Online shopping driving change in travel behaviour
The RAC Foundation commissioned Ipsos to ask a nationally representative sample of adults about their shopping behaviour. In particular, the research set out to gain an understanding of whether an increase in online shopping was impacting upon people’s travel behaviour and the delivery preferences of those who shop online.
Key findings include:
- In the last three months, two thirds (66%) of adults aged 16-75 made journeys in a personal vehicle to go shopping at least once a week. Around 1 in 5 (20%) did this every 2-3 days or more.
- Compared to 12 months ago, 1 in 6 adults (17%) are making trips in a vehicle to go shopping less often.
- Of those making fewer journeys in a personal vehicle to go shopping compared to one year ago, 23% say this is because they are doing more shopping online, while 22% are travelling by other means and 21% report they are doing less shopping nowadays. 1 in 5 (20%) say they can’t afford to go shopping as much as they used to.
- More than 8 in 10 (82%) adults who purchase books/CDs/DVDs online use home delivery methods to receive these items. In comparison, 7 in 10 adults who shop for groceries online use home delivery methods (71%).
- Click and collect methods are most likely to be used for orders of Clothes and Footwear or Electronic goods. Around 1 in 4 adults who shop for Clothes and Footwear online (27%) and 1 in 5 (20%) who shop for Electronic goods online use these methods.
- Convenience and cost are the most commonly cited reasons for using click and collect methods.
- More than half choose click and collect because they can collect goods at a convenient time for them (53%) and because such methods mean they don’t need to be at home to receive their deliveries (51%). 2 in 5 report click and collect enables them to collect their items whilst doing other tasks (40%).
- 43% use click and collect because it is cheaper than having items delivered.
- 29% of online shoppers tend to use same or next day delivery at least half the time they make purchases online.
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Technical note
A nationally representative quota sample of 2,153 British adults aged 16-75 was surveyed using Ipsos’s online I:Omnibus between 28th October and 1st November 2016.
Data have been weighted by age, gender, region, working status and social grade to the known offline population profile. Data have been additionally calibrated using known offline proportions for whether the participant is the main shopper in their household, and whether or not they have bought groceries or products online in the last three months.
Of the 2,153 adults interviewed:
- 371 say they are making less trips in a vehicle to go shopping nowadays compared to 12 months ago
- 2,063 report they make purchases online
- 749 use click and collect methods to get products they ordered online delivered
