How important is Next day delivery from a website shop? Is 3-5 days acceptable?

[kellieakeith]

I'm in the process of writing up my T&C, and delivery & returns policy for my website business / shop. It's dropship from lots of different suppliers, but i want the products to come to me first after the customer orders. I will then pack them in my own packaging and send to the customer as one package. But this process could take up to five days to get the order out to the customer. Will it put customers off if i state a general 3-5 days delivery and not have a 'next day delivery' option? Are people really that concerned to have products delivered next day if bought off the intetnet?
Thanks

 

[J-Wholesale]

Your 3-5 days is overly optimistic. Say someone orders from you on a Wednesday evening. Your supplier might ship the next day, or they might ship on the Friday. Which means you might not receive it until the Monday (all assuming your supplier is very on the ball). You turn it around on the Monday, and your customer receives it on the Tuesday, or maybe evening the Wednesday. That's a full week, all assuming nothing goes wrong - and how likely is that?

That's just too long. Businesses would probably accept it, but your average consumer won't.

 

24-48 hours is pretty much the norm now for UK deliveries.

Earl

 

[Zeal]

Why does it have to be packaged in your own packaging?
Surely, this is throwing money away + time. Could you not ask your supplier to DE-BRAND their own packaging?

Your customers will know who you are from the website they ordered from.

5 days can be acceptable in some cases. But as Earl said above, 24-48 hours is pretty much how it goes.


:edit:

Oh, if your competitors can get the item delivered quicker then you... you need something else to make it worth waiting for.

 

[skyhi2]

JW is absolutely spot on.

People now expect a very quick turn around, and 3-5 days is not the norm these days.

Dropshipping can be very precarious at times,partly due to the many different parties involved in the process.

Just do a search for dropshipping here on the forum and you will get the general idea.

I personally like to ship out within 24 hours ( all recorded,so theoretically 2 days max),and i like to hand deliver ( if local ) within the hour ( i have an offer in place at the moment for local free delivery ).

So to sum up,the quicker the better,and you will have happy punters returning for more ( hopefully ).

Just my 2 cents.

Skyhi2.

 

[movietub]

24-48 hours is pretty much the norm now for UK deliveries.

Earl

Finally you hit the nail on the head

Absolutely this is what people expect. Its not so much a question of what to put in the t&c's, delivery times should be advertised on all product pages and the homepage - it's one of the things people care about most.

Reasons are as follow:
1) People are impatient and generally excited about recieving their new purchase

2) Without doubt peoples biggest frustration with shopping online is missing the delivery attempt by the courier/postie. If you can't give a specific day (i.e. next day) they don't know when to be in.

3) People shop online a lot these days, they know what to look for when choosing who to buy from. Long or non specific delivery times are a good indication the retailer doesn't have the item in stock - and that they may not be trading properly in a number of other ways.

I also notice you refer to drop shipping, when in fact the business you describe is certainly retail. The entire point of drop-shipping is that you avoid seeing the item altogether. You are surely just setting up an online shop with no stock, and ordering goods in only to meet orders. This isn't exactly the correct way to trade as a rule. I reccomend you read the distance selling regs if you want to go heavily in to ecommerce.

When we started out selling online we did what you tried to do. We had a good degree of success because we were extremely low price, but that was nearly 3 years ago now. People were less clued up then. Now online shopping is so common, the general public know what to look for. We also realised pretty early on that getting a stock built up, advertising items as 'in stock' and promising next day delivery were going to make us go from 'bedroom seller' to warehouse, staff, offices and most importantly, we would build a very strong reputation.

I would urge to you to calculate how much it would cost to have at least one of each item in stock, across at least half of your intended product catalogue. Then work out how to fund that. Stock is a very low risk thing to invest in, because it retains its value, its designed to be resold. If the business doesnt work you can always sell it all off at 10% below cost to shift it very quickly. Banks are more likely to lend to buy stock than most things, although they will typically need buy-back rate assurance from the suppliers and possibly other securities (such as the stock value can only be realised in the banks favour should you go bust).

 

advertising items as 'in stock' and promising next day delivery were going to make us go from 'bedroom seller' to warehouse, staff, offices and most importantly, we would build a very strong reputation.

You do mean kitchen.:|

Earl

 

[movietub]

You do mean kitchen.:|

Earl

Once again you are closer to the truth than you intended!

