Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Online retail continues to gain market share
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- Figure 1: All online retail sales and online sales as a % of all retail sales, including VAT, 2012-17
- Online-only retailers now account for half the market
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- Figure 2: Store-based and online-only retailers’ share of all online sales, January 2008-August 2017
- Real incomes begin to fall
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- Figure 3: Real income growth: CPIH vs growth in average weekly earnings (excluding bonuses), January 2014-August 2017
- Collection accounts for just under 20% of all retail sales
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- Figure 4: Estimated collection market size, 2013-17
- Companies and brands
- Amazon the dominant player online
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- Figure 5: Top 10 leading online retailers, by share of all online retail sales (excluding VAT), 2016
- Courier market continues to grow due to online expansion
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- Figure 6: UK market for courier and express delivery services, 2012-16
- GPS and drones hint at a new frontier for delivery services
- The consumer
- Half of consumers have collected products but delivered still preferred
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- Figure 7: Delivery methods used in the last 12 months, August 2017
- Postal returns the most popular method of returning unwanted goods
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- Figure 8: Methods of returning items used in the past 12 months, August 2017
- Nearly two thirds of delivery users have experienced a problem
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- Figure 9: Issues encountered with deliveries, August 2017
- Consumers want evening home delivery to become commonplace
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- Figure 10: Interest in new innovations in delivery and collection, August 2017
- Same-day on the horizon, but do customers want it?
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- Figure 11: Attitudes towards collection and delivery services, August 2017
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Same-day delivery: ready for the mainstream?
- The facts
- The implications
- Amazon Flex: is Uberfication the logical step for delivery logistics?
- The facts
- The implications
- Is online heading towards a consumer backlash?
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Online retail continues to gain market share
- Online-only retailers now account for half the market
- Real incomes begin to fall
- Collection accounts for just under 20% of all retail sales
Market Drivers
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- Online sales continue to rise
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- Figure 12: All online retail sales and online sales as a % of all retail sales, including VAT, 2012-17
- Online-only retailers now account for over half of the online market
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- Figure 13: Store-based and online-only retailers’ share of all online sales, January 2008-August 2017
- Seasonal variations
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- Figure 14: Online retail sales as a % of all retail sales, January 2015-July 2017
- Demand for courier services is growing
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- Figure 15: UK market for courier and express delivery services, 2012-16
- Real incomes begin to fall
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- Figure 16: Real income growth: CPIH vs growth in average weekly earnings (excluding bonuses), January 2014-August 2017
- Consumer confidence, past and future
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- Figure 17: How consumers describe their current financial situation, January 2014-August 2017
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- Figure 18: Trends in consumer sentiment for the coming year, January 2016-August 2017
Collection Market Size
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- Collection accounts for just under 20% of online sales
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- Figure 19: Estimated value of click-and-collect orders (including VAT), 2014-17
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- Figure 20: Estimated percentage of all retail online sales (including VAT) accounted for by collection and delivery, 2014-17
- Collection breakdown
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- Figure 21: Estimated breakdown of the value of collection orders, by where orders are collected, 2016
- High levels of collection in clothing
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- Figure 22: Collection as an estimated proportion of online sales, by grocery and non-grocery, 2014-17
- Other considerations
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- Figure 23: Estimated market size for traditional non-store retail sales (including VAT), 2014-17
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Half of consumers have collected products but delivered still preferred
- Postal returns the most popular method of returning unwanted goods
- Nearly two thirds of delivery users have experienced a problem
- Consumers want evening home delivery to become commonplace
- Same-day on the horizon, but do customers want it?
