French consumers continue to have a strong preference for the home or workplace when it comes to receiving goods ordered online but are increasingly attracted by new delivery options, a survey by France's e-commerce association Fevad reveals.
Overall, 85% of internet shoppers chose the home and workplace as their delivery option in 2016 and these are the likely choice of 81% in the future.
However, pick-up points were also a favoured delivery option, used by 85% of e-buyers last year, an increase of 4 percentage points while click and collect (36%), also gained in popularity (+5 points).
In both cases (delivery to store and pick-up points), 29% of consumers purchased other items while on the spot. For 50% of e-buyers, stores were used for the delivery of garments while 34% chose this option for technical products.
As for other options, 52% of French online shoppers expressed an interest in deliveries carried out by a private individual at a lower price. There was also growing support (+7 points) for deliveries by drone directly to the home (35% vs 28%).
The click & reserve option was also warmly-received, having already been used by 29% of internet shoppers and the likely choice of 22% in the future, principally for garments (45%). Above all, this option offers a means of ensuring the availability of a product (57%) as well as testing or trying the product before purchasing it or judging its quality (35%).
Finally, 21% of e-buyers subscribed to an express delivery service for an unlimited number of shipments. This percentage could be set to rise as 29% of the survey respondents who do not have a subscription said they would be interested in one.
One major trend on the French market is the increasing popularity of parcel lockers as a delivery option with their rapid expansion being a key feature of the French market last year.
For example, French B2C delivery specialist Mondial Relay and automated postal locker specialist InPost announced an exclusive partnership to create a nationwide network of 1,000 lockers across France, as an additional delivery option alongside the 5,300 Point Relais parcel points. The lockers, which use the name ‘Abricolis’, are located in areas of high consumer footfall, including shopping centres and petrol stations.
Also last year, InPost signed a delivery solution agreement with France's Leclerc for goods ordered online from the supermarket retailer. This made provision for the deployment of 900 'Abricolis' lockers at Leclerc's outlets, including 400 by the end of this year. Leclerc has several e-commerce sites including those for over-the-counter drugs, wine, sports gear, electronic appliances and spectacles.
In 2015, InPost France also signed a deal to set up lockers at Total petrol stations, with a target of 500 locations and between 2,000 and 2,500 by 2018.
Amazon also moved ahead with the rollout of lockers in France. Deployment of the self-service parcel terminals took place at various hypermarkets last year with initial plans to install 500 lockers across the country.
2016 also saw DHL Express France expand its parcel delivery services for private consumers with the launch of parcel terminals in cooperation with SwipBox, a Danish operator of neutral parcel terminals. The company expected to deliver 100,000 parcels to some 31 terminals located in the Paris area and in several major French provincial cities.
In December last year, French retailer Fnac reported that 10 of its city centre stores had been equipped with lockers over the preceding six months. Each store has around 100 lockers with more than 1,000 parcels being delivered daily to the biggest of these outlets. More stores will be equipped with lockers in 2017.
The initiative is part of the retailer's focus on developing a strong multichannel strategy where the aim is to provide a simplified and improved shopping experience and offer customers who buy online the option of picking up their parcels in stores but without having to queue at check-outs.
More than half of Fnac.com's turnover is generated by omni-channel sales – Internet purchases picked up by customers in stores and orders placed on the retailer's web site from the store.
Meanwhile, last April, La Poste Group and SNCF deepened their partnership with the expansion of 'Pickup Station' parcel terminals at French railway stations, aiming to bring the total number of the terminals to more than 250 by the end of 2016.
Significant strides have also been taken to develop drones as a feasible delivery option. One example came at the end of last year when DPDgroup announced the commencement of delivering small parcels by drone to technology start-ups in a remote region of southern France after two years of successful tests. The service will enable DPD France to serve a remote commercial area where numerous technology start-ups are located. At a maximum speed of 30 km/h, the drone can transport parcels weighing up to 3kg.