In actual fact it did spill out from the spare room, to the dining room and half the kitchen before we got a proper premesis sorted. One day the girlfriend took me to one side and explained that due to the mess we would shortly be seperated

She is so often a crucial factor in business strategy.

 

[DaveSUK]

24 hour delivery is becoming standard with internet shopping or 48-hours at a push. I buy regulaly online and quick delivery is an important deciding factor for me.

I will obviosly compare supplies based on price but if there is an alternative supplier with a quicker delivery time I would choose them even if this ment I paid a little extra.

 

[worthwhile]

I am going to disagree slightly with the other posts, and I've been thinking about the same question myself. It will depend on who you are selling to and the competition, but certain products dont really need next day delivery.

e.g. I buy clothes brands cheap from play.com and they can take a couple of weeks to arrive, and if I go for a book from Amazon or an Amazon Marketplace seller they usually take over a week to arrive for free delivery/lowest priced item. Fine by me.

A lot of my christmas presents for family I got online and was happy to wait a week or so for if it meant cheaper delivery.

I've been buying stuff online since before 2000 and I don't think internet buying is radically more sophisticated in the last five years either, just more businesses compete there now.

The bigger a buy the customer is making, the more important fast delivery is I would say. Look at someone like firebox.com tho, hugely successful and their standard service is 2-4 business days, obviously acceptable to most of their customers or people are choosing to pay extra for express delivery (still not even next day, 1 to 2 days!).

With relation to your plan tho, 3-5 days sounds hopeful... cant the drop shippers package the items in your boxes/add whatever you want to etc for you?

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Surely the OP's idea defeats the objectives of dropshipping?

 

[Beachcomber]

Couldn't you just offer the suppliers an extra £1 or two per order to add your company name and address to the packaging invoice / paperwork?

This would save time, postage and packaging costs.

If you need to get items from several suppliers to complete one order, just get each supplier to send their bit direct to the customer - it;s common for Amazon orders to come in 2 or 3 seperate packages.

So long as this is covered very clearly in your t&c along with a note in your dispatch confirmation email you won;t have any problems.

 

[deniser]

We send the same day for orders received by lunchtime (when the post gets collected) and even this is not fast enough for some people. We used to have a 5pm deadline for same day despatch when the post office was nearby but it got closed down.

We have people ordering on Sunday night and on Monday morning they are on the phone demanding to know where their order is.

The general public has become very demanding and also a little unrealistic sometimes in what they expect. As has been pointed out, one week is too long.

 

[KDMINX]

When I buy stuff online it has a big impact if there’s free next day delivery!

I am much more likely to complete a transaction.


It is now commonplace that orders placed before 5pm are guaranteed for next day delivery and one online retailer that I use guarantees next day delivery on orders placed before 11pm!

 

[bridges]

Hi
Personally I think 3-5 days is fine, I don't mind waiting a few days for items, but I do like to have the option (even if that means paying slightly extra) to have next day delivery. Just in case I'm doing some last minute shopping and cant make it to the shops!
Good luck,
B x

 

[Mister B]

3-5 days is too long.

We process all orders received before 17.00 and send them via the 1st class RM service. The majority, then receive their orders within 24 hours which is great for encouraging repeat business.

True, we do charge a nominal postal charge but rather than offer free second class postage, we find that a low P&P charge allayed with the first class delivery service works.

Mister B

 

[Lorro2]

It depends what bubsiness it is. We try to send stuff out by first class post on the same day but we are in bespoke, custom made products and sometimes have a backlog of work and I don't think the customer minds if it a day or so late.

 

[movietub]

I'm not sure th OP is ever going to read any of our comments - this is still their one and only post!

seems pretty clear that the majority of sellers and buyers agree that next day is a big incentive to buy, and that 3-5 days (or weeks if the supplier is o/s..) is far too long.

Nice to see everyone agreeing just this one!

 

Couldn't you just offer the suppliers an extra £1 or two per order to add your company name and address to the packaging invoice / paperwork?
.

Why would you use a dropshipper who put there own bumph in the order.?

Condition of dropshipping for us is no dropshippers adds.

Cause if not you will be building there business not yours.

Earl

 

[worthwhile]

seems pretty clear that the majority of sellers and buyers agree that next day is a big incentive to buy, and that 3-5 days (or weeks if the supplier is o/s..) is far too long.

Nice to see everyone agreeing just this once!

Not true, not true... myself and at least one other disagree. It depends massively on the product and target audience...

 

[worthwhile]

seems pretty clear that the majority of sellers and buyers agree that next day is a big incentive to buy, and that 3-5 days (or weeks if the supplier is o/s..) is far too long.

