Customers prefer scheduled convenience over delivery immediacy

Customers prefer scheduled convenience over delivery immediacy when it comes to their cross-border delivery experience, says new research.

While most shoppers want their cross-border deliveries to arrive fast, the majority (89%) of the surveyed global shoppers would want to know a specific date and time of when to expect their parcel, suggest new report by international post corporation (IPC). Some 51% of customers put scheduled convenience, that is, specific information of when their item will arrive, as a “very important” factor of international parcel tracking process.

Some 33k adults across 41 countries were surveyed on their attitudes towards cross-border parcel tracking.

More than a four-fifths (85%) of shoppers want to know when their delivery arrives in their country, with  82% of shoppers wanting to be notified when a foreign seller has posted their parcel. Some 81% of the respondents find it essential to know when their parcel has been delivered. However, that’s still behind the importance of customers wanting information on their parcel’s arrival time and date.

Knowing that the seller has shipped their item is critical for consumers, although they aren’t too concerned to know it’s left the seller’s country. Knowing it has arrived in their country matters and although they are interested to know it’s clearing customs, the most important delivery notification is the date and if possible the time of day their purchase will arrive.

The report shows that customers want to be informed of their parcels’ estimated delivery time so that they’re not putting their lives on hold for delivery. Scheduled convenience enables customers to fit an exact delivery slot into their busy lives. A customer would rather wait for a delayed delivery than not know when to expect it. However, in both cases, a merchant needs to have clear and constant communication with their customer so that they’re updated along their last mile experience. In your opinion, what do customers value the most in their cross-border delivery service?