THE DELIVERY EXPERIENCE

THE 

DELIVERY 

EXPERIENCE 

+ IS THE INDUSTRY MEETING THE 

EXPECTATIONS AND NEEDS OF THE 

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER? 

2016 ONLINE DELIVERY REPORT 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Overall Trends 4 

Methodology 5 

Delivery Information 8 

Tracking Information 12 

Delivery Options 15 

Cost of Delivery 19 

The Perceived Experience 22 

The Returns Experience 25 

The Click & Collect Experience 27 

Summary 31

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The Online Delivery Report reveals that despite just 17% of 

respondents indicating that parcel deliveries are made to their 

expectation i.e. on time and undamaged, overall 89% are ‘satisfied’ 

with their delivery experience. 

This conflicting statistic highlights there is confusion as to what makes 

a good delivery experience and that Australian’s have come to accept 

mediocre delivery experience as the ’norm’. 

However, the challenges facing the industry are not entirely the domain 

of the retailer and carrier. One of the key delivery dilemmas faced by 

retailers and their carriers across the globe is that consumers’ top 

preference is for Home Delivery with the ability to sign for parcels on 

receipt, but research repeatedly shows that the consumers will often 

not be at home when the delivery is made. In this research 85% of 

respondents nominated their home as a usual delivery location yet 

32% say they are not normally home to receive deliveries. 

Subsequently, the primary contributor to failed deliveries directly 

relates to the availability and predictability of consumer receivers, who 

unlike their business counterparts, are not bound to the office address 

with specific hours of operation. As a consequence, carriers have to find 

new ways to improve their rates of first time delivery by introducing 

flexible, accurate and convenient delivery options. 

Consumers expect retailers to offer more options for delivery, this can 

be choice of carrier, delivery option, time or location (safe place) or 

unattended deliveries – with the flexibility to change their mind. 

This approach must also incorporate returns. The recent International 

Media in Retail Group (IMRG) report, The UK Consumer Home Delivery 

Review 2016 (also supported by Blackbay) showed that only 61% of 

respondents were satisfied with the returns service they receive. 

Australian retailers have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes 

retailers have made in other regions not just on delivery, but 

returns. The quicker returns are collected and refunds issued the 

quicker the goods are re-sold and the quicker a consumer can buy 

replacement goods. That’s a win-win for both parties. In order to 

prioritise returns by making it trouble free for consumers to return 

goods, Australian retailers must be sure that consumers have access to 

the same collection options as those offered for delivery. 

Online shopping continues to grow and so inevitably will the volume of 

parcels to be delivered. As new retail entrants such as Amazon 

penetrate ever further into new markets and the growth of Uber-like 

technology, consumers’ delivery expectations will only continue to rise.

OVERALL 


TRENDS 

+WHAT KEY TRENDS ARE SHAPING THE 

AUSTRALIAN DELIVERY MARKET?

METHODOLOGY 

For over 6 years, in partnership with the 

IMRG, Blackbay has tracked the developing 

expectations and perceptions of online 

shoppers in the UK. The analysis of this 

market has presented a constantly evolving 

marketplace that has responded to the 

growing “need it now” culture of today’s 

consumer. 

Using this experience and insight, Blackbay 

has joined forces with MeeMeep to develop 

a similar report that looks at the trends 

shaping the Australian Delivery Market. 

152 

14 

107 

234 

342 

44% 56% 

METRO/REGIONAL 

68 : 32 

In April utilising the services of Red Planet, 

we conducted a comprehensive online 

survey of 1212 respondents that made one 

or more purchases online in the past year. 

282 

32 

AGE 

18-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Dissatisfied 

Neither 

8% 

OVERALL TRENDS 

Very 

dissatisfied 

89 

Percent of online 

shoppers are 

satisfied with 

their delivery 

experience in 

Australia 

1% 

2% 

70% 

Satisfied 

19% 

Very 

satisfied 

29% 

of online shoppers surveyed are 

making an online purchase at least every 2 

weeks and amongst 35-44 year olds this 

proportion is 37%. 

