New study: How online shops can charge extra costs for delivery

Germans dislike paying delivery costs when buying online – a severe problem for online retailers who have to compensate steadily increasing postal charges due to the constantly growing online trade. A new study by Prof. Dr. Stefan Rock, Professor for Retail Management and Retail Logistics from THI Business School, shows that the customers’ willingness to pay for delivery may rise in some cases. According to this study, it is important for online traders to exactly know specific data as well as needs and wishes of their customers.

“Younger customers order more often via internet and prefer a quick delivery. "The results of my study show, they are also willing to pay – but not more than a maximum of five euros”, explains Prof. Rock. On the other hand, older clients prefer an on time, reliable delivery whereas delivery speed does not matter that much. Accordingly, they only show modest willingness to pay.  This shifts in case of urgency – the quicker the respondents need a certain good the more their willingness to pay increases. Moreover, two thirds of the respondents stated that they were willing to pay for an environmentally friendly delivery.

“In case information about age, the good and urgency of the delivery is available for online traders, they can draw conclusions about the customers’ willingness to pay for delivery costs", Prof. Rock summarizes his studies’ results. "If customers pay, this will have a positive impact on the company results”. He presented these in the latest issue of the German Lebensmittelzeitung.