Nice to see everyone agreeing just this one!

Not true, not true... myself and one other disagree, I think it depends a lot on what the product is...

 

[movietub]

Not true, not true... myself and at least one other disagree. It depends massively on the product and target audience...

Well it clearly is true then! You and one other disagree out of how many people that agreed!!

The word I used 'majority' was invented to describe situations just like this one

 

[movietub]

Also even if you don't care how long it takes surely its still better if it turns up next day? Having what you paid and being abkle to use it is definately better than not having it.

 

[deniser]

I'm not sure th OP is ever going to read any of our comments - this is still their one and only post!

Haha, now I know why! It has copied from another business forum (with completely different replies) or vice versa, don't know which.

 

[CWS]

Hi there,

I occasionally do the odd drop shipping as well. I find it best that if the company in question (who you supply to)wantes to start off with drop shipping, then do so. However, you will find that with time, this will no doubt get rather annoying!

With special delivery you may wish to package up the item your end and then ship directly to the customer. This is the only way they will get it by the next day, unless you use same day courier service which is costly!

All in all, think long term whether drop shipping is effective for you. In the recession some companies asked me for drop shipping, but in time, this has chaned back to wholesaling which is a lot easier for all involved. If I ordered something for next day delivery from one company and it came from another, I would be somewhat confused!

I hope that helps,

Claire

 

[worthwhile]

Well it clearly is true then! You and one other disagree out of how many people that agreed!!

The word I used 'majority' was invented to describe situations just like this one

I was referring to your point that longer than 48 hours is far too long, which on the basis of a few responses i wouldn't call conclusive. You also said everyone agreed. A majority isn't everyone, an important difference in business i think. The minority could still be a massive target market.

Its all here nor there without knowing more specifics anyway.

I just ordered some personalised stationary from vistaprint (to sample it) and paid £3.80 for 14 day delivery. 21 day delivery was £2.70, 7 day was £5.60 and next day was £8.90 (or thereabouts). I wouldnt pay more than £4 regardless of timescale because my order was only £12! Surely there is demand for all those options or they wouldnt offer them. My ideal scenario would have been free postage, taking as long as it takes.

So there

 

[movietub]

I was referring to your point that longer than 48 hours is far too long, which on the basis of a few responses i wouldn't call conclusive. You also said everyone agreed. A majority isn't everyone, an important difference in business i think. The minority could still be a massive target market.

Its all here nor there without knowing more specifics anyway.

I just ordered some personalised stationary from vistaprint (to sample it) and paid £3.80 for 14 day delivery. 21 day delivery was £2.70, 7 day was £5.60 and next day was £8.90 (or thereabouts). I wouldnt pay more than £4 regardless of timescale because my order was only £12! Surely there is demand for all those options or they wouldnt offer them. My ideal scenario would have been free postage, taking as long as it takes.

So there

Well clearly personalised items have a lead time. Thats not really what we are discussing though is it? We were talking about the delay caused by not having an item in stock, not saving money by posting it more slowly.

And the fact that some people are prepared to wait longer doesnt make them a 'target market' as they would still perfer it sooner rather than later. 'Do you mind waiting 3 days?' - no. 'Actually would you rather have it tomorrow morning?' - yes!

And vistaprint use postage to subsidise the product, hence no free postage.

I should not have said 'everyone' however its clear that was said flippantly, in the same post I reffered to the 'majority'.

The bottom line is I'm advising at least calculate the cost of holding the majority of stuff in stock, and explore ways of payong for it. From a great deal of experience I know that people who do this make more money. I also know that you won't put off anyone that is happy to wait 3-5 days!

So the choice is clear, either aim at the minority of your potential market, or 100% of it...

 

[iwgraphics]

Its not necessarily about next day delivery, its about communication. As long as the customer knows at the outset what the delivery time will be, its easier.

To avoid losing business, you could offer 2 levels of delivery. Eg. Standard 3-5 days, Fast Delivery 1-2 days and state this with the price.

 

[movietub]

Its not necessarily about next day delivery, its about communication. As long as the customer knows at the outset what the delivery time will be, its easier.

To avoid losing business, you could offer 2 levels of delivery. Eg. Standard 3-5 days, Fast Delivery 1-2 days and state this with the price.

Communication makes it easier, but it's still about next day delivery too, in as much as more people want their purchase sooner rather than later.