70% 

of purchases are for clothing and 

footwear across the survey respondents. 

Whilst 35-44 year olds are also frequently 

purchasing groceries and alcohol (49%). 

89% 

usually seek delivery information 

before adding items to their shopping cart. 

93% 

of shoppers search for delivery costs 

before making a purchase. 

ONLINE DELIVERY REPORT 2016 | BLACKBAY.COM | MEEMEEP.COM

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 

Cost of delivery 

No returns policy 

Delivery is too slow 

Lack of delivery information on website 

Timelines are too vague 

No convenient delivery options 

34.7% 

25.8% 

21.0% 

18.1% 

17.5% 

64.5% 

WHAT PREVENTS CONSUMERS 

FROM PURCHASING ONLINE? 

Overall consumers in Australia are concerned 

by the cost of delivery as the main barrier to 

online shopping. This is followed by concerns 

on timeline and returns. 

18-34 year olds are the most likely to consider 

slow delivery (35%), insufficient delivery 

information on the website (29%) and vague 

timelines (24%) to be barriers to further 

online shopping. 

Previous bad delivery experience 

16.4% 

None of these 

19.4% 



INFORMATION 

+WHAT DO CONSUMERS WANT TO KNOW?

HOW DO CONSUMERS WANT THEIR 

PURCHASES DELIVERED? 

MAXIMUM VALUE OF GOODS SHOPPERS ARE 

COMFORTABLE LEAVING AT NOMINATED SAFE PLACE 

85% nominate their home as a 

usual delivery location but 32% 

are not normally home to 

receive deliveries 

25% NOMINATE WORK AS THEIR 

PREFERRED DELIVERY LOCATION 

9% NOMINATE SAFE PLACE AS THEIR 

PREFERRED DELIVERY LOCATION WITH 

31% OF THOSE SELECTING FRONT 

DOOR FOLLOWED BY SIDE/BACK GATE 

(29%) 

100% 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

3% 

10% 

20% 

30% 

21% 

7% 

$501+ 

$251-$500 

$101-$250 

$51-$100 

$26-$50 

$1-$25 


WHAT INFORMATION DO CONSUMERS LOOK FOR? 

WHEN DO CONSUMERS SEEK 

INFORMATION ON DELIVERY? 

100% 

90% 

Shoppers making purchases the most 

frequently are more likely to seek 

delivery information before they start 

shopping (31%). 

Shoppers who purchase less frequently 

tend to seek information after browsing 

the website (37%). 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

30% 

I don’t look for delivery 

information 

During the checkout/payment 

process 

After you’ve added items to 

your cart 

After you’ve browsed the site 

Before you start shopping 

20% 

10% 

0% 


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

WHAT DELIVERY INFORMATION 

IS SOUGHT? 

Cost of delivery 

93% 

Cost of delivery is the most sought after 

delivery information at all stages of the 

buying cycle, this is closely followed by 

the request for expected delivery 

timeframes. 

Expected delivery timeframe 

Ability to track your purchase 

60% 

78% 

Consumers expect those delivery 

timeframes to be provided within 2 hour 

timeslots at a minimum. 

Returns policy 

59% 

Cost of returns 

42% 

None of these 

1% 


TRACKING 

INFORMATION 

+HOW DO CONSUMERS WANT TO BE INFORMED?

Appeal of delivery progress information 

53% 45% 3% 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

Yes, always 

It depends on what I have purchased 

No, I don’t need delivery progress information 

HOW DO CONSUMERS WANT 

TO TRACK THEIR DELIVERY? 

Most shoppers (86%) would like information about 

the date of dispatch and the tracking number. 

