The UK’s leading mail and express research consultancy Triangle Management Services has just published a major benchmarking study for the UK domestic home delivery market. With the staggering growth in home shopping via the internet there is considerable interest in how e-retail goods purchased are subsequently handled and delivered to consumer’s home addresses. This survey will not only be of interest to carriers and shippers but also to fulfilment companies and other organisations interested in accessing this aspect of the e-commerce sector, such as IT suppliers for example.

The survey’s methodology was based on the long established (over 20 years) Triangle Domestic B2B Parcels Distribution Survey but with many questions focussed specifically on user’s experiences of parcel carriers performance in the fast growing B2C delivery sector. The survey was based on 300 interviews with shippers despatching 100+ parcels a month to home addresses in the weight range ½ kg to 30 kg requiring a delivery next day or within 2/3 days.

The 115-page report establishes user perceptions for a number of carrier ratings and descriptors both for the home delivery specialist operators and those largely B2B orientated express parcel carriers now extending their reach into the B2C sector. Although the survey specifically excluded Royal Mail’s packet deliveries, their Special Delivery Service was included.

Issues such as the offer of an alternative delivery location, the collection and notification of returns and the use of, and reasons for employing, specialist fulfilment houses are examples of specific issues relating to home deliveries that are addressed in the report. One of the principal features of this unique survey is the benchmarking of carriers by their users so that not only can the operators see their relative performances in easy to read benchmark charts but in addition shippers can utilise the information in sourcing or reviewing their service provider.