- Interest in delivery before payment
Delivery and Collection Usage
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- Over half of consumers have collected products
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- Figure 24: Delivery methods used in the last 12 months, August 2017
- Delivery most popular service
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- Figure 25: Delivery methods used in the last 12 months, August 2017
- Young consumers most likely to use delivery
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- Figure 26: Detailed delivery and collection used, by age, August 2017
- Age of children affects delivery and collection
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- Figure 27: Detailed delivery and collection use, by age of children and non-parents, August 2017
- Repertoire of delivery and collection services used
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- Figure 28: Repertoire of delivery and collection services used, August 2017
- More services used by employed
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- Figure 29: Repertoire of delivery and collection services used, by working status, August 2017
The Returns Process
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- Just under half of consumers have made a return
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- Figure 30: Methods of returning items used in the past 12 months, August 2017
- Younger consumers significantly more likely to make a return
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- Figure 31: Methods of returning items used in the last 12 months, August 2017
- A poor returns process can affect purchase intentions
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- Figure 32: Attitudes towards the retail returns process, August 2017
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- Figure 33: Attitudes towards the retail returns process, by age, August 2017
Problems Encountered with Delivery and Collection
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- Almost two thirds have had an issue with a delivery
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- Figure 34: Issues encountered with deliveries, August 2017
- Those in urban areas more likely to have encountered a problem
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- Figure 35: Issues encountered with deliveries, by type of area lived in, August 2017
- 38% have encountered multiple issues with deliveries
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- Figure 36: Repertoire of problems encountered with delivery services, August 2017
- Long queues the most common complaint with collection
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- Figure 37: Issues encountered when collecting products, August 2017
Interest in Innovations
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- Consumers want to see evening home delivery become commonplace
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- Figure 38: Interest in new innovations in delivery and collection, August 2017
- Younger consumers most interested in same-day and drones
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- Figure 39: Interest in new innovations in delivery and collection, by age, August 2017
- Time-pressed consumers most in favour of evening home delivery
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- Figure 40: Interest in new innovations in delivery and collection, by working status, August 2017
Attitudes towards Same-day Delivery
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- Do consumers want same-day and will it eradicate the need for click-and-collect?
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- Figure 41: Attitudes towards next-day delivery, August 2017
- Where does same-day leave click-and-collect?
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- Figure 42: Attitudes towards same-day delivery and click-and-collect, August 2017
- Younger consumers seem most interested in same-day delivery
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- Figure 43: Agreement with statements around same-day delivery and click-and-collect, by age, August 2017
Attitudes towards Recycling and Try-before-you-buy
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- Over half think retailers should offer a recycling service
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- Figure 44: Attitudes towards packaging and recycling from online orders, August 2017
- Interest in try-before-you-buy
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- Figure 45: Attitudes towards improvements in the delivery/collection of products, August 2017
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- Figure 46: Agreement with statement regarding try-before-you-buy, by age, August 2017
Leading Players – What You Need to Know
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- Amazon the dominant player online
- Amazon: Flexibility powering Prime Now
- Sainsbury’s integrates Argos quickly
- Ocado signs the long-sought-after international partner
- Courier market continues to grow due to online expansion
- Same-day comes to the fore
Competitive Strategies – Leading Players
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- Amazon the dominant player online
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- Figure 47: Top 10 leading online retailers, by share of all online retail sales (excluding VAT), 2016
- Amazon
- J Sainsbury plc
- John Lewis Partnership
- Ocado
Competitive Strategies – Leading Delivery Operators
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- Courier and express delivery
- Royal Mail
- Dynamic Parcel Delivery Group
- DHL International (UK)
- Hermes
- UPS
- Yodel
- DX Group
- UK Mail Group
- FedEx UK
- Third-party collection
- Doddle
- Collect+
- InPost
Innovations and Launch Activity
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- Tesco same-day delivery
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- Figure 48: Tesco delivery courier
- Try-before-you-buy
- Drone delivery
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- Figure 49: Flytrex/AHA drone delivery
- Amazon launches Instant Pickup
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- Figure 50: Amazon Instant Pickup advertising
- Click-and-collect innovations
- Arcadia launches in-store online delivery service
- Voice-enabled delivery
- Jumbo launches campsite grocery pick-up points
- Geolocation delivery
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- Figure 51: Zalando/Pacify geolocation delivery
- Running delivery couriers
- Self-driving van trials
- Car trunk deliveries
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Data sources
- VAT
- Financial definitions
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
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