The parcelLab E-Commerce Shipping Study 2020 examines the performance of Germany's top 100 online stores in three key areas: checkout, shipping, and returns.
Study Areas
Checkout
The study analyzed available shipping options, delivery costs, and how retailers communicate delivery times to customers.
Shipping
The research examined whether online retailers communicate with customers during shipping and identified variations in communication practices across the top 100 stores.
Returns
The analysis covered return label distribution methods, refund timelines, and differences in return handling approaches.
2018 vs. 2020 -- The Results
Key Insight
"The desire for more customer experience has increased" among retailers, though implementation varies significantly.
Declines
- Click & Collect dropped from 41 to 33 stores
- Express delivery availability fell from 40 to 25 stores
Improvements
- Direct customer communication during shipping increased from 15 to 34 stores
- Retailers sending more than four emails during shipping rose from 20 to 32
- On-time delivery performance improved from 48 to 65 stores
- In-store package returns increased from 10 to 20 stores
Conclusion
While the shipping process has changed quite a bit for the better in the last two years, there is still room for improvement. Many retailers still hand over their customers directly to the shipping service provider instead of communicating with them themselves and using valuable contact points.
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