More than half of shoppers would like; 

When to receive delivery progress information 

Information about the dispatch 

date and tracking number 

Confirming the expected 

delivery the day before it … 

Warning in advance if there is a 

problem or delay with delivery 

Information about the progress 

of your delivery 

Informing you of a failed 

delivery 

Confirming the expected time 

slot when you can expect … 

Informing you of a successful 

delivery 

0% 50% 100% 

37% 

68% 

64% 

58% 

54% 

52% 

86% 

• Confirmation of the delivery 24 hours ahead, 

• Alerts if there is a problem or delay, 

• Regular progress updates, 

• Notice of a failed delivery and; 

• Confirmation of the expected delivery time. 



TO BE INFORMED? 

-10% 10% 30% 50% 70% 90% 

Email 

73% 

Email is the most popular channel for receiving predelivery 

alerts and most would prefer an alert the day 

before the delivery. 

SMS 

Smartphone app notification/alert 

Other tracking within Smartphone app 

20% 

9% 

53% 

34-44 year olds are the most likely to be interested in 

receiving pre-delivery alerts via a smartphone app 

notification/alert (31%). 

34-44 year olds are also the most likely to be interested 

in a pre-delivery alert on the day of delivery (43%). 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

The day before delivery 

84% 

The day of delivery 30% 

Within one hour of delivery 

18% 



OPTIONS 

+WHAT OPTIONS DO CONSUMERS WANT?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

WHAT DELIVERY OPTIONS DO 

CONSUMERS EXPECT? 

Free Delivery is a requirement for 80% of 

shoppers. 

2 in 5 are seeking free returns; this is 

higher for women (at 1 in 2) and for 18-34 

year olds (at 1 in 2). 

Free delivery 

Delivery tracking information 

Free returns 

40.9% 

61.2% 

79.9% 

Ability to specify delivery instructions 

37.7% 

Ability to change the delivery address 

after purchase 

4.9% 

None of these 

6.6% 



TO SPECIFY THEIR DELIVERY? 

57% of online shoppers are attracted by the option to 

select a delivery window. 

Weekend deliveries, the ability to specify delivery 

instructions and after hours deliveries appeal to almost 

half of online shoppers. 

Ability to specify delivery time 

slot 

Weekend deliveries 

After hours deliveries (e.g. 

Evenings) 

Ability to specify delivery 

instructions 

None of these 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 

15% 

47% 

45% 

45% 

57% 

Of those who would be attracted to a delivery window 

option; 

• 30% would prefer a short window of an hour, 

• A further 50% happy with a two hour window. 

19% Other 

50% 

4 hour delivery window 

(i.e. AM or PM delivery) 

Almost half would be prepared to pay extra for this 

feature (43%). 

30% 




Chart Title 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%100% 

Clothing/footwear 

(n=1129) 

HOW LONG ARE CONSUMERS 

WILLING TO WAIT FOR DELIVERY? 

Small electronics (n=1020) 

Groceries/alcohol 

(n=1063) 

Entertainment (n=1100) 

Cosmetics (n=815) 

Same day delivery 

Within 1 business day 

Within 2 business days 

Up to 1 week 

Up to 2 weeks 

More than 2 weeks 

There is an expectation for almost half of 

online shoppers that groceries/alcohol 

will be delivered within a 24 hour 

window. 

More than half of clothing/footwear, 

small electronics, entertainment and 

cosmetics online shoppers are willing to 

accept deliveries somewhere between 3 

days and a week. 

Furniture/homewares 

(n=889) 

Larger electronics (n=867) 


COST OF 


+HOW MUCH ARE CONSUMERS PREPARED TO PAY?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

$ 

Average 

WHAT ARE CONSUMERS WILLING 

TO PAY FOR DELIVERY? 

Clothing/footwear (n=1129) 


82% 

74% 

14% 

20% 4% 

$0-$10 

$10.01-$20 

$8.39 

$9.64 

A majority of shoppers are not willing to 

pay more than $10 for standard delivery. 

Groceries/alcohol (n=1063) 


85% 

90% 

12% 

7% 

$20.01-$30 

$30.01-$40 

$7.43 

$6.58 

Consumers believe that delivery should 

relate directly to the goods purchased. 


