During the past few years, we’ve seen unimaginable change in our expectations in our daily lives as a society. When the UK went into its first lockdown, back in March 2020, we were all shocked by the new adjustments, with working from home becoming the new norm for many. Now, working from home may seem like it’s part of day-to-day life, as a vast amount of companies have opted for a permanent to move to online working, as it saves resources, and often makes employees happier. So, how exactly have these shifts in our behavior changed how we have our parcels delivered?
Along with Maru and IMRG, we conducted an extensive delivery survey of 1,000 shoppers, in order to find out about customer delivery habits. Interestingly, the survey was highly revealing when it came to trends in home delivery. In the graph below, we asked, ‘Where do you normally have items delivered?’, focusing on the data from 2017 to 2021. Home has always been the most popular option, however, in 2019 (the grey bar) and 2020 (the yellow bar) we saw a surge in the number of people ordering to their home, up to over 90%. This suggests that customers are opting for home delivery, over the office, a friend’s house, or the post office. Whilst in 2021, the number of people ordering to their home was down by 6% from the previous year, it’s still up from before the pandemic, suggesting that people have adapted to this new comfort.
Where do you normally have items delivered? (Tick all that apply)
(Source: Maru, nShift and IMRG Home Delivery Report)
Furthermore, we asked customers, ‘Is there normally someone at home to receive deliveries during normal working or delivery hours?’. The data between 2009 and 2021 showed some fascinating results, as demonstrated in the graph below, as there was an exponential increase in the number of people who were able to have someone at home to pick up their deliveries. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 15.76% increase, plateauing in 2021 as it decreased marginally by 0.97%. Once again, this data supports the evidence for a surge in the popularity of home deliveries. As we’ve adjusted to this new form of delivery option, it seems as though we’ve got a taste for it, and are happy to stay at home in order to collect packages.
Is there normally someone at home to receive deliveries during normal working / delivery hours? (Source: Maru, nShift and IMRG Home Delivery Report)
To conclude, our data shows some promising evidence that home delivery is the way forwards. Shoppers have become accustomed to the convenience of deliveries to their door, and we expect to see a continuation of this trend in the future, as it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere any time soon.
