More than one third of Christmas click & collect customers experienced issues with their orders, according to a survey by YouGov.
Customers, including those using click & collect supermarket services to buy groceries, cited long waiting times at collection points and staff being unable to locate items in stores.
Similarly, one third of Brits said they experienced issues with online orders (33% compared with 31% the previous year), while 48% were affected by late delivery, never received their goods or missed a delivery when they were at home.
The survey of 2,000 UK customers, commissioned by JDA and Centiro, found that more than three quarters would likely switch to an alternative retailer next Christmas as a result of their poor online shopping experience.
Despite the issues, one in four said they would use click & collect more next Christmas, with more than half using it to avoid delivery charges and almost half saying it was more convenient than home delivery.
“While online retail continues to see unprecedented growth in the UK, Christmas shoppers continued to be plagued with problems concerning their online orders,” said Jason Shorrock, VP of retail strategy at JDA.
“While issues with home deliveries are nothing new, more worrying for many retailers is that this Christmas exposed cracks in their click & collect operations. Shoppers are showing a growing preference for click & collect as it offers them the convenience they crave and it is vital retailers get it right. However, without the effective management of staff, stores and inventory, retailers risk damaging customer relationships.”
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