91% 

6% 

$40.01-$50 

$6.36 

$0-$20 

Furniture/homewares (n=889) 


35% 

39% 

30% 

35% 

26% 4%6% 

21% 3% 

$20.01-$40 

$40.01-$60 

$60.01-$80 

$80.01-$100 

$34.54 

$30.41 


WHAT WILL THEY PAY IF THEY 

CAN SPECIFY OPTIONS? 

A majority of shoppers are willing to pay 

slightly more for delivery options such as 

the ability to choose a specific time 

and/or day of delivery. 

However this amount only ranges from 

0.25c through to 0.85c. 

And, on average, furniture/homewares 

and larger electronics online shoppers 

would pay slightly less for delivery 

options like specifying the time and day, 

indicating the expectation that these 

services are considered standard for 

these items . 

Clothing/footwear (n=1129) 


Groceries/alcohol (n=1063) 



Furniture/homewares 

(n=889) 


% of respondents 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

40% 

44% 

77% 

70% 

80% 

82% 

83% 

25% 

28% 

22% 

22% 

17% 

21% 

16% 

4% 

6% 

13% 3% 

12% 3% 

5%6% 

3% 

$0-$10 

$10.01-$20 

$20.01-$30 

$30.01-$40 

$40.01-$50 

$0-$20 

$20.01-$40 

$40.01-$60 

$60.01-$80 

$80.01-$100 

$ average 

$8.63 

$9.53 

$7.86 

$7.22 

$7.21 

$32.74 

$29.13 

$ difference 

between 

standard and 

tailored 

delivery 

$0.25 

$0.25 

$0.43 

$0.63 

$0.85 

-$1.80 

-$1.28 



PERCEIVED 


+WHAT DO CONSUMERS PERCEIVE THEY RECEIVE 

FROM THEIR HOME DELIVERY SERVICE?


PERFORMANCE 

41% of online shoppers 

have had to wait between 

4 hours and a day for their 

item to be delivered. 

Over a third of shoppers 

have travelled more than 

an hour to pick up an item 

which failed delivery. 

100% 

3% Not sure - not 

3% always given a 

90% 

delivery 

18% timeframe 

Never 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

Parcel delivered in expected 

timeframe 

71% 

Rarely 

Sometimes 

Incidence of ever waiting at home for 

delivery 

100% No I haven’t 

needed to wait at 

90% 

home for a delivery 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

44% 

12% 

22% 

Yes and the item 

was never 

delivered 

Yes all day 

Yes for about 4 

hours 

Time taken to pick up failed delivery 

item 

100% 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

12% 

19% 

38% 

Didn’t have option 

to pick up 

Haven’t had a 

delivery fail 

1 hour+ 

40-59 mins 

30-39 mins 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

4% 

Most of the 

time 

Always 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

19% 

13% 

7% 


hours 


hour 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

5% 

9% 

9% 

6% 

3% 

20-29 mins 

10-19 mins 

Less than 10 mins 


Parcel delivery to expectation (such as on time and 

undamaged) 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

Always Most of the time Sometimes Rarely Never 

No one home to receive the delivery 

Delivery was not at the specified time 

Parcel was lost/Not delivered 

If not, what was the problem? 

Parcel arrived damaged 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 

23% 

22% 

48% 

42% 

ARE DELIVERIES MADE TO 

EXPECTATION BY CARRIERS? 

90% of parcels are delivered to expectations (on time 

and undamaged) most or all of the time. 

The most commonly mentioned delivery problems were 

that no-one was home when the delivery was attempted 

or that it wasn’t at the specified time. 

Shoppers suspect that rough handling (70%) by couriers 

or poor packaging are the main reasons why items arrive 

damaged. 

I didn’t know a signature was required 

Parcel delivered to wrong location 

Other 

15% 

3% 

2% 

Followed by poor packaging (47%). 



RETURNS 


+WHAT DO CONSUMERS EXPECT FROM THEIR 

RETURNS SERVICE?


TO MANAGE RETURNS? 

