Consumer Behavior
Consumers still like at-home delivery as retailers expand curbside pickup
March 1, 2022
More than half of consumers, 64%, prefer at-home delivery as retailers continue to expand curbside pickup options.
That's a top finding of a Pitney Bowes BOXpoll consumer survey effort.
While curbside pickup increased drastically over the past several years, from 7% in late 2019 to 44% by the summer of 2020, just 23% of consumers are choosing curbside when given the choice between the two options, according to a press release on the findings.
"While consumers like curbside pickup for time-sensitive or bulky items, our research found that nearly two-thirds of consumers will generally choose home delivery over curbside pickup, despite having to wait," Vijay Ramachandran, VP market strategy for global e-commerce at Pitney Bowes, said in the release. "For digitally native brands and retailers without the ability to offer curbside, this creates an opportunity to compete with large-format chains."
Baby Boomers have an especially strong preference for home delivery. Almost three-quarters of the demographic (73%) prefer delivery over curbside.
Two factors that overwhelmingly drive a choice for home delivery over curbside pickup are free shipping and consumers becoming more flexible with delivery times. More than half (64%) of shoppers say that free delivery on home shipping influences their decision to use it instead of curbside pickup. Conversely, just 38% of consumers would opt for curbside pickup for online purchases (other than groceries) as a way to receive their items without paying for shipping. Thirty-seven percent of consumers would opt for curbside pickup to receive their item faster.
The survey also revealed 90% of shoppers will contact customer care if their online order doesn't arrive on the date promised but will give an average grace period of three days before doing so.
