Are poor postal services putting customers off buying online?

E-commerce director at Majestic Wine Warehouses Richard Weaver says postal delivery is one of the bigger hurdles facing online retailers at the moment, and it’s a sentiment most consumers would probably agree with.

Much of the e-commerce process has been smoothed out and made incredibly easy for consumers, but delivery still poses a problem. They are either asked to pay over the odds for a certain delivery slot (that even then doesn’t always seem to be guaranteed) or must trek down to the local post office or nearest courier office to pick up goods.  This can be a fairly strong disincentive to buy online – especially if they need to pay to return goods as well.

Weaver agrees it’s an issue, saying, “Retailers still need to work on flexibility of delivery options.
“Courier companies are still rooted in their origins, which are as business couriers. They deliver from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Things are improving, but availability of services for delivery to home addresses in the evenings or weekends isn’t really there yet. Services are either very expensive or it’s up to the retailer to take care of their own delivery – which is what we do.”

There appears to be a bit of a gap in the market at the moment for companies able and willing to provide the kind of delivery service that consumers and retailers want. Or it may turn out to be the kind of cost those who can afford to have to absorb.