More than half of shoppers consider the ease of initiating 

returns and having free returns very important. 

Two thirds of the shoppers consider all the features 

presented to be at least somewhat important. 

Ease of initiating returns 

process 

Free returns 

Instant refund at the point 

of return 

Access to drop-off location 

Tracking information on 

returns 

Speed of returns 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%100% 

Not at all important 

Somewhat unimportant 

Neither important nor 

unimportant 

Somewhat important 

Very important 

Most prefer to return items via Australia Post / Parcel 

Locker although 21% have no preference. 

Location Preference 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 

Drop off at Post Office / Parcel 

Locker 

Drop off at local store 

Book a courier to collect 

No preference 



CLICK & COLLECT 


+WHAT DO CONSUMERS EXPECT FROM THEIR 

CLICK & COLLECT SERVICE?

Preferred click and collect locations 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

WHAT CLICK & COLLECT 

OPTIONS DO CONSUMERS WANT? 

40% 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

79% 

Post office/Parcel 

locker 

40% 

Direct from a 

retailer - Click & 

Collect 

19% 

Local store 

3% 

Other 

10% 

No I haven’t used 

these services 

Many online shoppers (40%) have used Click & Collect 

or similar services. 

Most online shoppers are familiar with collecting parcels 

from the post office or parcel locker. 

Reasons for choosing delivery collection locations 

Only 10% of online shoppers haven't collected an order 

from any of these delivery locations. 

Not home to receive delivery 

Free delivery 

More convenient for me 

32% 

29% 

48% 

Not being home to receive the delivery was the most 

common reason for collecting parcels from these 

delivery locations. 

Faster delivery 

24% 

It was a more secure option 

21% 

Home delivery was not offered 

20% 

I was planning to travel there anyway 

Other 

3% 

7% 


Travel time to collection location 


TO MANAGE CLICK & COLLECT 

For 2/3 of online shoppers collecting their goods, the 

travel time to the collection location was less than 20 

minutes. 

Almost half of the collectors had never experienced 

problems at the collection location. 

100% 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

4% 

3% 

10% 

15% 

33% 

35% 

1 hour+ 

40-59 mins 

30-39 mins 

20-29 mins 

10-19 mins 

Less than 10 mins 

But a third had experienced long queues. 

Problems experienced at collection location 

% of respondents experiencing delivery collection 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 

Long queues to pick up … 

Delays in finding parcel 

30% 

37% 

Parcel not being there 

Not having the right … 

8% 

15% 

None of these 

44% 


OPTION TO DRIVE-THRU CLICK & COLLECT 

WHAT TRENDS OVERSEAS ARE 

OF INTEREST IN AUSTRALIA? 

% of respondents experiencing delivery 

collection 

100% 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

50% 

40% 

30% 

20% 

10% 

25% 

37% 

38% 

No 

Depends 

Yes 

53% of shoppers experiencing delivery collection would 

like to be able to specify an exact collection time. 

Drive –Thru collection points as per the US market would 

be of interest, however the highest rate of preference for 

this was in grocery delivery. 

0% 





+ IS THE INDUSTRY MEETING THE 

EXPECTATIONS AND NEEDS OF THE 

AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER? 

2016 SUMMARY

THE DELIVERY EXPERIENCE 

As e-commerce continues to grow, the need to manage consumer 

expectations for parcel delivery becomes more critical than ever. 

Consumers will no longer accept long waiting times, inaccurate 

information and failed delivery attempts. 

They are demanding flexible, transparent services and quickly – 

essentially they want control of their deliveries on their terms. 

Carriers therefore, need to discover ways to own the relationship and 

enable consumer control, before they lose out to the plethora of 

rising alternative delivery services in the market. Understanding the 

unique requirements of this converging market and the complexity, in 

comparison to previous delivery models geared towards business-tobusiness 

(B2B) deliveries, is vital to meet this new world of delivery. 

