Are free delivery, returns as vital to Aussie online shoppers out of the box believed?

New research on Australian shopping online behaviour suggests factors
for example providing free returns or free delivery may not be as important in
securing sales as widely believed.

According to some study by Emarsys, 83.6 per cent of consumers would not be
put off buying a product they were interested in if there was no option for
free returns. And 86 per cent appear undeterred by not being promised free
delivery.

Earlier Emarsys research undertaken just before Black Friday found that when consumers were asked what would encourage them to shop online during Black Friday, the best motivation was free delivery, with 59 percent of consumers claiming this was a high influence. Other powerful motivators included free returns (15 per cent) and speed of delivery (18 percent).

But the latest research shows that while consumers might say such
factors motivate them, ultimately just 16.4 per cent would not proceed with a
purchase if there is a no-returns policy and just 14 per cent if there was no
free delivery.

The two sets of figures suggest a broad divide between what shoppers say
is important and how they might actually behave when going to check out at an
online store.

Emarsys says its survey found that just 9.4 percent of shoppers would
be put off a purchase if the delivery time was more than three days.

Offering a variety of payment and collection options is less
important to Australian consumers, with a lack of payment plans and lay by
deterring just 4.8 per cent of shoppers and a lack of click-and-collect options
causing 4.7 per cent of consumers to abandon a cart.

This story first appeared on our sister publication Inside Retail