Early ordering key to holiday ecommerce

A recent survey of U.K. consumers found one in 10 respondents have opted out of online shopping this holiday season due to previous problems with delivery. The research from Postcode Anywhere found 27 percent of consumers have experienced past problems associated with online deliveries, and 9 percent have avoided any online holiday shopping this year due to past difficulties.

However, the survey found more than half of the respondents have not experienced a delivery issue before, and 30 percent of these U.K. consumers believe they avoided problems by placing orders early.

The survey showed 54 percent of U.K. shoppers believe too many orders were being placed and it strained the network, causing their delivery problems, while 52 percent blamed adverse weather, 36 percent said they did not allow ample time for delivery, 26 percent attributed problems to low stock levels and 8 percent cited erroneous details on shipping information.

To encourage shoppers to start their holiday purchasing early, Debenhams recently offered a five-day pre-Christmas promotion to shoppers in-store and online. The price cuts on tens of thousands of items went as high as 40 percent, equating to about ?200 million of savings.