There is a growing concern that carriers and retailers do not 

understand the needs of their consumer, in regards to home delivery 

in particular, with 45% of consumers abandoning shopping carts due 

to concerns with delivery. Blackbay’s latest research on the home 

delivery market highlights the key needs of the consumer and 

reinforces the need to truly understand the consumer in order to 

meet expectations. 

The consumer has moved from a relationship with a physical retailer 

to an online retail entity, altering the buying dynamic, allowing online 

retailers to build a very strong and knowledgeable relationship with 

consumers. 

However, the carrier is still held responsible for poor delivery 

performance, regardless of the role the retailer plays in ensuring 

information is available to the carrier for first time delivery. 

Without a direct relationship with the end consumer, carriers cannot 

change this trend or offer extra services. To rise to these challenges 

means carriers need to respond by finding ways to own the 

relationship and have face to face interactions with the consumer 

without compromising first time delivery effectiveness, and impacting 

the consumer’s lifestyle. 

We have yet to see an industry approach to capturing insight on the 

consumer, beyond just addresses, to personalise the delivery 

experience not just for customer experience but for improved first 

time delivery rates. Once we have that shared information on 

preferences we can challenge the consumer to be accountable in 

their role for successful delivery also. 

Carriers to find out more on how your delivery operations can be 

transformed to drive the new standard of delivery expected by 

consumers visit www.blackbay.com. 

For Retailers contact MeeMeep to learn how to create joyful delivery 

Experiences – www.meemeep.com.

ABOUT BLACKBAY 

Blackbay is the leading provider of mobility enabled-solutions for the 

Transport and Logistics Industry. The Company’s configurable end-toend 

mobile workforce management solutions ensure first time, on time, 

every time delivery. Connecting the shipper, operations, management, 

the driver and crucially the customer with real-time data and 

automated workflows to create smarter Delivery Companies. 

Blackbay’s flagship product, Delivery Connect, provides an end-to-end 

delivery solution for today’s delivery company. 

Delivery Connect is designed to manage the movement of freight from 

the shipper to the end receiver, including scanning, proof of delivery 

(PoD), exception management, cross dock and in-depot activities 

through to job dispatch, customer service and reporting. 

Delivery Connect is built on Blackbay's logistics application framework. 

The framework makes it easy for customers to hit the ground running 

with the deployment of pre-configured applications. 

Blackbay’s logistics platform has been developed so that screens, 

process flows and logic are driven by configuration and can be 

deployed at runtime. Another important ease of use capability allows 

users quickly and seamlessly to switch between applications. This 

allows the use of hand held devices by employees carrying out 

different tasks, helping to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) and 

increase the return on investment (ROI) driving overall benefit 

realisation. 

To ensure customers can deploy Delivery Connect applications on the 

mobile device of their choice, Blackbay’s new platform is mobile device 

agnostic. It delivers platform specific user interfaces (UIs) so 

applications can run on iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms 

delivering the same user experience, regardless of OS or device and 

irrespective of whether the device has been supplied by Blackbay’s 

customer, or is part of a BYOD approach. 

VISIT WWW.BLACKBAY.COM TO FIND OUT MORE. 

However, Blackbay understands that one size does not always fit all. 

The new Mobile Workforce Management platform allows Blackbay’s 

customers quickly, within hours rather than days, to configure changes 

to Delivery Connect’s T&L applications ensuring that they meet specific 

business processes.

ABOUT MEEMEEP 

MeeMeep is the simpler, smarter, seamless 

delivery service putting the logic back into 

logistics. 

By bringing together innovative technology and 

a vast and varied network of independent and 

commercial couriers in one easy-to-use e- 

platform, MeeMeep's delivering fully 

customisable e- commerce solutions for some 

of Australia's biggest retailers and smallmedium 

businesses. 

And with a super-smart tracker app and personto-person 

approach, MeeMeep means better 

value, complete confidence and total control 

for our customers. 

VISIT WWW.MEEMEEP.COM TO FIND OUT MORE.

THE DELIVERY EXPERIENCE

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