I agree that offering staged delivery services is sensible, however the OP is not asking people to wait 3-5 days because of postage costs, its because they don't hold any stock!

With online shoppers becoming more aware of the different types of retail practices online, not holding stock is putting more and more people off.

 

[iwgraphics]

You could start to hold a few of the common products in stock and offer Next Day on those.

For other products, you could quote a 2 levels of delivery service. In some cases if the customer wants it fast, you might have to drop and ship and forego your own packaging etc.

As logn as you trust your supplier to use plain packaging or you could send them a copy of the delivery note by email or fax.

With some suppliers you can also send them your packaging materials and they will do it for you. After all, they want your business.

 

[spencergate]

I buy lots of stuff online, both for the business and for personal use, and would be disappointed not to receive goods in 3 days or less. I would also be far less likely to order from someone if I suspected they were not selling from stock (and would probably pay a little more for quick delivery ex-stock. Which is why I subscribe to Amazon Prime, and generally buy from Amazon stock in preference to their market-place sellers).

I think my feelings on this are retty representative of the population at large.

 

[SillyJokes]

With such a long wait for delivery you are setting yourself up for problems.

Firstly you will certainly loose orders from those who need it quicker.

Secondly you will be constantly harrassed by customers asking where their stuff is, because even though they know they may need to wait, they won't.

Thirdly your drop shipper will no doubt let you down either by shipping the wrong item or being out of stock. This will lead to a level of rage in your customer hithertofore unseen.

People may be happy to wait if they are getting it cheaper by doing so but otherwise, your competitors are only a click away and they have probably overcome all the above problems.

 

[local-biz-man]

I used to run an online clothes store and gave my customers 2 delivery options. 3-5 working days and next working day. I found that 90% would actually pay for next day delivery, answers itself really and that was fine for me as I actually made a couple of pound on the delivery anyway

 

[Alternative Inks]

I have also been thinking about the same question because i have recently set up an online e-commerce. Through market research i found that 80% of consumers expected next day delivery, although some of them would wait 48 hrs at a push.

 

[skyhi2]

Movietub,Vistaprint just offered me free delivery

But they removed all the special offers,and it will take 3 weeks to get here

Pass

Skyhi2.

 

[movietub]

Movietub,Vistaprint just offered me free delivery

But they removed all the special offers,and it will take 3 weeks to get here

Pass

Skyhi2.

HAHA!

Ok technically I was wrong, they always used to charge when we used them! I'll change what I said to - 'vistaprint charge for all deliveries, except for deliveries that take so long you forget that you ordered anything'.

Bit of a hollow victory for you though

 

[matt1983]

This is an interesting thread, im going to be setting up a shopping cart shortly however my products are all made to order so getting them out in 1-2 days is not an option so i will be offering 5-7 day delivery and be stating this on my site.

The site will be more of a side income really so my theory is if someone wants what i am offering they would be willing to wait, hopefully this is true

 

[logicfusion]

From a consumers point of view.

I'm very much into my hobby marine fish / coral keeping.
There are a variety of online stores that sell products I require.

I would never shop at a store that did not deliver in 24 hours. Why ? - because there are stores that do provide me with this service. I'll even pay a little bit more for the product as long as I know I am getting it next day.

I know many people who are the same. A stores reputation can spread very quickly on marine hobbiest forums.

Not sure if this is the same for all sectors.

Cheers
Al

 

[movietub]

From a consumers point of view.

I'm very much into my hobby marine fish / coral keeping.
There are a variety of online stores that sell products I require.

I would never shop at a store that did not deliver in 24 hours. Why ? - because there are stores that do provide me with this service. I'll even pay a little bit more for the product as long as I know I am getting it next day.

I know many people who are the same. A stores reputation can spread very quickly on marine hobbiest forums.

Not sure if this is the same for all sectors.

Cheers
Al

If you like quick service AND low costs then you may as well try www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk

I hear they are nothing short of excellent

I would agree that hobby type stores will always do well from word of mouth, people like to discuss their hobbies, and everyone loves to show off if they took a chance on an online bargain - and it turned up safely the next day.

 

[logicfusion]

Lol. Small world. I'll check your site out. I'm going to PM you about something else.

Cheers

Al

If you like quick service AND low costs then you may as well try www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk

I hear they are nothing short of excellent

I would agree that hobby type stores will always do well from word of mouth, people like to discuss their hobbies, and everyone loves to show off if they took a chance on an online bargain - and it turned up safely the next day.