Pitney Bowes Online Shopping Study: Consumer Dissatisfaction with Holiday Shopping Experience Doubles to 60% in Four Years

By STS News Desk On Nov 8, 2019

Pitney Bowes Online Shopping Study: Consumer Dissatisfaction with Holiday Shopping Experience Doubles to 60% in Four Years

Fast and Free Shipping, Free and Easy Returns, Accurate Tracking and On-time Deliveries Top Online Shoppers’ Wish Lists this Holiday Season

Pitney Bowes , a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing, data and financial services, released the results of its annual Online Shopping Study. Among the Study’s key findings: 60% of online shoppers in the US are dissatisfied with their holiday shopping experiences, up four percentage points from last year, and nearly double the number from just four years ago.

The Study also found that the more often you shop, the more likely you are to be frustrated. Seventy-three percent of frequent online shoppers (those who shop online daily, or weekly) and 74% of millennials said they were disappointed in some aspect of the post-purchase experience last holiday season.

The top three reasons for consumer frustration are: delayed shipments; shipping costs; and inaccurate tracking.

“Despite the significant investments retailers and marketplaces are making in the online shopping experience, consumers continue to be disappointed, especially around the holidays,” said Lila Snyder, EVP and President, Commerce Services at Pitney Bowes. “As an even larger percentage of consumer spending is expected to shift online this holiday season, retailers need to shift resources and investments to areas like fast and free shipping, accurate tracking and free and easy returns to keep up with consumer expectations.”

When a retailer puts a consumer through one of these unpleasant experiences, they do so to the detriment of their brand. For the second year in a row, nearly nine out of 10 consumers said that they will make a complaint or take an action that could hurt a brand’s reputation and bottom line following a bad post-purchase experience. Among them, nearly one-third said a bad post-purchase experience is cause for never shopping with the offending brand again.

The Pitney Bowes Online Shopping Study is one of two annual research reports the company conducts on behalf of its clients and releases publicly. In October, the Company released its annual Parcel Shipping Index which measures parcel volume and spend across 13 major markets globally. The Index found that annual parcel volumes reached 87 billion in 2018 (17% year-over-year growth) and are projected to reach 200 billion in 2025.

Pitney Bowes supports retailers and other shippers in the areas of fulfillment, delivery, returns and cross-border. In each of these areas, the Company strives to be the service provider that’s easiest to work with, by being more transparent and offering simpler pricing with fewer and lower surcharges than others in the market.