Despite the huge strides made to improve home delivery over recent years, consumers still consider that 17 out of every 100 orders are not delivered to their expectation and that two thirds of these are either delivered late or not at the first attempt. The cost to the whole UK e-Retail sector is between £800 million and £1 billion a year (or 70p for every parcel dispatched), much of which can be avoided. The UK’s retailers bear over a third of this cost themselves.

IMRG, the trade body for the UK’s e-Retail industry has been working on this problem for some time and has launched a new ‘Gold’ standard for home delivery.

The Gold Standard has been designed by the industry to help online retailers produce ‘best practice’ delivery offers that will provide all shoppers with the option to select a delivery service that will get their order to them first time, on time, regardless of their specific circumstances for that delivery. Retailers are invited to match their delivery offer against 16 benchmark standards covering the key stages of home delivery. A retailer that meets the standard is able to display the Internet Delivery Is Safe (IDIS) Gold Standard icon which will inform shoppers that it provides an excellent delivery service with all the options necessary to provide a successful first time delivery.

Nearly half of all online shoppers are influenced on their choice of retailer by the delivery service it provides and three quarters expect the retailer to clearly explain their delivery choices before they go to the ‘check out’ stage. The Gold icon will give shoppers the assurance and confidence they need before they even start to shop and allow the retailer to include delivery as one of the key benefits it provides to shoppers.

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