German customers are ready to pay a surcharge for flexible and fast delivery services such as time-definite, same-day and home delivery, a new survey by consultants PwC revealed.
According to the study entitled “Flexible, fast, environmentally friendly: ways out of the parcel dilemma", German consumers are prepared to pay for various additional parcel delivery services – even for those that do not exist yet.
The study results revealed that flexibility is more important for parcel recipients in Germany than just the delivery speed as such. The majority (65%) of the respondents consider time-definite delivery within a precise time slot of their choice important and four out of ten are willing to pay an extra €2.40 for it.
A similar percentage (64%) of the respondents would like parcel delivery staff to pick up returns at their front door but only around 30% are willing to pay on average €2.22 for it.
While 63% attach importance to being able to choose between different parcel delivery providers during the ordering process, only 23% are willing to pay an additional fee of €2.21 on average for this option.
Fast deliveries, on the other hand, are less popular with consumers. While the majority (59%) of Germans would like to receive their orders the next day, only 26% and 17% of the respondents, respectively, consider delivery on the same day or within two hours important.
However, customers are willing to pay more for fast delivery: 42% would pay a surcharge of €3.75 on average for same-day delivery and four out of ten respondents would even spend more than €5 for delivery within two hours. For next-day delivery, 41% would pay an extra €2.74 on average.
The survey further revealed that if delivery to parcel shops and parcel terminals becomes a standard service in the future, every second respondent would be prepared to pick up his/her parcels there. However, 22% demand a better network of parcel shops and lockers and 16% want longer opening hours.
More than half of the respondents would be prepared to pay an average of €2.77 for home delivery, should delivery to parcel shops and parcel terminals become standard one day. “This is an interesting result for parcel operators that shows potential for efficiency gains on the last mile,” PwC stressed.
Another idea to optimise parcel services, especially in inner cities, is to transfer delivery on the costly last mile to a single neutral parcel provider. However, two out of three respondents rejected this concept. They fear the deterioration of service (48%) and higher prices (42%).
Environmental protection also plays an important role for many consumers when sending parcels: 63% consider CO2-neutral, low-emission and low-noise delivery important. But only one in three respondents is prepared to pay an average surcharge of €2.34 for it. When it comes to supporting environmentally friendly transports, only one in ten Germans feel responsible. Instead, 42% pass on the responsibility to retailers and 32% to parcel operators.
"Customers are aware that parcel deliveries are not free goods. They are aware of differences in quality and are willing to pay a surcharge for flexible, reliable, fast and environmentally friendly services. This opens up new options for logistics companies and online retailers: They don't have to differentiate themselves by price alone but can also score points through their performance," Dietmar Prümm, Head of Transport and Logistics at PwC Germany, concluded.
For the study, PwC surveyed 1,000 representatively chosen German citizens.
