Home delivery remains the favorite, but shipping costs make the difference

Eindhoven, December 17, 2024 - While home delivery is still the top choice for most Dutch consumers, out-of-home delivery (OOH) is steadily gaining ground. Beyond convenience and sustainability, it's cost savings above all that are winning consumers over to delivery via a parcel locker or pickup point.

Home delivery remains the favorite, but OOH is gaining ground

Sendcloud research shows that 4 out of 5 consumers (80.7%) prefer home delivery. But that changes drastically as soon as shipping costs enter the picture. When home delivery comes with a fee and delivery to a pickup point is free, 3 out of 4 Dutch consumers (73.7%) choose the latter, compared to a quarter (26.3%) who are willing to pay for home delivery.

“While sustainability and flexibility help drive the popularity of out-of-home delivery, it's ultimately the cost advantage that tips the scale for consumers,” says Sabi Tolou, co-founder at Sendcloud. “Out-of-home delivery is more efficient for carriers, since they can drop off multiple parcels at once. Consumers expect those savings to be passed on to them, and that's what shapes their choice at checkout.”

Cost savings as the driving force

Shoppers' price sensitivity also shows in what they're willing to pay for delivery. Half of consumers (49.4%) cite lower shipping costs as their reason for choosing out-of-home delivery. As many as 75.6% even believe shipping costs should be lower, or free, when choosing a parcel locker or pickup point. For a €50 order, Dutch consumers are willing to pay €3.49 on average for home delivery, but only €2.83 for OOH delivery.

“Delivery to a parcel locker or pickup point is usually cheaper than home delivery,” Tolou adds. “By offering OOH options, webshops can lower their shipping costs, improve their margins, and meet consumers' growing demand for flexible delivery. It's a win-win: retailers who offer out-of-home delivery at checkout don't just make their customers happier, they also gain a competitive edge for the future of e-commerce.”

Webshops themselves play a key role in speeding up adoption of out-of-home delivery. According to the research, half (48.8%) of shoppers would choose out-of-home delivery more often if it were offered at checkout. That underlines why retailers need to make OOH delivery a standard checkout option.

About Sendcloud

Sendcloud is the complete shipping platform for e-commerce – enabling retailers, marketplaces, and fulfillment companies to scale their operations and deliver great shipping experiences.

Today's consumers want to decide where, when, and how they receive an order. Meeting their needs while still making a profit is a challenge that Sendcloud solves by centralizing and automating the entire shipping process. From label printing to branded tracking and returns management - with Sendcloud, you own your shipping process, from checkout to returns.

Backed by SoftBank and trusted by 25,000 companies across Europe, Sendcloud is on a mission to solve shipping problems worldwide.