Courier companies heighten customers expectations with added services

Shoppers and parcel delivery customers are becoming used to getting more for the price of their service, research among UK consumers suggests. And services which were once considered to be ‘extras’ worthy of a premium charge, such as next-day and specific timed deliveries, are increasingly being seen as facilities for which people are unwilling to pay more.A survey which questioned 1,000 online shoppers in the UK about their attitudes to delivery services found that, while they will shop around for the best possible deal on a delivery just as they would when buying any other product, they are demanding high levels of service.Among the enhanced facilities which people said they found most useful were Saturday deliveries, notification by text of a parcel’s expected arrival time, and the option to choose a delivery time of between 6 and 7pm. The preconception that people prefer to have their parcels delivered by someone smartly turned out in the uniform of a national carrier was found to be false, with more than seven in ten of those questioned unconcerned about who handled their delivery.The poll also found that people would overwhelmingly rather a parcel was left with a trusted neighbour or in a pre-arranged place outside their home if they were not in, than have to travel to the courier company’s nearest office to collect it.There was also wide support for more sophisticated online returns services, with many people saying that having Iphone 4S antenna to take their goods to a collection point was inconvenient when compared with being able to arrange for them to be picked up from their home or business. Nearly eight out of ten respondents said such a service, which would then collect an item from home or another safe place, Syma S111G would best suit them.As an estimated one in six customers returns at least one item for every online order they place, this is likely to be an area which retailers are expected to work Syma S006G closely with their delivery partners to try to make progress on.The poll surveyed regular users of e-commerce websites who had bought a minimum number of items in a short period of time. The findings are expected to be used by many online parcel delivery operators to fine-tune their services so that they continue to evolve in ways which are focused on the customer. With competition in the parcel delivery and courier post fields now extremely keen, being responsive to users’ demands can help a company stand out.