UK consumers would not welcome a move from Amazon to ship products to them before they had actually been ordered, according to a new report.
Amazon may box and ship products to customers based on their previous orders and current shopping behaviour after it gained a patent.
Over half (55 per cent) would be “annoyed” with the retailer and would return any items they had received but hadn‘t purchased. Amazon‘s ‘anticipatory service‘ could build on the data it holds on its customers, including wish lists, shopping carts and order history.
Research from Venda, who commissioned YouGov to poll over 2,000 UK adults found that over a third of consumers (37 per cent) would regard this type of predictive delivery as an invasion of their privacy. However, 26 per cent would abandon an online purchase if the delivery estimate was considered too long.
Eric Abensur, Group CEO, Venda said privacy was still a huge issue for consumers. “Amazon and other retailers need to tread the fine line between offering customers a personalised online service, while cutting down fulfilment times, but at the same time, they need to reassure consumers that their data is safe and not being misused for revenue generating activities,” he said.
“Amazon is certainly making a bold and possibly unpopular move, but it is one which may pay dividends in the future, thanks to the rise of the ‘I want it now‘ consumer. Given that pace and cost of delivery is a prevalent concern for online shoppers, it‘s not surprising that Amazon are looking at new innovative strategies to solve this issue.”
In November, Amazon announced it was to deliver on Sunday and was experimenting with a drone-based delivery service in December.
