Christmas was a bugger. Central London was rammed with shoppers who didn't know where they were going, inexplicably stopping in front of you, bringing giant pushchairs on to buses, blocking escalators as they tried to figure out where to go.
Oxford Street was closed to traffic for two days in the run-up to the holiday, attracting 1m desperate consumers and giving it the appearance of a scene from Gandhi, only with carrier bags. No wonder ecommerce is so popular.
Online retailers aren't just sitting around waiting for it to happen, though. They have continued to improve, making websites more usable for consumers and more visible to search engines. Particularly, there has been real innovation in the delivery space, with genuine choice now being offered to customers.
Big retailers such as Tesco, John Lewis and Argos are leveraging their multichannel advantage by offering collect-in-store options. Increasingly, others are offering economy delivery for those consumers who are more price sensitive or in less urgent need. Next-day delivery is, meanwhile, becoming widespread, while some retailers even offer a same-day service.
A recent report by ecommerce specialist Snow Valley highlights the vast gulf between best practice and that of the majority. It was found that 71% of searches for 'delivery' on ecommerce sites returned no useful information. More than a quarter (26%) of orders required a signature on delivery, but sites didn't warn of this. The same percentage failed to provide a space on the order form for delivery instructions such as 'leave with neighbour'.
The armed forces, police, banks, hospitals, schools and many companies don't permit personal goods to be delivered to their premises. Many people are understandably reluctant to spend the day at home to wait for a delivery, and don't want to pay a premium for timed delivery (or aren't offered it). Add to this the 26% who had expected a delivery while they were out, unaware it needed signing for, and it seems that for all the effort that has gone into offering customers choice about delivery, the final yard is still a problem for retailers, couriers and customers.
As ever, the metrics are deceptive. Since couriers often report 'carding' a customer (with the dreaded 'we called but you were out') as a successful delivery, their clients overestimate their success rate.
These non-deliveries (more than 12% of the total) create a very poor customer experience, often entailing a visit to the depot (95% of Royal Mail carded deliveries are collected). They're a pain for the customer, a cost to the courier and an obstacle to sales growth for retailers.
As the head of one of a number of companies making secure delivery boxes to accommodate parcels when a homeowner is out, Charles Gallichan is a man on a mission. His Hippo Boxes are popping up near front doors across the country.
The boxes each have a unique barcode inside the door, so a courier can register a delivery and then lock the box by turning the handle after placing the package inside, leaving the owner to open with a key on their return.
Gallichan reckons 'a 1% improvement in delivery efficiency would save £65m', and his customers are installing the boxes in unmanned offices (schools, fire stations) as well as homes. But while they may be selling well, overall penetration growth is still slow because all the effort (and cost) is borne by the receiver.
Online retail has come a long way in a short time, but the last yard remains a major failure point in the customer journey. Until couriers and retailers take it more seriously, it will remain an obstacle to growth for the sector and a blot on the otherwise green credentials of home delivery.
Andrew Walmsley is a digital pluralist
30 SECONDS ON ... HIPPO BOXES
- Hippo Boxes are produced by Giraffe Marketing, founded by managing director Charles Gallichan.
- The steel boxes - along with the bigger King Hippo and smaller Dormouse boxes - are designed to allow couriers and postal workers to securely deliver packages even when the recipient is not present. They can be secured to buildings with the supplied security bolts, as well as to the ground or posts.
- They are used by consumers as well as organisations with premises without permanent staffing, such as 'retained' fire stations.
- They range from the King Hippo, which measures 82cmx77.5cmx47cm and weighs 35kg, to the Dormouse, at 52cmx34cmx24cm and 10kg. All the boxes have traditional letter slots.
- The firm offers a Key Safe, enabling collections or multiple deliveries to one box while maintaining security.
- Customers can buy a barcode and customisable PIN to affix to the inside of their box; these can be used to provide proof of delivery.