

The BearingPoint report was based on a survey of 3,000 customers in the UK, France, and Germany.

Stuart Higgins, Partner at BearingPoint said in the official announcement:

“The right delivery strategy is essential to the success of your online retail business in what is an increasingly competitive market. It promotes customer loyalty, helping you to grow and maintain your customer base, and enables you to control margin and balance service levels. However, as our research demonstrates, getting your delivery strategy wrong could result in lost customers and sales, margin erosion and falling short of customer expectations.” 

With delivery preferences varying widely across the three European countries we surveyed, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach as delivery offerings provided by retailers must reflect the business you’re in, where you operate and your customers’ specific wants and needs.”

The BearingPoint report also outlines the following three key steps that retailers must take online to make sure their delivery propositions retain customers and preserve margin:

1. Use data to go beyond perceptions to understand specific, local customer behaviour.
2. Optimise delivery offers by balancing customers’ desires with fulfilment costs.
3. Fine-tune delivery options for different business scenarios and predict uptake to optimise operational efficiency.