A new study finds consumers are more willing to accept slower delivery from retailers when ordering products online if the retailers agree to donate to a charitable cause. The finding suggests a path forward for companies that hope to ease stresses associated with providing the fastest possible delivery times, Stefanie Robinson, associate professor of marketing in North Carolina State University’s Poole College of management and the study’s co-author.
“Retailers feel pressure to provide quick delivery to consumers, but the logistics of delivering purchases quickly can be costly and complicated – and may be subject to disruptions outside of the retailer’s control,” Robinson said. “To convince consumers to opt for slower delivery options, some retailers offer consumers financial incentives. For example, you may get money off if you choose the three-day delivery option instead of the overnight delivery option.”
Incentive
The study was aimed at finding out if a better incentive exists for getting consumers to opt for slower deliveries. Specifically, the focus was on comparing a discount incentive to something new – a donation incentive which involves the retailer making a donation to a charity. To learn which incentives consumers found most appealing, the researchers conducted a series of six studies that cumulatively involved more than 2,000 study participants.
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The key finding was that consumers were more likely to opt for the slow delivery option if the company made a donation to a charity rather than a financial reward that benefited the consumer, such as a purchase discount. It was true across demographic groups, regardless of gender, income level and so on. The findings suggest that consumers view donations to be more of a fair trade-off for delayed delivery than other financial incentives.
The paper is published in the Journal of Retailing.
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